Place and Time - Sustainable Design: The Science of Sustainability and Green Engineering - page 165

McKinney's advice that we look under our feet also tells us that natural sys-
tems are our allies. I believe that this observation, which may be intuitively
obvious to this generation of environmental engineers, was not fully accepted
in the 1950s and 1960s. In fact, there was a growing preference toward abiotic
chemical solutions as opposed to biological approaches. Recall that there was a
petrochemical revolution following World War II. Modern society at that time
placed a premium on synthetic, plastic solutions. Toward the end of the decade
of the 1960s, the concept of using “ passe ” techniques such as acclimated bacteria
to treat wastes was increasingly seen as “old fashioned.” We needed a miracle
chemical to do this in less time and more efficiently. Interestingly, Vallero also
had a few conversations with McKinney about the then-nascent area of genetic
engineering, and if memory serves, he showed the same skepticism that he did for
that of abiotic chemistry as the new paradigm. In a sense, McKinney argued that
engineers had been doing “genetic engineering” all along and that we should
be wary of the sales pitches for new “supergenes.” Again, I believe that he has
been proven generally correct, although he would be among the first to use an
organism that would do a better job, no matter whether it was achieved through
natural acclimation or through contemporary genetic engineering.
GREEN ARCHITECTURE AND THE SENSE OF PLACE
Architecture and engineering have gone through numerous transitions over the
past two centuries. In the West, these have tracked with changes in societal
norms and expectations. A large change has occurred in how we perceive the
world around us. Green architecture has been defined as the means of allowing
people to become more in touch with the environment in which they
live. It incorporates natural landscapes into the buildings design which
gives people a better connection to the land. It also takes into account
of all the environmental effects which a building will have on a place.
Green design is based out of creating buildings which fit into their natural
surrounds and give the people who use them a sense of place, as opposed
to conventional architecture which pushes people away from the natural
environment. Many of the key components of green design involve in-depth
knowledge about a place. Green buildings must account for sun intensities,
temperature variation, precipitation and many other environmentally driven
aspects. Without knowledge of local environments, green buildings cannot
plan for variations and they will not be as energy efficient. 7
Green buildings incorporate given site characteristics and conditions, such as
microclimate, light exposure, vegetation, and urban factors (e.g., noise, amenities)