Do we get the buildings we deserve?

The beginning of year two of my foundation degree in sustainable communities finds me in familiar territory.

Whether it’s the title of our first module – sustainable communities and the environment – or the location of our first field trip – the Hockerton Housing Project in Nottinghamshire – this is definitely what gets my creative juices flowing!

We’ve only been back in college for one weekend to date, but so far my impression is we are moving away from full theory towards combining this with its practical application. As I start year two I’m hopeful – hopeful that I can do better than last year, hopeful I am learning from my mistakes and hopeful I can continue improving my writing skills. As part of the first cohort of students on the ASC course, I also hope I can do this degree justice.

Our last session in particular was fascinating as we explored different historical interpretations of utopian societies created through planning of the built environment – from the concrete modernist visions of Le Corbusier in France, the dispersed cities of Frank Lloyd Wright in the United States to Ebeneezer Howard’s Garden Cities at Letchworth and Welwyn in the UK. Although I was familiar with these concepts, it was a good refresher.

Also was our visit to Hockerton, Brenda and Robert Vale’s vision of a totally self-sufficient, environmentally sustainable community built way back in 1992 when sustainable architecture existed on the margins, not as part of the mainstream.

It’s small scale (there are just five houses) and some argue it couldn’t be replicated in an urban setting, but the potential is amazing. As the government’s deadline for all new housing to be zero carbon by 2016 looms, it’s incredible to think that pioneers like this were leading the way a decade and a half ago.

In my work in architecture, sustainable development still seems to be treated as a ‘bolt on’ – it is something which is all too often added on to a project, and taken out as budgets tighten, rather than being integral to design from the outset.

Just what impact the coming recession will have on all this is anyone’s guess but my fear is house builders and perhaps even the government will begin to say, ‘we can’t afford this’. And with the built environment amounting to about half of total carbon emissions, what a tragedy that would be. Achieving zero carbon buildings is a challenge, but in my view it will be a less of a challenge than having to deal with the effects of climate change. From the mouth of our guide around Hockerton, living in his home requires no additional training, nor does it require you to sacrifice the latest white-good technologies.

As far as the course is concerned this is an area I hope to delve deeper into. The next few years will see us given the chance to choose some options which are of more personal interest, and sustainable development in the built environment will be top of my list.

On the smaller scale that means exploring the most sustainable methods of building and construction. And on the larger scale I hope it will mean analysis of how to create great places which are more sustainable; places which are not isolated but which have the facilities locally – schools, work space, hospitals, shops – so people can exist without having to travel unnecessarily.

Ultimately, if that begins to get people thinking about the built environment more – and the impact it has on the natural environment – that can only be a good thing. I’m not sure this is a direct objective of the course but I certainly plan to make it one of my interpretations of it! And, given much of the course to date has been about learning from each other, maybe this is an area where I can share some of my knowledge and experience with my colleagues.

At the moment, we all have a pretty good sense of the impact of using a motor car, even if we have had no involvement or interest in its design. The same is sadly not true of our buildings, where our interest seems to be limited to the ’Changing Rooms’ level of fixtures and fittings. In fact, most people I see walking around our cities seem more interested in their shoes than what is around them.

I think it was Alexis de Tocqueville who said in a democracy, people get the government they deserve. Perhaps the same is true of our buildings. And maybe one day people will begin to look up – and then we will start to get the fantastic buildings and spaces we deserve. I can but dream!

This is the fourth blog from Richard Oliver in a series about the Academy’s foundation degree.