Abstract:
"How can architecture fight climate change by housing Auckland's growing population?"
We live in a time of ecological imbalance partly decided by how
much carbon our buildings emit into the atmosphere. The
architectural industry looks to nature for new architectural
solutions and inspirations to meet sustainability and economic
demands. According to the Auckland City council, the city's urban
layout will grow as more people come from overseas. Without a
sustainable housing proposal, the council's plan to house new
residents endangers human health, wildlife and New Zealand's
significant ecosystems. As the population grows, so will the area
of urbanisation, pushing the natural environment towards the point
of no return. The architecture industry has attempted to build net-zero housing but depends on high carbon-emitting building
materials such as concrete and steel. New Zealand has access to
timber, one of the most sustainable building materials globally. Yet,
the industry is failing to create a sustainable future for the growing
population by using building technologies and design processes
that contribute to the global problem of climate change.
Fighting climate change by housing the increasing population is a
challenging and broad design process, but not impossible.
The industry needs to keep generating nature-inspired building
proposals incorporating sustainable building technologies, biophilic
designs, and a sense of community to truly combat climate change
with accommodation. Nature-inspired building proposals go by
many names, such as biomimetic and regenerative architecture.
Biomimetic architecture requires science and biology specialists in
the design process. The architectural industry can achieve
regenerative architecture without depending heavily on less relevant
research areas.
In this work of literature, the reader will find the process behind a
nature-inspired building proposal that creates/restores ecologies on
Auckland building sites. The proposal incorporates sustainable
building technologies and a sense of community in tall building
forms, reversing Auckland's damaging effects on the natural
environment.
It uses the living building and community challenge guidebooks to
connect nature-inspired production with joint research into cohousing, high-rise design, and timber technologies through creative
practices. The aim is to maximise the readers understanding of the
creative process behind the regenerative architecture and how it
can sustainably house Auckland's growing population by fighting
climate change.
Keywords: High-rise, co-housing, timber technologies, regenerative
architecture & nature-inspired concepts.