Contemporary Design in Detail: Sustainable Environments

Use of Building Materials

140 Sustainable Environments

No study of sustainable residential space can exclude environmentally responsible

materials.  e projects in “Use of Building Materials” are signifi cant not because they

incorporate as many sustainable materials as possible, but for how they experiment

with new composites or introduce ingenious applications for more common materials.

Many of the recycled elements are not even specifi able manufactured products. All

these works are attentive to the sourcing of construction materials, similar in intent

to the locally sourced products of the “Bioregionalism” projects, but emphasizing the

issues of embodied energy and cost. Also, all the architects chose materials with low

VOC levels and minimal or no off -gassing to provide a cleaner, nontoxic living space

inside and to prevent contamination of the soil and water outside. New and used form

the two basic divisions here: “Elemental and Experimental Materials” presents recently

developed materials as well as reinterpretations of more traditional or rudimentary

ones, while “Salvaged and Recycled Materials” examines how architects integrate used

materials and entire post-consumer objects into a living environment, creating a sort

of architectural bricolage.

A staple of vernacular construction, elemental materials like straw and bamboo

are making a reappearance in architect-designed sustainable homes, often in a whole,

minimally processed form, as demonstrated in the Great (Bamboo) Wall and the

Straw House. Applicable wherever the plant may be cultivated, they are not limited to

traditional methods of construction. Renewable materials like these are popular since

they may be easily regrown and are consequently not endangered as a resource.  e

use of wood, however, brings with it a necessary caution: the awareness of its produc-

tion source. Standards for the responsible sourcing of wood products, such as that

set by the Forest Stewardship Council in the United States, assure that certifi ed wood

excludes endangered or genetically modifi ed species and wood originating from tree

farms or plantations that have replaced natural forests—a process that destroys the

natural ecosystems within.

Just as renewability has become a prerequisite for many architects in specifying

construction materials, the embodied energy of materials has emerged as another fac-

tor intrinsic to sustainability. Embodied energy is the total sum of energy associated

with the life cycle of a material, from the extraction of raw material, through the pro-

cessing, manufacturing, transport, use, and disposal of the fi nished product. Although

metal has a higher embodied energy due to its extensive manufacturing procedures,

steel’s structural strength, durability, and reusability make it a natural choice for many

projects. In the homes here that employ metal as a primary material—the Turbulence

House and the Annie Street and Slavin-Arnholz Residences—these factors plus its low

maintenance counterbalance the greater embodied energy. For the fi rst two projects,

the steel structure is also a precision material that can be assembled from a kit of parts

with specifi c quantities and dimensions, allowing for greater effi ciency and substan-

tially reducing waste.