In class today, we related a lot of our group work and
discussion to James S. Russell’s The Agile City: Building Adaptive Places. The
chapter in the book references various ways of how to use free characteristics
of a given place or region to maximize energy lighting, and heating efficiently
in any given building. The author uses a variety of diverse climate regions as
examples and explains how well each region of place has harvested its natural
capital. Places referenced include: Hurricane prone regions such as South
Carolina; Warm sun and frequent trade winds regions such as California; Extremely
hot and sunny desert regions such as Phoenix or the Middle East; Eastern United
States regions with low water temperatures and humid, high summer heat such as
Philadelphia and New York; Severe climate regions such as Winnipeg (in Manitoba
Canada) that has minus thirty-one degrees Fahrenheit waters with icy winds in
addition to searing ninety-five degree, humid summers; As well as cloudy cool
regions such as Seattle, Washington that have fairly frequent rains.
In class we grouped up and were given a place to
determine how best to build an adaptive place there. My group had Seattle.
Throughout our process, I learned there are lots of ways to use the local
environment to build from. Not only would your orient your building to capture
sunlight and solar radiation for heat, but you could build it from local raw
materials, harvest rain water, along with many other things. It really has
helped me understand how sustainable “green” buildings don’t always have to
have fancy gadgets such as geothermal power, cooling and heating, solar panels,
or other things.
They just have to be designed in a way that utilizes the “free
capital” in the environment of a local place to its greatest potential. It is
an investment in energy savings, economic savings, as well as an investment in
the cultures and communities of our places and cities in a way that brings them
back to nature with utmost respect.
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