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<p>In the past few years this catchy tagline has been declared from the stone halls of the London College of Fashion to proclamations from the vegetated walls of the Massachusetts Government. In relation to the construction industry, I would simply state, “Green has Just Come Back.” The queries posed: Is eco-consciousness, and are green living and sustainable building practices newer phenomenon or are they ancient precepts revisited? And if so, will this trend last?</p>
<p>Well, lets take an almost sacrilegiously cursory tour through the green architectural record. In about 600 BC Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar built the fabled Hanging Gardens (green roofs) of Babylon, considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Fast forward 900 years and 7,000 miles away to the Americas, where beginning in 300 AD the resourceful natives were building Earth Lodges, and in 700 AD sustainable Pueblo houses, in 800 AD Pole and Thatch dwellings, in 1200 AD pole and hide Tipi’s, in 1400 AD renewable elm bark Longhouses, in 1600 AD pole and bark Wigwams, and in 1750 AD sod clad Hogans. By 1580 AD on the scene we have indigenous thatch roofed stone, wood, stucco or plastered houses throughout Europe, America, Africa, Asia and the South Pacific.</p>
<p>By the mid-1800s Icelanders commonly built heavily insulated sod buildings, many of which are still standing today. Not-to-mention the countless sustainable features of the local Rammed Earth, Straw Bale and Passive Solar houses which were beginning to be designed and built in America in the early part of the 20th century -- their second generation legacy living on today. Since the late 1960s nowhere in the world has green roof/storm water run-off reuse technology been as effectively integrated as it has in Europe, specifically in Germany. Reports have shown that in the 10-year period between 1989 and 1999, German roofing companies installed nearly 350 million square feet of <em>dachbegrunungs</em> (green roofs) and today this number is estimated at over a whopping one billion square feet of green roof area. To put this in some kind of spatial perspective for those on the West Coast, that is equivalent to about 667 Qwest Fields (1,500,000 square foot stadium), serving as home field for the Seattle Seahawks.</p>
<p>The historical record shows that in building practice green consciousness ebbs and flows. It seems to be a cyclical pattern. There were many invaluable technological advances made for the construction industry during the Industrial Revolution of the 17th through 20th centuries -- such as modern plumbing and sanitation, modern engineering techniques, invention and production of useful manufactured building materials and tapping into the vast availability of potential energy sources. But it wasn’t until the latter part of the Revolution that many concepts vital to sustainability would begin to be re-explored and gain credibility, this being a result of society’s eventual recognition of the scientific discipline of Ecology. I am, however, pleased to report that traditionally, here in the Northwest -- since the time when the Kalapoya Tribe architects were building ultra-efficient, environmentally friendly semi-underground Plateau Houses -- most building designers have been committed to the creed of sustainability, even during times when this practice has not been a consistently held concept throughout the world. Not that it would, by any means, be a desirable turn of events, and God forbid it from ever entirely happening again, but the question remains<strong>…“Will Black Ever Be Back?”</strong></p>
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2009-08-04T22:59:34Z
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green-is-the-new-black
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2009-08-06T09:47:46Z
2009-08-06T16:48:34Z
Is eco-consciousness, and are green living and sustainable building practices newer phenomenon or are they ancient precepts revisited? And if so, will this trend last?
Green is the New Black
1
2009-08-06T16:48:34Z