When the office invited staff to participate in the first Great Sustainable Ideas Competition, I was eager to pitch my thesis topic as a potential 'great idea'. Throughout my education and work experience, I have learned that, as architects and designers, we have the potential to make positive contributions to the environment by not only designing efficient new buildings, but also by improving our existing building stock. With training in both engineering and architecture, I am drawn towards design solutions that are not only beautiful, but functional as well. This led me to think about applications for 'revamping' existing buildings by not only improving their energy efficiency but also thinking about them as opportunities as net producers of energy.

Much of my work experience has included renovations of existing buildings. More specifically, while working for and studying at the University of Toronto, I became intimately aware of the challenges and opportunities that a large property owner faces while managing aging buildings. Energy costs have been steadily escalating while the building themselves are becoming more and more inefficient with the wear and tear of regular use. This has provided incentives for building owners, like universities, to invest in these existing buildings, many of which possess character and quality construction that would be cost prohibitive in today's labour market.

Starting with the basics of adding insulation, replacing windows, and replacing mechanical systems; my idea was to 'inject' a productive yet renewable element. Alternative fuels have been in development for years. Of all the potential bio-fuels, algae has shown to be the highest yield energy wise with minimal land usage. Its growing cycle is short, it requires little maintenance to grow, and the oil extraction of certain strains is particularly high. This 'mega-fuel' also comes in a variety of colours and can be quite beautiful.

My proposal takes an existing, largely concrete, bunker type building and adds on new program spaces like a 'cap' and extended a 'skirt' or wrapping around the existing building. By thickening the new skin (increasing the insulation properties) to a double-skin façade system, a warm solar-exposed zone is created which is perfect for placing an algae farm. A typical closed-loop algae farm utilizes a vast network of clear piping to house the water-suspended algae organisms. A similar system, placed vertically, is proposed for the building skin, yielding an ever-changing, dynamic building skin. The algae is then periodically harvested every 7 to 10 days and then repopulated with young organisms to start a new growing cycle. The double skin façade also functions as a typical design would, drawing warm, CO2 latent air from the occupied spaces to passively circulate air throughout the building. My vision is that the building benefits from increased envelope efficiency, net energy production, improved exterior architectural character, and a unique interior spatial experience.

Fig. 1 Digitally altered-page spread from Le Corbusier's 'Towards a New Architecture' - translated into English 1927 via formandwords.com

For over 15 years (way before my time here) our office has helped forge a path for 'green building' to where we now have a widely accepted standard perpetuated largely by LEED and other rating systems. However, we are becoming more and more aware of the shortcomings of these rating systems and are feeling the need to continue to push things forward as it is now evident that the levels achieved by today’s buildings are merely a stepping stone as we move toward a green architecture.

Unlike our Modern predecessors for whom the future seemed infinite, inviting and limited only by imagination, we are practicing architecture at a time when the future seems as though it will be difficult, assiduous and largely un-inviting. And so we continue to pour ourselves into the present rather than consider a future made finite by our limited resources and soaring consumption. It appears to us as though we will lose much more than we will gain. It is a future heavily characterised by impending disaster rather than achievement. Some are preaching the need to change our lifestyle, to abandon our highly consumptive ways while others seek to mitigate change with technology and advancements in science. But there are some, I believe, who are rising to the challenge, who are fighting this dour vision of the future and embracing a largely optimistic, visionary view of what our planet, our cities, our buildings could be. I believe this is where we want to be as architects and designers. Because if we don’t paint a picture that people will love, then how can we convince them to get there?

“In the end we will conserve only what we love. Love only what we understand. Understand only what we are taught.” - Baba Dioum, 1968

So what is the way forward? What do you think the future of green architecture looks like? Hopefully this series of posts can spark our imagination and provoke discussion in the comments below.