Sustainable Technology & Social Ecology with Architectural Design

Abstract

Ecology has become a primary focus of humans in the 21st century. The primary reason is the climate crisis resulting from carbon emissions, and architecture faces the problem at the front line. From the appearance, American cities are becoming more environmentally friendly than ever. LEED-certified buildings are quotidian, and sustainable design has become the mainstream. Architecture is gesturing to promote a low carbon lifestyle and reduce the carbon footprint that causes the climate crisis.Architecture always deals with the relationship between people, architecture, and nature. Many people think that if sufficient trees or green plants are decorated around or inside the building, it can be defined as ecological architecture. However, it involves a wide range of systems, which are cross-disciplinary and comprehensive. Sustainable technology systems enable the built environment to be energy efficient. Besides technology, architecture also needs to thoroughly understand how human behavior and social discourse relate to sustainability, which is social ecology. Social ecology provides architects with guidelines on how to form architectural form and space based on the needs of people. In this thesis, I will discuss how technology assists architectural design to be sustainable and how social ecology helps architects develop architectural form and space through specific cases.