Image 02_Temporal pressures_2
“Genesis Period” repeats here. As maintenance costs are typically incurred at the exterior of the building, they have little bearing in this model. Of course, interior maintenance would need to occur at some point, but not at the same scale as the conventional model. The overall impact of the image is that of a steady-state system to which small changes are made over a distributed period of time in order to maintain the stability of the system as a whole. By using the outer skin of the building as a sacrificial layer to be removed at various points along a project’s life-cycle, the durable materials underneath can be allowed to persist. Due to the long-lasting and flexible nature of the durable structure in this theoretical model, it would be advisable to limit this overall approach to building functions best suited for rented, cityfabric properties such as apartment complexes, mixed use developments, office real estate, and general housing. In this “pre-waste reclamation model”, the organic contents of the building skin could be “rented” from one of many bioindustrial entities whose purpose is to farm,
manufacture, design, and install, and reclaim components which compose the outer skin of a building. By utilizing the efficiencies inherent in cyclical industrial processes, building components become less prone to failure and the bio-industrial entity who supplied them is responsible for their proper reintegration into the technical/biological industrial/organic loop. The supply corporation would have a fiscal stake in the project as well, being able to gain access to a large supply of decomposable nutrients to be diverted for composting, energy generation, or utilization as organic nutrients in order to grow a new generation of virgin supply. Due to the global pressures the built environment is now under, architects, builders, and engineers must make inroads into new ways of thinking. Society’s expectations of the built environment are changing, and the old standards will not survive if they do not parallel this change. Given the approaching scarcity of resources and outside pressures on our clients, it is our responsibility to give due diligence to any new ideas, as extreme as they may appear. 102