Green Building Revolution

The next architectural phenomenon will be the integration of design and sustainability. On my little tour of M.Arch schools the most striking project I witnessed was RISD's solar decathlon prototype house.

The competition for successful, reproducible, and sustainable designs is widespread and powerful. The ecoMod project at University of Virginia is another example. Even if many of the ideas out there relating to green construction are still underdeveloped - there is little doubt about the surge in interest and work on this front. This 'P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E.' project is one idea that needs further work.

There are several examples of projects that are migrating large-scale sustainability practices into the real world. These early attempts at a greener building pattern will teach the development community a lot about future building practices. A proposal in Portland, Oregon might be the largest scale any green project has attempted.

This movement has a long way to go. Finding ways to utilize existing and alternative energy sources, reusing water, reducing emissions, and finding more ways to attain social responsibility are all trial-and-error processes that cannot be solved all at once.

PS - check #7 on this list of the best "green schools" in the country.