Architecture must respond to climate, says UIA President

The president of the International Union of Architects (UIA) opened the 31st General Assembly of the International Standards Organisation with a plea for emerging markets to create their own styles of architecture based on local values and traditions.

Speaking at the assembly held in Dubai in October, UIA president Louise Cox said that architecture needed to be responsive to climate in order to create more sustainable building designs.

"Over the past 200 years, building design has lost sight of the many sustainability innovations that our forefathers developed to allow communities to grow and thrive in the harshest environments," said Cox.

Since the industrial revolution we have moved away from working with the environment to challenging it. We design buildings that fight to survive rather than to compliment their location. This is at the heart of unsustainable design and building."

She added that architects should make use of local resources and heritage to address local needs and lifestyles, rather than imposing inappropriate models of design transplanted from unrelated locations. "We should not be aiming to replicate New York or London throughout the emerging economies of Africa and South America," she said.

The General Assembly met in Dubai to discuss regional changes in building codes, which are now beginning to place greater importance on reducing the environmental footprint of a project. ‘Mandatory Progression' was revealed in August, creating a legislative framework for sustainable buildings in Dubai, while Abu Dhabi released details of its Estidama points system in September.

"International Standards, supporting energy efficiency, environmental performance, environmental impact of building products, and accounting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions, provide a firm foundation for designers, architects, engineers, owners, facility managers and government authorities to develop and operate sustainable buildings," said Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansoori, UAE Minister of Economy and chairman of Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology.

Projects in the UAE which are making use of green standards include Masdar City, the zero-carbon, zero-waste city designed by Foster + Partners, and Lighthouse Tower at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) which will cut conventional energy consumption in the building by 65% by using solar and wind power.

The ISO is the world's largest developer and publisher of International Standards. Based in Geneva, the ISO network is made up of national standards institutes of 157 countries, with one member per country.

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

READERS' COMMENTS

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Arabian Business would like to point out that only comments relevant to the story will be published. Any containing personal insults or inappropriate language will not be approved.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Enter the words above *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM