SUNDAY, FEB 5, 2023: NOTE TO FILE
Module 5-7
Sustainable spatial strategies
3.7. Sustainable Spatial Strategies
This section explores some 2-D Sustainable Spatial Strategies for the built environment that support and enhance the 3-D Green Building Strategies. The 2-D spatial plane involves the town planning for the built environment land use parcels (housing, public realm, commercial, industrial, environmental and all servitudes); provision of utility services (water, sewage, solid waste and energy), transport (rail, road, water and air) and intermodal ports (harbours, transport terminals and warehouse logistics). It is an important concept to grasp that sustainable design for the built environment occurs both in a 3-D vertical space and also in a horizontal 2-D spatial plane. In other words, the built environment provides a continuum from town planning, landscape design, urban design and architecture, from a 2-D to a 3-D aspect, respectively. In order to achieve sustainable design in this built environment continuum, a whole systems thinking approach and design integration at all levels is imperative. This section will thus explore the following concepts:
- A Pattern Language
- Integrated Infrastructure Systems
- Sustainable Drainage Systems
- Green Urbanism
A Pattern Language
One of the sources of inspiration for the design integration of the built environment, is the book, “A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction”, by Christopher Alexander et al. A website has been developed in order to expand the teachings from this book into a design language which shows the pattern relationships of the built environment. The following excerpt from this website provides the backdrop to the built environment design integration continuum:
Source: https://www.patternlanguage.com/bookstore/pattern-language.html
“Back in 1977, the book first introduced the concept of people designing buildings for themselves, and guaranteeing the comfort and functionality of the buildings they designed, because the elements of the language are "patterns", elements which are a collective memory of things which work in our surroundings. The language begins with patterns that define towns and communities. These patterns can never be designed or built in one fell swoop - but patient piecemeal growth, designed in such a way that every individual act is always helping to create or generate these larger global patterns, will, slowly and surely, over the years, make a community that has these global patterns in it.
The next part of the language gives shape to groups of buildings, and individual buildings, on the land, in three dimensions. These are the patterns which can be "designed" or "built" - the patterns which define the individual buildings and the space between buildings; where we are dealing for the first time with Patterns that are under the control of individuals or small groups of individuals, who are able to build the patterns all at once.
The next, and last part of the language tells how to make a buildable building directly from this rough scheme of spaces and tells you how to build it in detail.”
Alas, there is no perfect sustainable built environment, but nevertheless, there are many very good examples across the world where best practices have been developed and are being transferred to other regions. This section explores some of these approaches whose focus is on design integration. A typical introduction to the “Pattern Language” way of thinking is embodied in the Figure below that compares a conventional layout with a more wholistic integrated layout which both have the same number of housing units, but with much different characteristics.
Comparison of two housing layouts - conventional versus sustainable
Module 5, lesson 8
