1. Introduction

1. Introduction

This dissertation sets out to define the role in which modern methods of analysis can be used in

environmental design to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings. The subject of study will focus on

the research of architectural icon(s) from the twentieth century of the Modernist style through the

lens of ‘sustainable design’. Modernism is broadly renowned for its use and implementation of the structure of highly energy intensive materials such as concrete and steel1 .

The study aims to provide quantifiable data that can be used as a metric to argue both; that the

construction industry cannot stand idle as it contributes to accelerate the progression of climate

change. But also, architectural icons must also go under the same scrutiny of contemporary

architecture to consider their viability as buildings for inspiration in the age of a climate crisis.

The Paris agreement set out by over 195 countries the legally binding treaty to hold the increase of global average temperature(a) to 2 °C and strive to limit the increase of warming to 1.5°C 2. In the UK, approximately 49 percent of annual carbon emissions are attributable to buildings3, ‘The London

Energy Transformation Initiative’ (LETI) research shows that to achieve these targets by 2025 all new

buildings must be designed to deliver ‘net zero carbon’ to the significant reduction of greenhouse gases in the construction of our buildings to zero4. This entails a paradigm shift, the change of

attitude from decades of architectural design and to question the validity of existing, iconic buildings

as a precedent for designing in the age of a climate crisis.

Architects Climate Network (ACAN), a body of voluntary individual(s) concerned with architecture

and the built environment, claim that the embodied carbon of materials in a residential building can make up to 70 percent of all emissions when accounting for the 60-year lifespan5. So far, the UK

government has made tentative moves to improve much needed legislation towards the regulation

of carbon in the construction industry. Namely introducing ‘carbon budgets’, a mechanism to

allocate the set of parameters- per industry, for the emission and reduction of carbon every 5 years

1 Barnabas Calder, “Architecture, From Prehistory to Climate Emergency” (Great Britain: Pelican Books, 2021) 344 2 UN, United Nations, “Paris agreement” (UNFCC), accessed March 2022, https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/english_paris_agreement.pdf 3 Pelsmakers, Sofie, and Nick Newman. Design Studio 1  “Everything Needs to Change - Architecture and the Climate Emergency” (London: RIBA, 2021) 3 4 Clara Bagenal George “LETI Embodied Carbon Primer, Supplementary guidance to the Climate Emergency Design Guide”, ((LETI, London Energy Transformation initiative, 2020) https://www.leti.london/_files/ugd/252d09_8ceffcbcafdb43cf8a19ab9af5073b92.pdf, 6 5 Joe Giddings, “ "The carbon footprint of construction: The case for regulating embodied carbon in construction to significantly address the impact of the industry on the planet", (London: ACAN, 2021 ) https://www.architectscan.org/_files/ugd/b22203_c17af553402146638e9bc877101630f3.pdf

but currently, there is a lack of depth and guidance to meet the designated targets on a project-by-

project basis. Architects and individuals associated with the construction industry are currently

lobbying the UK government for the inclusion of mandatory reporting of carbon emissions in the built environment, along with providing boundaries of carbon emissions on every project6. Known as

‘Part Z’, the written act provides insights to the implementation by government(s) to ensure there is

a ‘carbon cap’ on all projects, initially covering the carbon produced during the manufacturing stage

but extending to a whole life carbon assessment.

The strategy, as detailed in the report specifies the mandatory undertaking of a ‘Life Cycle

Assessment’, this has already been adopted by some of the world’s largest and environmentally

conscious architecture firms like Dortre Mandrup principally located in Denmark. Mandrup is the

recipient and winner of countless sustainable accolades and accredited with the ‘most sustainable office building in Scandinavia’7. In a research paper8 they describe ‘sustainable design as a science’,

as the unique opportunity that architects must work together with engineers and other fields to find

green solutions to designs. They claim; a key part of sustainable design is ‘context-dependent’ to

consider the multitude of factors that make up the carbon footprint of materials such as wood, its

sourcing and availability. Mandrup describe their need for ‘cradle-to-cradle’ tools such as the Life

Cycle Assessment that accounts for the totally of factors which play a ‘vital role in upskilling and educating architects and clients alike’9 .

1.1 What does this have to do with Modernism?

“Le Corbusier one of the most influential, admired, and maligned architects of the twentieth century,

heralded as a prophet in his lifetime, revered as a god after his death… was considered to be the very conscience of modern architecture”10 .

Three years before Le Corbusier was born, the coldest global average temperature was recorded, at

-1.61 °C, this would only continue to increase past his death until the warmest global average temperature was recorded in 201611. Modernism and Le Corbusier would canon the ideal of fossil

fuel expenditure as the new way of living. He among his contemporise championed ‘technological

6 Will Arnold, "Approved Document Z: Whole life carbon", (London: Part-Z, 2021) https://part-z.uk/proposal 7 Dortre Mandrup “IKEA Hubhult is good and green”, accessed March 2022, https://www.dortemandrup.dk/news/ikeahubhult-good-and green#:~:text=IKEA%20Hubhult%2C%20the%20most%20sustainable,the%20Green%20Good%20Design%20award! 8 Pelsmaker, “Everything needs to change” 4 9 Ibid 4 10 Nicolas Fox Weber "Le Corbusier [a life]", (United States: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008) 11 NOAA National Centres for Environmental Information “State of the Climate: Global Climate Report for Annual 2020”, accessed April 2022 https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/202013.