“Green” Architecture

www.studio-render.com
Sustainable “Green” architecture, is a general term that describes environmentally-conscious design techniques in the field of architecture. Sustainable architecture is framed by the larger discussion of sustainability and the pressing economic and political issues of our world. In the broad context, sustainable architecture seeks to minimize the negative environmental impact of buildings by enhancing efficiency and moderation in the use of materials, energy, and development space. – Wikipedia.org

Historically speaking, building took into account many factors that the technology of today has let us overlook; Factors such as building orientation, natural light, using local materials and designing to minimize expensive excess, to name a few. Architects can specify tile that comes from Italy, steel that must be expensively procured, shipped and attached, and designing HVAC to overcome bad design so that everyone is comfortable. The question is why we have gone away from responsible designing and building techniques; because we are used to taking technology and what we are able to get for granted. Just because you can get something, does that mean you should?  Architects like Frank Lloyd Wright were known for using site materials for construction and being “Organic Architecture”. That doesn’t mean they are sustainable structures, but many are very good examples of what could be done easily in today’s society to maintain environmental sensitivity.  Not all sustainable buildings have to use expensive solar panels or windmills to be considered “green”.

Interesting Religious “Green” websites:
http://www.nccecojustice.org/grbuilding.htm
http://www.greenerbuildings.com
http://www.churchsolutionsmag.com/articles/3b1Feat1.html
http://store.churchlawtodaystore.com/creachdo.html
http://www.rca.org


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