The field of architectural technology has advanced quite rapidly during the past several years. The new developments in alternative building techniques tend to make traditional methods obsolete. It is therefore an immerse responsibility for architects to keep up with recent developments, to gather information effectively, to investigate alternative building techniques and to embrace a broad vision towards the future. Today the challenges that lie ahead of us are not only the concerns of cost, time or workmanship in building constructions, but also construction debris that makes up almost half the total municipal waste stream according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports. An article in Architecture Magazine, Gina Goldstein in her article named, Waste not, Want not, stated “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports the gritty truth: Constructing, renovating, and tearing down residential and commercial buildings in this country produced almost 136 million tons of waste in 1996, the equivalent of 2.8 pounds per person per day. Despite increased recycling, most of the debris still winds up in landfills, where its sheer volume imposes an enormous environmental burden.”
If the current trend continues, we will spend more time and money to clean up the construction debris than building our future environment. In other countries, efforts for recycling building had already begun. In Portland, Oregon, 92 percent of the Portland Trail Blazers basketball Arena was recycled. One of the more traditional strategies involving recycle is to maximize the reuse of the building materials. In Europe, EPR laws require companies to take back and recycle the building products. At the present time deconstruction costs little more than the traditional demolition; however the cost difference will soon to be changed when contractors gain experience and the market for recycled building materials grows. In the United States, there are currently no such laws to force the building industry to practice techniques for disassembly. It will not be hard to imagine in the near future that private industry may be forced to change current building practices, when the landfills over flow and there are increases in charges for waste dumping. The key to all these problems is to design recycled architecture or green architecture. The design of recycled architecture begins from simple disassembled screws rather than permanent nail, uses of recycled materials to the design of recycled construction systems. Every designer wishes his or her designs could last forever; however most of these buildings will not even outlast a man’s lifetime. The effort to reduce our construction debris begins with a design concept in the environmental protection. The building has to design for disassembly in the preliminary design stage rather than waiting till its demolition. In most architecture schools today, the education often focuses more in the construction of the building rather than deconstruction of the building. With recycling in mind, a slight modification of our current building practices and school curriculum will lead our next generation to a better life.
The importance of the material technologies in building systems is previously described. It is essential for architects to learn the properties of the basic materials- their strength and weakness in building systems; however the curriculum should not exclude new materials in building systems such as plastic, paper, hybrid composite materials, shape memory alloys, and piezoelectric cells in anti-earthquake superstructure designs. Plastic is the product of the late twentieth century. While it’s usage and influence are growing rapidly in many industries, plastics comprise less than one percent of the total tonnage of construction materials used in the United States. The new carbon-fibre time trial bicycle (developed by Lotus Engineering and ridden by English cyclist Chris Boardman) wouldn’t have won a gold-medal if bicycle designers had not used carbon-fiber tubing to build its ultra-light frame. Diaphanous plastic bubbles floating at the every edge of the atmosphere may one day take the place of more expensive (metal-made) satellites and conventional spacecraft. The material scientists have now chemically stitched molecules together into polymer sheets, and this new plastic material lasts much longer than other types of polymers now used for the same purpose. What do these technological/material discoveries mean for architecture? To begin with, they mean that some of the fatal disadvantages of plastic such as its durability now can be conquered. Polymer science is advancing rapidly. Plastic now can be used in structural framing. New discoveries are announced weekly in scientific journals.
Shape memory alloys are metal alloys which when conducted by heat and electricity will modify into different shapes and properties. This special quality of shaped memory alloys is great for structures to prevent damages in earthquake. Other technology includes piezoelectric structural material that can dampen vibration range from the sway of a building to the vibration of an air conditioning unit. By significantly reducing the vibrations found in the building we can reduce the wear and tear placed in structural components. These are few examples of the new building materials for building industry. The new building materials are not only supplanting older materials for many conventional applications; they are also recyclable and stimulating architects to innovate new types of structures and to experiment with architectural designs. The alternative construction systems should also take into considerations, such as prefabrication in wall panel systems, tilt concrete wall system, and lift slab construction…etc. The works of Buckminster Fuller and others are alternative choices for building constructions, and expected to work well under some situations. The 21st century architect should involve a broad spectrum of new building materials and new construction systems. The awareness of such advancements pushes forward the wheel of the evolution in architectural technologies.
In the past few years, the price of a personal computer has dropped considerably. Computer is reaching every households of the world. More than seventy millions of people in the United States ‘surf’ the Internet. The computer has touched yet another territory of our humanity- our shelter. Intelligent building is not mere science fiction, but a current new building system practice. Intelligent building uses a highly integrated computer technology to make heating, cooling, lighting, communications and every familiar aspect of our shelter more convenient and efficient. The study of intelligent buildings commences from the automated system management, case study, and the design to the implementation. The study of TRON building or Gate’s house, failure or success (it remains to be seeing), will greatly prepare us to the next century where a more fierce technology evolution will anticipate to take a place. An effective education in architectural technologies brings forward a new vision to our future. The automation in building systems is part of that vision, which requires further research, development, and study.
As architects of the 21st century, there is always a two-fold concern with architecture demonstrated by the previous history of mankind. The first is the philosophical and artistic point of view, which addresses architecture as an aesthetic form. The second is the architectural technologies and engineering point of view, which acknowledges structure as a built form. This is the two-fold nature of architecture; architectural technologies should assist architects to design a better-built environment. Architects must fully and quickly digest the new information in order to pass it on to their students to learn, to expand, and to mold it into a working technique. There are also some qualities of construction materials that should be noted by architects/engineers, including their colors, smells, sounds, and textures, which can never be adequately delineated by drawing. The benefits of alternative building techniques take on a simple approach that reflects on the constant evolution of our humanity. Our future still lies in the past and the present; thus, without the past and the present there is no future.
