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With global building stock projected to double in the next two decades, the challenge of reducing the carbon expenditure becomes a planning-design-construction opportunity. This urgently warrants an assessment of existing architectural practices and employment/usage of building systems, by professionals and experts to facilitate sustainable and optimistic experimentations. It is high time that we rethink the creative aspects of not just technology and buildings systems, but also the culture and the foundation of the building industry. The book begins to explore these facets of the complex relationship between the built environment, carbon mitigation and climate change through the low-carbon adaptive re-use of SDE1/3 of the former School of Design and Environment (SDE) at the National University of Singapore (NUS). The essays / articles extrapolate key themes on adaptive re-use to the hot and wet atmospheres on the urbanizing Equator. Unlike new-builds, the design and development of adaptive re-use projects straddle the existing realities of the built form and future projections of building use and operations.
About the author
Erik L'Heureux FAIA, LEED AP BD+C, is an award-winning American architect, educator and administrator. He is the Vice Dean, Special Projects at the School of Design and Environment (SDE) leading the transformation of SDE at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He is currently leading the transformation of the School of Design and Environment 1 and 3 at SDE with over 250,000 square feet of renovated facilities slated for completion by 2022. As the Master of Architecture Program Director and Dean's Chair Associate Professor, he teaches the new generation of architects to be committed to the complexities and potentials of architecture on the equator. And through his design work, he developed a series of award-winning buildings that combine passive performance, pattern, and simplicity as a product of the hot-wet climate and the dense, urban equatorial context where he practices. L'Heureux sees the integration of design education, academic leadership, and creative practice as a hallmark of his impact, inspiring students, professionals, and the public to become more attuned to architecture fit for the equator and the warming world.
Summary
Twelve critical essays in this book present a constellation of voices surrounding carbon and its relationship with architecture, renovation, material, form, and design pedagogy.
