an excerpt from The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock
by T.S. Eliot
I can’t say I’ve outright murdered my last set of questions. But have taken time for new visions and revisions.
Here is the last set:
framing questions.
what are ‘living buildings?’
why are living buildings built? for whom are living buildings built? where are they being built? who is building them?
why evaluate, rank, and certify living buildings?
what are current standards of sustainability in the building sector? how/by whom are these standards formulated and evaluated?
what are common/popular attributes of living buildings and why are they chosen?
who benefits from ranking systems such as LEED and the Living Building Challenge?
focus questions.
do living buildings more effectively communicate ideas of environmental stewardship than non-certified buildings?
are the living buildings of today sufficiently designed to address the challenges of the anthropocene?
which building practices should be stopped/continued/started in light of the anthropocene?
how can architecture be informed by the concept of the anthropocene? especially in order to answer the questions above?
how can architecture help humankind dwell/survive in the anthropocene?
what will architecture mean in the anthropocene?
I chose to revise my questions after thinking more intently on my methodology, as well as reflecting (I should note, this is something rather continuous) on what exactly I want to say with my thesis. My latest idea will be articulated in my next post, as well as a description of the connective tissue between my ideas, my methodology, and my questions.
Without further ado, here is my latest set of questions!
Descriptive.
Which design elements are currently popular in living buildings that may not be found in vernacular architecture? (i.e. solar/wind energy systems, rainwater/greywater collection cisterns, rain-gardens, green roofs/walls, composting toilets, etc.)
Do these design techniques communicate/convey the connections between users and global/local systems?
What kinds of connections are these designs conveying?
Explanatory.
Why are these designs used?
How do these designs communicate/convey the connections between users and global/local systems?
Evaluative.
How successfully do these designs a) lower a building’s negative impact on both local and global systems, and b) contribute positively to local and global systems?
How effectively do these designs communicate/convey connections between users and global/local systems?
Which connections are important to convey? Are there any that shouldn’t be conveyed, or conveyed differently?
Instrumental.
How can these designs be improved upon and implemented in current and future buildings?