INTRODUCTION During the spring of 2018 a series of international conferences and an exhibition of posters about contemporary architecture and project experiences with natural materials was held at the Center for Mediterranean Architecture in Chania, Crete. Architects from diverse countries, mainly European and Ibero-American, exhibited projects realized mainly in earth, wood and straw, integrating concepts of sustainable construction. Nothing more contemporary than this could be proposed in the global environmental situation: a renewed look at how to help build a better world, based on natural principles.
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This project’s philosophy is nothing new. Reflection on the impact of human action on nature has roots as deep as Eastern Taoism and expressions in modern architecture such as Wrightian organicism or the metabolism of the Japanese architect K. Kurokawa. The new generations of architects are increasingly aware that their action determines the environmental problems of the future. It is estimated that around 40% of the world’s energy consumption comes from the construction sector. How not to be scandalized when we witness a festival of high-end technological architectural works that leave a fatal footprint of greenhouse gases on the planet in their production? The British scientist J.Lovelock raised in the ‘70s in his thesis Gaia (the Greek Mother Earth goddess), the idea that our planet could be likened to a cell. It is susceptible to external processes and actions that alter ecosystems, but it has a capacity to be restored by a principle of resilience. The question is, what is the limit of the point of no return? Our first professional ethical duty is to safeguard life in our ‘big house’ by contributing with new solutions.
