Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Samuel Mockbee once said that 'everybody wants the same thing, rich or poor -
not only a warm, dry room, but a shelter for the soul'. Working at the College of
Architecture at Auburn University in Alabama, Mockbee established the Rural Studio
in the 1990s for his students to gain real-world experience of architectural and
building projects. Unlike many architectural education programmes, Mockbee's aim
was to work constructively with the rural, usually black, poor, providing them with
decent, well-designed, beautiful and innovative homes and community buildings at
low cost. Much of the work is in Hale County, made famous in the 1930s by the
documentary photographs of Walker Evans and James Agee's book
Let Us Now
Praise Famous Men
. Materials are often recycled or reused, his students' designs
are sympathetic to the local environment and vernacular style but totally fashioned
to meet their client's needs, whose views and practical requirements fully inform
the students' learning and evolving architectural knowledge. As Mockbee said, the
community is the students' classroom and frequently their first intimate experience
with 'the smell and feel of poverty' (Dean and Hursely, 2002: 3). Aesthetics and
ethics, honesty and spirituality, combine in a pedagogy and practice that demonstrate
to usually middle-class students that they, and their chosen profession, can make a
genuine difference for the good.
Box 8.2
Transitioning from green to regenerative design
Understanding and engaging with 'place' permeates the whole regenerative design
paradigm. The framing of the discussion of building design as inseparable from place
carries the implication that it is equally, if not more important, to understand how
building design, construction and use positively influence the social, ecological and
economic health of the places they exist within. This is clearly different from green
building practice that focuses on the performance of the building as a separate entity.
Regenerative design prioritizes the understanding and engagement in the unique
qualities of place and continues the bioregionalist commitment to developing commun-
ities integrated with their surrounding ecosystems. What distinguishes bioregionalism
from other movements and theories is its firm base in the right of a group to self-
determination and decision-making.
The development of design frameworks and tools must spur innovative design
solutions as a priority for architectural design practitioners. Apart from the building
of capability, there are three potential implications emerging from shifting from green
to regenerative design:
1
Re-establishing regional design practices to accommodate the richness of
architectural diversity, vernacular practices and regionally specific solutions.
2
Establishing common ground with diverse stakeholders, through creating an
expansive social dialogue as central to the design process.
3
Changing responsibilities and skills of designers in order to gain familiarity with
a host of environmental strategies that blur professional boundaries positioning
them within a whole system setting.
Source: adapted from Cole, 2012.
