Activist As Architect

Means to act

So what is happening today? How can an architect act as an activist toady? What is the means to act for a change? Even if the development is driven by the single new explorations the change is created by the big mass. Architects need to take a political stand for the environment. During 2019 architects and firms have all over the world declared climate and biodiversity emergency. Professionals has gathered to together work for a change in the policies. Together they are working for a rise of awareness on the climate crisis among their clients and the industry. They are also asking for a faster change in the design practices and the method following, but they also have concrete

ideas how the profession can better their impact on the environment. One of these examples is to create an open source platform to share

knowledge and research. Another is to life cycle costing with the whole life

include carbon modelling while working on a project to reduce embodied and also operational resource use. 6

Architect as activist Through the history, the architects have definitely had a big impact on the environmental movement. The architects, with its expertise on designing the space we live in and the urban systems we are a part of, they have great opportunity to make a change for the world. This makes architecture as a profession a great tool for activism. At the same time, architecture is a tool for activism one could confidently argue that a sustainable approach is a duty of the architect. In a way the architect must act as an activist.

References

1.Fridays for future web page, https://www.fridaysforfuture.org/statistics/graph [15 Jan. 20] 2.Architects Declare Sweden, https://se.architectsdeclare.com/ [15 Jan. 20] 3.Tabb, Philip James, The Greening of Architecture. Ashgate: January 2, 2014 4.Reynolds, Michael, Earthship: How to build your own. Solar survival architects: September 1, 1990 5.Oxford dictionary, https://www.lexico.com/english [15 Jan. 20] 6.Architect declare, https://www.architectsdeclare.com/ [15 Jan. 20] Photo courtesy of Jewel Changi Airport

Implementation Of

GREENERYIn PUBLICAndCOMMUNITY SPACES:WhatAreTheBenefits?

By Razan Zulof

It is quite factual that the implementation of greenery has been evident in countless building designs and community spaces throughout the years in the history of architecture. From the historic Hanging gardens of Babylon, to the famous Taj mahal to Barcelona’s fascinating park del clot. All these are examples of how greenery and vegetation can add to a building design and enhance a public space. Nature, and, more specifically, vegetation are considered today as tools that can help us encounter major contemporary problems such as pollution and climate change. At the same time vegetation provides a sense of wellbeing and aesthetic pleasure. Greenery, vegetation and nature, all these are used nowadays in the design of what is known as Green Open Spaces. The aim of this article is to highlight the importance of this type of spaces and examine their nature and how they affect the safety, health or wellbeing of their user.

Green Open Spaces

Green Open Spaces are defined as all

types of public or private open spaces in the urban areas that are completely or mostly covered with vegetation. They can range from small parks and playground fields, environments and to substantially maintained natural landscapes, such as parks, gardens, or even undefined areas including grasses, shrubs and trees. 1 Green Open Spaces fall under the category of Urban Open Spaces, alongside Grey Spaces, which are the hard land surfaces that are purposely designed for the use of humans, 2 as indicated in [Shape A]. Although they are commonly considered open to the public, Urban Open Spaces are however sometimes privately owned. We can see that in examples such as higher education campuses, neighborhood/community parks and gardens, and institutional or corporate territories and lands. 3

Green Urban Space As An Urban Link

Green open spaces in many cases act

complementary attract interest to a building. Greenery can to a building, however, more

importantly, it provides to a building ease

of access. This porous quality of a green space can provide an urban quality to a building, link it in a better way with its urban context. For example, in Zaha Hadid’s Beko masterplan in Belgrade, the ground-scape forms a series of rippling green

landscapes mixed textures, materials

with the rigid man-made and colors that inform the movement of circulation through and around the site. A large exterior green courtyard in the middle is a result of the built edifice being pinched in a certain way, which positively acts in favor of the flow of civic traffic. 4 The human flow becomes one with the landscape and the landscape becomes one with the human flow. The Green Space that this outline of the building creates, helps in integrating the building to the rest of the development and its immediate urban environment .