Sustainable and Inclusive Architecture for All
[Music]
there are things i can’t force
[Music]
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