Connection
Bring the outside in
An approach to accelerating climate action through design
Imagine a crane with six arms. It continuously builds and unbuilds a tower. Rather than orchestrating a skyscraper’s construction, this crane regulates the flow of energy from a solar or wind farm into the electrical grid. It absorbs energy by lifting blocks from various locations around its base and stacking them into a single tower. Kinetic energy is released as the crane deconstructs the tower, returning the blocks to the ground. The higher the tower grows, the more potential energy is stored within it. As the COVID pandemic drags on, it can sometimes feel like we are all building and unbuilding our own personal energy towers as our frustration at being trapped at home ebbs and flows. In a sense, the pandemic has built an enormous energy storage tower out of pent-up frustrations. 2020 was a year of costly records. In terms of social justice, the protests following George Floyd’s police killing were the broadest in U.S. history. In terms of climate change, 2020 tied with 2016 as the hottest year on record, and it whizzed past the previous record for the number of Atlantic hurricanes in one season. In terms of health disparities, African Americans and Hispanics/Latinx have been twice as likely as whites to die of COVID. Now that we have entered a new year, a new presidency, and a new phase of the COVID pandemic, the question becomes: Can we shape the way we release the pent-up energy from 2020, so that 2021 becomes known as the year we came together to address the most significant challenges of our generation?
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Outward-Looking Design Architecture cannot solve these problems on its own. But it has a role to play. Architects have shown time and again how thoughtful placemaking can create conditions that support and promote environmental, social, and health benefits. The key is to position the design as outward-looking — acknowledging and responding to community needs. Whether the design team plans for it or not, every building has a ripple effect on its surroundings. Building design and operations influence neighborhood air quality, urban heat island effect, flood risk, and access to active modes of transportation, among other factors. The key is to deliver building designs that reflect and amplify neighborhood-scale goals for promoting resilience, equity, and health. Applying a broader lens to building design and renovation can seem a daunting task. After all, climate change, equity, and chronic disease are three massive and complex societal challenges. It may seem easier to work on one at a time. In reality, though, it is not sufficient to design a building to maximize ventilation and airflow to reduce the risk of infectious disease without considering the energy code. Likewise, projects seeking to reduce exposure to outdoor air pollution or enhance a property’s resilience to heat and flooding events will need to align their design with their neighbors’ approach to protect their own occupants.
