ENERGY, ARCHITECTURE and SUSTAINABLE CITIES Björn Ekelund Lulea university of technology / Sweco Architects Sweden, 2011-03-07
We are living in a society where experts, researchers and innovative architects are striving to find new methods and designs for sustainable cities. New forms and design patterns will develop to handle our sustainability objectives and it is likely to believe that this not necessarily will follow current theories for urban design. The location of renewable energy production and distribution is one of the fundamentals in this evolutionary development that has to be reconsidered.
space. Those objects and social compositions that surround us create the foundation on which we experience, interact and develops our identity, moral values and personal perspectives. By using the spatial context as a mirror reflection for interpretation and reference, those objects that are of particular importance for our modern society is thereby extra meaningful as mediators of cultural expression. The possibilities to reach a systematic change of the energy system through changed behaviour are hence to great extent a matter of information and perception. It therefore takes two One of the more important objectives for a resilient different perspectives on energy in sustainable cities. sustainable development is the objective of change in The first is that architectural and place-specific debehaviour. Such change must take place in all parts sign which is novel and has a large portion of artistic of society and on all levels where individuals, orgaintegrity can create a spatial purpose and meaning that nisations and institutions need to take an active role. gives the facility a different mediating significance, With the ambitions of a changing behaviour comes more focused to benefit sustainable development that people must get a greater insight and understanthrough public space. The other is that a more qualiding in how society and its fundamentals work. An important road to success for this objective is to let en- tative architecture in a long term can come to change people’s consciousness and perception of the identity ergy facilities become representatives for sustainable development and a reminder of the need for a behavi- of energy, and their own identity within a sustainable development described through energy. oural change. In many ways the relationship between subject and object is also working in the opposite way: our ways of interpreting these objects gives the basis The reason to why the energy system often lacks urban qualities doesn’t lies in the possibilities, but in for the implementation and understanding of future the view on energy and technology as a strict rational environments and forms of society. function that creates meaning in a - from an objectified A great part of these interpretations and experiences is given through our perception of public point of view - separated geographical space. But an
energy facility has the possibility to function, meaning and power both in a meta-geographical perspective, in a separate space, and in a distinct spatial context. To see and rethink these place specific characteristics will change the basic conditions for the role of energy facilities in urban environments. From an urban design perspective this means that electrical substations could be landmarks, power lines could become an aesthetic creator of spaces and directions, combustion plants could work as pedagogical parks in urban environments, wind power plants could create patterns of activities along highways for increased traffic safety, small scaled water power dams could be urban recreational water or storm water basins, and so on. The list on possible aesthetic and urban design solutions can be long, but presupposes an admittance and ambition to identify the performative and representative characteristics of energy as an asset for sustainable cities. The absence of careful and well informed design that is place sensitive – or worse, the attempt to create invisible objects – can be understood as a threat to sustainable development, as we move towards ever-increasing connection of humans and systems in the built environment. By addressing the architectural aspects of energy, new public awareness and acceptance of this crucial component of society could improve this democratic process.
130 kV power line in daytime, Luleå, Sweden. Architect: Ekelund, Mandre, Åkerberg - SWECO Architects
post-industrial society
behavioural change RESILIENCE public perception Space syntax and visibility analysis of the energy system in public space. Architect: Björn Ekelund
IDENTITY
legality legitimacy BIAS 130 kV power line in night, Luleå, Sweden. Architect: Ekelund, Mandre, Åkerberg - SWECO Architects
implementation Solar cell plant, Barcelona, Spain. Architect: Martinez Lapena - Torres Arquitectos
phenomenon
SUSTAINABILITY
evolution
Water power plant, Avesta, Sweden. Architect Torben Grut
Power line proposal, all of Iceland. Architect: Ekelund, Mandre, Nordh, ร kerberg
MEDIATOR
spatial quality
legacy
autonomity
integrity EXPOSURE adaptation
public meaning
innovative construction urban function
novel materiality PUBLIC SPACE
Water tower, Kuwait. Architect Sune Lindstrรถm - VBB (a part of present SWECO)
Heat transfer station, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Heat power plant, Zurich, Switzerland
Architect: NL Architects
Architect: unknowm
ENERGY, ARCHITECTURE and SUSTAINABLE CITIES Bjรถrn Ekelund bjorn.ekelund@sweco.se +46-8-522 952 15 Lulea university of technology Div of architecture and infrastructure 971 87 Luleรฅ Sweden Sweco Architects Box 17920 118 95 Stockholm Sweden