Sustainable and Inclusive Architecture for All

[Music]

there are things i can’t force

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i must adjust there are times when the

greatest change needed

is a change of viewpoint

[Music]

we live in a world where ideas of

sustainability

measuring the environmental footprint

are things most of

us have become aware of but before i

begin

i want you to think think

about what your idea of sustainability

is

is it buying organic food getting the

latest electric vehicle like a tesla

or having solar panels installed in the

roof of your house

so that you can reduce your utility

bills

knowingly or unknowingly sustainability

has become an integral part

of our lives but how often

do we take a step back and think

think about those people who might not

be able to afford the premium

associated with organic food or for

those people who might be differently

able

to be able to drive the latest tesla

in a world where issues of social

justice and equity

are now starting to gain traction we

are not doing enough the talks about

sustainability often focus

on the ideal man that can talk walk

sleep

or eat like the majority of us

but why are the minorities not made a

part of these discussions

today i’d like to illustrate as to why

inclusivity

and sustainability are not different but

parts of the same wheel

growing up in new delhi india which is

infamous for being one of the most

polluted cities in the world

the importance of making environmentally

justified buildings has been integral to

my architectural education

the world is dying i was told and we the

architects can be the saviors

my professors would say and rightly so

buildings account for nearly 40 percent

of all global greenhouse gas emissions

annually

so i went about my architecture studies

focusing on how the architecture that i

would produce

in the future would be environmentally

justified

until the junior year

of my undergraduate studies when i told

the acl

of my left knee the doctor told me that

i’d have to get operated if i were to

ever

walk properly again so in the summer of

2014

i got my surgery and that changed my

life

there i was standing in

in my room trying to figure out how i

would get inside this tight cubicle

this bathroom which i had been using for

almost 18 years

was now basically useless

so i would use the bathroom somewhat

like this with my feet

hanging in the air and dreading the

thought of using a restroom

all summer but the summer was over

it was time for me to go back to school

only to now notice

that i had these three flight of stairs

that i would have to climb

to reach the classroom you see

with the crutches it’s not the easiest

but those three months having to

struggle

every single day made me realize

about how important inclusive

architecture really is

on most days i would ask my friends to

take me up these flight of stairs

and when they would not be available it

would take me around 20 minutes

and i would end up missing most of my

classes

so six years down the line

i came to the u.s with questions

questions like i have never witnessed

before

the architect in me was still fascinated

by the material

the elevations and the glazings of in

architectural buildings

but now the human in me had different

questions

questions like is there a ramp in this

building

would a wheelchair fit in this corridor

or would somebody who might be visually

impaired be able to navigate

their way through these buildings

so i came here and i was asked to lead a

group

of people who were designing a new type

of multi-family housing

this housing was supposed to be net zero

and have

and be designed for people on the autism

spectrum

so just like every other architect in

the world we started looking

and talking to the parents to figure out

what their needs are for this project

we figured out that there weren’t enough

assisted living communities that we

could look at

we were surprised to find out from the

parents that there are no assisted

living

communities in and around syracuse that

met their requirement

now the expectation would be that the

number of these individuals might be

quite low

but on the contrary cdc currently

estimates

1 in 54 children identify in the

spectrum of autism

that means there’ll be more children

diagnosed with asd this year alone

than children with aids diabetes and

cancer

all combined

that entire year with the thought

that you know designers are constantly

neglecting

the minority the people who need the

most thought-provoking architecture

are being also neglected the most

we would work tirelessly through the

year have meeting on weekday

on weekends that lasted for more than

five hours

to design a new type of assisted living

community

this was our chance to pursue the notion

of sustainable architecture

for all i like to call this

responsible architecture where we make

inclusively build sustainably

and help people heal seen here

is dr andy lopez williams a forensic

neuropsychologist who we consulted along

our journey

if you met one person with autism you

met one person with autism he said

so what is the autism spectrum disorder

asd is a result of differences in the

brain and scientists

and doctors are still trying to figure

out the exact causes

then we started working with the parents

to figure out what are the commonalities

of our residence

we found out things like anxiety

uncertainty over stimulations

are difficulties that we had to tackle

we

then focus on how the power of

architecture

could help people heal

it was made very clear to us early on

that having clear predictability in the

floor plan would be key to keeping our

occupants safe so right from the moment

you enter this building

there’s a clear sign of like line of

sight that everybody sees

when making their way through the room

and the corridor

studies have shown that double and

triple height spaces

help promote activity so what if

we could have these scattered throughout

the floor plan

so that our residents always feel

energized

how many of us live in buildings where

we can hear all the little details of

the phone call happening in the adjacent

room

i live in a building where the

acoustical performance is so poor

that i can listen to my neighbor

listening to metallica every single day

and i’m pretty sure that’s their

favorite band

see intrusive noises can be really

overwhelming for the residents

so our wall assembly allows maggie and

their cat oreo

to have uninterrupted privacy

i want you to imagine a scenario a

scenario

where you have a fight with your loved

ones or your parents

what do you do you go to your room

slam the door straight at the back and

get into that one corner

where you tell yourself to calm down

these escape spaces become even more

important

for the clients so we provided them

scattered throughout the floor plan

where our residents can go

to when they feel overwhelmed

studies have shown that clear views of

the outside can help reduce stress

so we provided each space with ample

views of the lush green lawns outside

so the question now is how do we marry

sustainability into this

we provided our residents with a

greenhouse attached to the building

because the greenhouse gives them a

sense of purpose

it gives them hope that they have a life

which can be as meaningful

as the others all of that excess heat

that is generated in the greenhouse is

utilized to passively heat

the interiors of the space

historically in the u.s people on the

autism spectrum

were institutionalized so it was really

important for us to create

a design that helps give them a feeling

of home so even the hallways and the

corridors

come with natural light which are

provided to clear story windows

our landscape is therapeutic and all the

existing tree cover

on site is preserved which also helps us

sequester carbon

this system and the building is

powered by solar panels which also help

reduce the utility bills for our

residents

you see meaningful architecture is

not difficult simple empathetic

decisions taken early on

in the design phase can ha have the

potential

to change lives

another project that i had the pleasure

of working on was the garden root table

home with professor de kwan park last

year

the current home ownership rate in the

u.s is 70 percent

which means 30 percent of the people

never

get to live in their own homes the

average cost

of owning a home in the us over 30 years

usually amounts to 1 million dollars

for an average american that means

one-third to half of their income

is dedicated to having a roof over their

heads

imagine what that does for people on the

lower income category

owning a home becomes a distant reality

inclusivity is also about making owning

a home

a reality for everyone so we came up

with the garden to table home prototype

which is a self-sustaining house it’s a

tiny home so you can take it anywhere in

the

back of a truck all within a budget of

forty to fifty thousand dollars

this home has an encased greenhouse

which powers a variety of functions

and also help occupants grow their own

produce

all year long sustainability becomes an

integral part of the lives of our

residents since its greenhouse

powers a variety of passive heating

cooling

and ventilation strategies

in the summer opening of the summer of

the north winds

allow all of that cool air in and causes

buoyancy ventilation

while in the winters all of that excess

heat that is generated in the greenhouse

is radiated inside

via radiation heat transfer

this system is modular and can be

replicated across various typologies

inclusivity to me not only comes from

the fact that we designed this project

it comes from the team a team that had

23 people

from seven different countries working

tirelessly through the year without

any financial or academic incentives in

making these projects a reality

is beautiful for all the architects and

designers out there watching this

you know that moment when you pick up

that pen right about when you’re

starting your first sketch right at that

instance

i want you to stop stop and think

think am i designing for just me and the

clients

or am i also designing for the larger

audience that

will be accessing this building and i

promise you

if all of us can make empathy

a part of us then the world will be a

much better place

from the architect who couldn’t climb

the stairs or use his own restroom

architecture is not just the art of

making shelter for human beings

it is a responsibility a responsibility

to design sustainably design resp

design healthy and help people heal

and if architecture is to be the agency

of change that we all really wanted to

be

then the power of architecture

responsible architecture

needs to be utilized for everyone and

not just a selected view

thank you