Sustainable+Design



WRITING 3

Sustainable Design. In the past few years, the world has developed an interest for the wellbeing of our surroundings, taking nature and the planet into consideration after acknowledging the damage contamination and global warming has been causing to it since the industrial revolution. Architecture and urban planning are no exceptions. Considering these terms, a new point of view was taken into account, creating a philosophy to create or design physical objects, the environment we build and the services to fulfill the basics of social, economical, and ecological sustainability, philosophy known as sustainable design.

With this, what sustainable architecture looks for is to minimize the impact a building or the construction of a city can have on the environment, by enhancing efficiency and moderation in the use of materials, energy and space. What sustainability creates is a connection with the natural environment, requiring no non-renewable resources to make this happen. Sustainable design is based on a few principles, which are:
 * Low-impact materials: the use of materials that were produced in a sustainable way, with recycled materials requiring little energy to process or that are not toxic for the environment.
 * Energy efficiency: products that require less energy using manufacturing processes.
 * Quality and durability: using products that last longer and work better will reduce their frequent replacement, reducing by this the impact that manufacturing this product can have.
 * Design for reuse and recycling: Designing considering the afterlife products and processes can have.
 * Design measuring the carbon footprint impact and assess life-cycle for any resource used.
 * Biomimicry: enable constant reuse of materials by designing new industrial systems based on biological lines.
 * Service substitution: promote minimal resource use by changing personal ownership mode of consumption to provision of services with similar functions.
 * Renewability: being able to replace materials with those provided by renewable sources nearby.
 * Robust eco-design: pollution sources should be built under strict design principles.

The development of technology is helping to create new ways of implementing architecture and urban planning, today the sky is the limit in terms of designing, and every day we are able to see newer buildings built under sustainable principles and this culture being spread worldwide as time passes by. Awareness of contamination and pollution and global warning, and what this can cost to our planet is the way to create an impact in architecture and urban design, helping with a solution through sustainable design.

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