AIA Architecture and the City Festival

Architecture of ConsequenceSeptember 1, 2011

Edward ChurchInstitute for

Environmental EntrepreneurshipBerkeley, California, USA

Design Premises• Trends – things are as now, but more so

• Disruption – things will change dramatically due to external forces

• Disruptive Trends – climate change and population shifts will change what is now, so we project the “trends of disruption”

• Desired Future – where do we WANT the trends of disruption to lead us?

Designing Cities for a Resource-Impinged World

• Value-neutral approach• Iwamoto-Scott: city re-built around energy

and water technologies• Van Bergen Kolpa: farm/park built around

culturally-diverse food production

Illustration

• Van Bergen Kolpa Proposal

• 170 nationalities’ desires for culturally-appropriate food, locally produced

• What does one eat?

• “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” – Michael Pollan

• Rates of obesity and diabetes high in U.S. and growing worldwide

For one type of consumer

“But with 170 nationalities the contemporary urban consumer became

more diverse.”

And so did its choice of food.

What are the wants and needs of consumers?

“We’ve been instructed to conduct a separate set of tests

for American passengers.”

Illustration

Iwamoto-Scott Proposal

Design for technologicalimprovements

100 years in the future

Architectural Design Competition1808

• Where do we put the horses?• Futuristic Design for 1908

4 story horse stable, Buffalo, NY built c. 1893;

London tenant c. 1930

Horses vs. Cars

• Public health• Effluent on the ground produced by one mode

of transportation, horses vs. effluent dispersed into the infinite ocean

of air by the newer, cleaner mode, cars

Architectural Design Competition2008

• Futuristic Design for 2108

• Where do we put the (hydrogen-powered) cars?

• Underground. Or…

They fly…

But they do things we are accustomed to.

Walk-up Mc D’s, Monmartre, Paris

Framework for Analysis Now and in the Future:

Production

• Everything that is produced, whether it is buildings, cars, farms, or green house gas, is an interaction of

–Capital Investment–Natural Resources–Human Labor

Framework for Analysis Now and in the Future:Consumption

• Wants vs. needs• Both are delimited by what is available• Both are conditioned by culture

Designing Cities for aResource-Impinged World

• What is the role of Architecture?• Which other disciplines must it work with?• How does it relate to social values: follow,

extend, or lead?• How can it avoid being out-dated?

Architects on a trans-disciplinary Team

Thanks!

• www.enviroinstitute.org• church@enviroinstitute.org