The Importance of ‘Carbon Storytelling’ in Future Sustainable Architecture
Date Posted: June 27, 2024
Posted In: Discussion, Environment/Sustainability,
From Gensler: The shift in priority towards whole-life carbon in the last five years has been a seismic change for the industry, one we’re just starting to see the effects of in the buildings we live and work in. But unlike the cutting-edge sustainable buildings of the past — characterized by highly visible features like double skin facades and solar photovoltaic panels — tomorrow’s sustainable architecture will take advantage of initiatives that are inherently invisible: they will be leaner with less material in their construction; they will be designed to accommodate alternative future uses; and they will make greater use of existing materials and structures.
But this poses a key question: in a future where we will all be more aware of the carbon impacts of our buildings, yet many of these impacts will be inherently invisible to us, how can our buildings tell us their carbon ‘story’ in a way that we can recognize and understand?
It’s one of the questions I’ve been tackling over the last year with my colleagues, Giacomo Mari and Kai Law, as part of our research project exploring the future of the office. “We want to be able to tell the story in a way that’s relatable, that’s tangible, that’s impactful,” Kai says.
After talking with developers and designers, we have defined three ways that the low-carbon buildings of the future can communicate their strategy to end users:
1. Make carbon part of the identity of the building.
One of the first things we recognized was that, if the carbon initiatives in a building are going to be clear to users, they can’t be just an afterthought in the branding and storytelling process. The carbon story of a building needs to be part of its fundamental identity.
Kai and Giacomo explored the idea of summing up the embodied carbon performance of an office building in a simple graphic that not only presents the complex data in an accessible way but can also be used as the brand of the building itself.
“It is essentially a nutrition label for the building,” Kai explains. “It’s breaking down the building’s carbon impact into its raw ingredients and showing you the percentage makeup of its components. What we’re really trying to do is produce a carbon identity, which also acts as a building identity.”
The intention is that this graphic might be a prominent feature of public spaces in the building, in addition to informing the building’s graphic identity.
2. Keep the story personal.
The significance of kilograms of CO2 and their impact on global climate change will aways be challenging for many of us to grasp — and explaining carbon savings in terms of flights saved or trees planted will only go so far to improving this. In order to speak to users on a more personal level, buildings need to speak to the personal impact they have on people. It is essential that architects remember the perspective of the end users of the spaces they design.
“We don’t design for specialists, we design for everyone,” Giacomo says. “By highlighting how sustainable choices impact our health and well-being, occupants become more aware of the connection between the built environment and their personal life and their personal health.”