Climate Change at the Building Scale Part 2: Introduction & Stone, Rammed Earth and Local Materials
Channel: Columbia GSAPP
Date: 2020-03-27

https://www.arch.columbia.edu/events/1195-climate-change-at-the-building-scale

Climate Change at the Building Scale is a series of summits which brings together architects and researchers from around the world who are directly addressing climate change and environmental responsibility in their design work.
April 5, 2019

Climate change is ground zero for a shared discussion about architecture’s engagement with the world. The magnitude and stakes could not be clearer, but architectural action on climate change involves the territory of uncertainty. Climate change is complex and no linear formula or approach is adequate. It requires architecture to work across multiple scales and diverse realities. It forces us to rethink the way humans coexist with non-humans (other species, environments, and technologies). In responding to climate change, technical aspects (such as energy consumption and carbon footprint) become intertwined with social and political dimensions (which may participate in the enactment of inequality and public policy). intersect with social and political dimensions (including the enactment of inequality and public policy). Organized as part of the Advanced Studio curriculum, and as a collaboration between GSAPP’s AAD and M.Arch programs, the series of summits entitled “Climate Change at the Building Scale” starts from the practice of architectural design. Advanced Studios have a unique opportunity to address climate change at the scale of the building, and to address climate change through design. With this in mind, we have invited a diverse group of speakers to help us explore these topics. Some questions we might engage include: How might buildings be designed with a scope that extends beyond a single site, client, and moment in time? What are specific and actionable methods for addressing carbon footprint, biodiversity, and social equity? What are the scales at which building practices unfold their participation in climate? What are the best ways to balance quantitative and qualitative factors in design? How should architects design for uncertainty? What is the way buildings and building practices might participate in transitioning to a non-anthropocentric paradigm?

In this session, we will address climate change at the scale of the building by looking at building materials and techniques beyond western modernist methodologies, construction systems which explore biodiversity, and strategies for building in arid climates. We will also consider buildings as assemblages where alternative relationships between humans, ecosystems, and territories can be fostered.

Panel 1: Stone, Rammed Earth and Local Materials
Introduction by David Benjamin
Francisco Adão da Fonseca, SKREI
Raefer Wallis, AOO
Elias Anastas, AAU Anastas
Response by Ziad Jamaleddine