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Environmental design is the process of addressing surrounding environmental parameters when devising plans, programs, policies, buildings, or products. It seeks to create spaces that will enhance the natural, social, cultural and physical environment of particular areas.[1] Classical prudent design may have always considered environmental factors; however, theenvironmental movement beginning in the 1940s has made the concept more explicit.[2]
Environmental design can also refer to the applied arts and sciences dealing with creating the human-designed environment. These fields includearchitecture,geography,urban planning,landscape architecture, andinterior design. Environmental design can also encompass interdisciplinary areas such ashistorical preservation andlighting design. In terms of a larger scope, environmental design has implications for the industrial design of products: innovative automobiles,wind power generators,solar-powered equipment, and other kinds of equipment could serve as examples. Currently, the term has expanded to apply to ecological andsustainability issues.
1. Sustainability - Minimizing the environmental impact of human activities through the use of renewable resources, energy-efficient technologies, and eco-friendly materials.[3]
2. Functionality - Designing spaces that are practical, accessible, and tailored to the needs and behaviors of the people who will use them.[4]
3. Aesthetics - Incorporating elements of visual appeal, sensory experience, and emotional connection into the design.[5]
4. Holistic Approach - Considering the interconnected social, economic, and ecological factors that shape the environment.[6]
Today, environmental design is applied across a wide range of scales, from small-scale residential projects to large-scale urban planning initiatives. Key areas of focus include:
- Sustainable architecture and green building
- Landscape architecture and urban planning
- Transportation design and infrastructure
- Industrial design and product development
- Interior design and space planning
Environmental designers often collaborate with experts from disciplines such as engineering, ecology, sociology, and public policy to create holistic solutions that address the complex challenges of modern environments.
The first traceable concepts of environmental designs focused primarily onsolar heating, which began inAncient Greece around 500 BCE. At the time, most of Greece had exhausted its supply ofwood for fuel, leading architects to design houses that would capture thesolar energy of the sun. The Greeks understood that the position of the sun varies throughout the year. For a latitude of 40 degrees in summer the sun is high in the south, at an angle of 70 degrees at the zenith, while in winter, the sun travels a lower trajectory, with azenith of 26 degrees. Greek houses were built with south-facing façades which received little to no sun in the summer but would receive full sun in the winter, warming the house. Additionally, the southern orientation also protected the house from the colder northern winds. This clever arrangement of buildings influenced the use of thegrid pattern of ancient cities. With the north–south orientation of the houses, the streets of Greek cities mainly ran east–west.
The practice of solar architecture continued with theRomans, who similarly had deforested much of their nativeItalian Peninsula by the first century BCE. The Romanheliocaminus, literally 'solar furnace', functioned with the same aspects of the earlier Greek houses. The numerous public baths were oriented to the south. Roman architects added glass to windows to allow for the passage of light and to conserve interior heat as it could not escape. The Romans also used greenhouses to grow crops all year long and to cultivate the exotic plants coming from the far corners of the Empire.Pliny the Elder wrote ofgreenhouses that supplied the kitchen of theEmperor Tiberius during the year.[7]
Along with the solar orientation of buildings and the use of glass as a solar heat collector, the ancients knew other ways of harnessing solar energy. The Greeks, Romans and Chinese developedcurved mirrors that could concentrate the sun's rays on an object with enough intensity to make it burn in seconds. The solar reflectors were often made of polished silver, copper or brass.
Early roots of modern environmental design began in the late 19th century with writer/designerWilliam Morris, who rejected the use of industrialized materials and processes in wallpaper, fabrics and books his studio produced. He and others, such asJohn Ruskin felt that the industrial revolution would lead to harm done to nature and workers.
The narrative of Brian Danitz and Chris Zelov's documentary filmEcological Design: Inventing the Future asserts that in the decades after World War II, "The world was forced to confront the dark shadow of science and industry." From the middle of the twentieth century, thinkers likeBuckminster Fuller have acted as catalysts for a broadening and deepening of the concerns of environmental designers. Nowadays,energy efficiency,appropriate technology,organic horticulture andagriculture,land restoration,New Urbanism, and ecologicallysustainable energy and waste systems are recognized considerations or options and may each find application.
By integrating renewable energy sources such assolar photovoltaic,solar thermal, and evengeothermal energy into structures, it is possible to createzero emission buildings, where energy consumption is self-generating and non-polluting. It is also possible to construct "energy-plus buildings" which generate more energy than they consume, and the excess could then be sold to the grid. In theUnited States, theLEED Green Building Rating System rates structures on theirenvironmental sustainability.
Environmental design and planning is the moniker used by several Ph.D. programs that take a multidisciplinary approach to thebuilt environment. Typically environmental design and planning programs address architectural history or design (interior or exterior), city or regional planning, landscape architecture history or design, environmental planning, construction science, cultural geography, or historic preservation. Social science methods are frequently employed; aspects of sociology or psychology can be part of a research program.
The concept of "environmental" in these programs is quite broad and can encompass aspects of the natural, built, work, or social environments.
The following universities offer a Ph.D. in environmental design and planning:
Virginia Tech until recently offered the degree program, but has sincereplaced it with programs in "architecture and design research" and "planning, governance, and globalization".
Fanshawe College in London, Ontario Canada offers an honours bachelor's degree called "Environmental Design and planning.[9]
Examples of the environmental design process include use of roadway noise computer models in design of noise barriers and use of roadway air dispersion models in analyzing and designing urban highways.
Designers consciously working within this more recent framework of philosophy and practice seek a blending of nature and technology, regarding ecology as the basis for design. Some believe that strategies of conservation, stewardship, and regeneration can be applied at all levels of scale from the individual building to the community, with benefit to the human individual and local and planetary ecosystems.
Specific examples of large scale environmental design projects include:
6.
| Guide, A. "Environmental design."Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) 4 (2006): 5. |
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