Abu Dhabi Climate Resilience Initiative / CBT Architects. Image Courtesy of CBT Architects
As temperatures rise globally, the impacts of urban heat islands—once considered an invisible threat—are becoming increasingly pronounced and ever more dangerous. Despite this mounting threat, however, the public realm which constitutes about 30% of cities offers immense potential to provide respite from scorching heat and introduce new opportunities to improve urban resilience efforts. As global temperatures rise, cities in regions like the United Arab Emirates and India are facing unprecedented challenges in maintaining livable urban spaces.
Within the framework of implementing green infrastructure projects for water management in the Basin of Mexico, utilizing existing public spaces, La Quebradora Water Park emerges as the first proposal for hydro-urban acupuncture. The project, developed by the team from the Institute of Social Research at UNAM, coordinated by Manuel Perló Cohen and Loreta Castro Reguera Mancera, aims to transform the site's infiltration into a landmark of good water management, public space creation, and strengthening of the social fabric through four levels: infrastructure, park, city, and viewpoint. Addressing part of the water and social issues facing the area, the proposal transforms urban infrastructure into a public and recreational space for the community in a densely populated area with scarce public spaces.
Acorn Glade Passive House. Image Courtesy of Tom Bassett-Dilley Architects
When addressing the world's broader problems—such as the climate emergency, energy crisis, and housing shortage—, we often seek sweeping, grand solutions that could tackle them all at once. As alluring as these ideas may be, they eventually run into the thousands of complexities and interconnections our world presents. But what if we sought more decentralized and domestic solutions? Chicago-based firm Tom Bassett-Dilley Architects has been pursuing just this, focusing on sustainable design, carbon-free and energy-efficient projects for residences, historical buildings, institutions, and commercial projects. In their Manifesto: The New American Dwelling, they argue that the single-family home, once the great American dream, needs to be redefined to emphasize minimalism, efficiency, health, connection with nature, durability, and personal kindness, moving away from wasteful, artificial, and toxic practices. We spoke with Tom Bassett-Dilley, FAIA, CPHC, LFA, and founder of the firm, about some aspects of their work.
In the evolving landscape of architecture and urban design, bioclimatic and biogenic envelopes present a compelling vision for future cities. Dr. Arta Yazdanseta, a Doctor of Design focused on energy and environments, dives into the intersection of design, building performance, and plant biophysical ecology. With a focus on bioclimatic and biogenic envelopes, Dr. Yazdanseta examines how these typologies can enhance socio-natural systems by leveraging their self-organizing potential. Dr. Yazdanseta’s academic journey includes earning a Doctor of Design and a Master of Design in Energy and Environments from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
The concept of permaculture refers to a design system capable of creating sustainable human environments based on an ethic and a series of ecological, environmental, and resilience design principles. In contact with plants, animals, buildings, and infrastructures such as water, energy, and/or communications, permaculture analyzes the possible relationships between these elements based on their position in the landscape. Its 12 design principles can be applied in multiple architecture projects of varying scales and programs, contributing, for example, to the dissemination of new ways to reduce energy consumption in homes, save water through rainwater harvesting or the recycling of greywater for sanitary systems, gardens, and more, and participate in food production, among other matters.
The concept of low-tech architecture recognizes the impact of carbon-intensive technologies and building practices and proposes an alternative: a rediscovery of practical, rational, locally adapted solutions that count on smart design strategies instead of energy-intensive devices to ensure a safe, comfortable living environment. Far from being a regressive approach, the term remains open to innovations but seeks to rebalance the industry's reliance on mechanization. It thus favors an architecture of fewer components, minimized dependence on high-tech solutions, and a preference for low-embodied carbon materials.
Thermal mass is the ability of a material to absorb, store, and release heat. Used to moderate building temperatures by reducing fluctuations, the concept is crucial in improving energy efficiency. Materials with relatively high thermal mass, such as stone, concrete, rammed earth, and brick, can absorb significant heat during the day and release it slowly when temperatures drop at night, reducing the need for heating and cooling systems. Properties like heat capacity, thermal conductivity, and density are all considered when assessing the thermal mass property of a material.
It's no exaggeration to say that Renzo Piano is one of the most unanimously respected architects in the world of architecture. With an oeuvre that blends respect for context, lightness and technology to create environmentally conscious and aesthetically pleasing structures, his approach combines advanced materials with traditional techniques. In projects of various scales, the Genoese architect maintains an essential thread: the implementation of passive architectural strategies, highlighting the importance of these methods for sustainability and energy efficiency. This is often made explicit in his sketches, as an initial concern, and clearly comes through in the finished works. Here are some examples of iconic projects developed by his office in recent decades.
A Trombe wall is a passive solar building feature that enhances thermal efficiency. Positioned on the sun-facing side of a structure, it consists of a wall made from materials like brick, stone, or concrete, and a glass panel or polycarbonate sheet placed a few centimeters in front of it. Solar radiation penetrates the glass during daylight hours and heats the masonry wall. This wall then slowly releases the stored heat into the building during the cooler nighttime hours, maintaining a more consistent indoor temperature without the need for active heating systems.
https://www.archdaily.com/1017459/sustainable-heating-projects-featuring-trombe-wallsClara Ott
Between now and 2050, worldwide installation of cooling appliances, like air conditioning, is projected to triple, resulting in a twofold increase in energy consumption. This reliance on such devices, often seen as exacerbating global warming, poses a paradox: how can we fightrising temperatures in cities while simultaneously contributing to them through our dependence on these solutions?
African architecture has received deserved international attention in the last decade and one of the main responsible for this is, undoubtedly, Diébédo Francis Kéré, 2022 Pritzker Prize Winner. Born in Gando, Burkina Faso, Kéré graduated in architecture at the Technische Universität Berlin, in Germany. Today, he maintains branches of his firm, Kéré Architecture, in both countries, through which he seeks to develop works in the "intersection of utopia and pragmatism", exploring the border between Western architecture and local practice.
Although the sun is almost 150 million kilometers away, this star has had the most impact on our planet. But while some are busy chasing the sun for sun-kissed skin, architects are all about creating sun-kissed spaces.
