7. Environment

Environment

The environment is a massive factor in determining many things about a program for a building. Many of a building’s forms, two- or three-dimensional, work better in certain conditions than others. Rectangular shapes are often the best to mitigate sunlight in a building. Take the Kendeda Building on Georgia Tech’s campus in Atlanta, Georgia. It uses rectangular shapes across the top of a portion of the building to protect its windows from too much direct sunlight. This allows the building to have large windows under these shades to let in diffused natural light with minimal oppressive direct sunlight. These rectangular shades also double as solar panels, a renewable option that allows the building to help protect against environmental degradation by being self-sustainable. In my analysis of Lina Bo Bardi’s Glass House, one can see that the house extends straight out from the hillside, rising up on stilts. This is a fascinating response to the topography of the location, which allows the building to keep much of the original topography uncovered. Many other environmental factors can also affect the program and thus the forms present in the building, including wind, weather, flood patterns, and many others. This makes working with the environment pivotal to formal design in architecture.

From top to bottom:

A formal analysis I did of Lina Bo Bardi’s glass house showing the elevation change of the land.

The Kendeda Building on Georgia Tech’s campus in Atlanta, Georgia. Designed by Miller Hull. Photo by Martha Williams.