Why should we build sustainably?

A long time ago the Studio rejected the reasons offered up by the granola eating / Birkenstock wearing crowd (although we have been known to engage in both of those activities!?!) Their argument, which - to summarize unfairly - is that we should do penance, lash ourselves, and be ashamed of our technological prowess. We reject this argument partly because it does not work but mostly because it leads to the wrong solutions.

First, though, what is the problem? Summarized simply, it is the diminishing biodiversity, the relatively near-term exhaustion of the world's raw resources (oil, minerals such as copper, water), and everybody's favorite, global warming.

So what is the right solution to these problems? The Studio believes that the way out is by relying on our ingenuity. We must design and create our way to a sustainable future. We must use technology to solve our problems. We must look to sustainable practices from the past - ones that we have forgotten - and re-apply them.

Rather than think in terms of "green" design, the Studio prefers to focus on the creation of high-performance buildings. The aim is to build well from both an aesthetic and sustainable point of view. Maybe the most sustainable practice that we as clients and architects together can do is to build to last, to build beautifully, and to optimize what we build so that it seamlessly fits what it is required to do.

Through design, we can build a sustainble future.