Connecting With Nature: Building a Spirit of Sustainability in Architectural Design

Alarm about the state of the environment, particularly Global Climate Change with its many implications, has led to a new awareness and action toward creating a sustainable future. By the United Nations’ definition, a sustainable future is one that meets the needs of the present while protecting the environment and providing for the needs of the future. With this new awareness, technologies and design approaches that support the concept of sustainability have become popular. Less attention has been focused on the important potential experiential and aesthetic benefits that come from a stronger appreciation and relationship to nature. This wide-ranging study broadly analyzes the concept of sustainability as it applies to aspects of planning, landscape architecture and more specifically in regard to architectural design. The research of literature and projects of noted writers, designers and buildings associated with sustainability is used to find common attributes for creating a character, or spirit. The research examines the additional factors that create a character of sustainability in environments. Seven common key indicators important to the creation of sustainable character are derived from the research. This character happens when a holistic design approach is taken, and the interaction between humans, nature and the designed physical environment is emphasized as an integral part of the process. These factors may be used to analyze projects for their relationship to sustainability in aesthetic and experiential terms, as well as providing criteria for future designs