Design Ecologies | Lisa Tilder

Contemporary architects are under increasing pressure to offer a sustainable future. But with all the focus on green building, there has been little investigation into the meaningful connections between architectural design, ecological systems, and sustainability. A new generation of architects and engineers aims to recast the green movement for the twenty-first century and transform design into a positive agent by balancing the societal needs of humans with environmental considerations. Design in this sense is a larger concept having as much to do with politics and ethicsas with buildings and technology. Design Ecologies is a groundbreaking collection of never-before-published essays and case studies by today's most innovative -green- designers. Their design strategiessocial, material, technological, and biologicalrun the gamut from the intuitive to the highly technological. One essay likens window-unit air conditioners in New York City to weeds in order to spearhead the development of potential design solutions. Latz +Partner's Landscape Park integrates vegetation and industry in an urban park built amongst the monumental ruins of a former steelworks in Duisburg Nord, Germany. The engineering firm Arup presents its thirty-three-square-mile masterplan for Dongtan Eco City, an energy-independent city that China hopes will house half a million people by 2050. An introduction by designer Bruce Mau leads off a stellar list of emerging designers, including Jane Amidon, Blaine Brownell, David Gissen, Gross.Max, Peter Hasdell, Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake, R&Sie(n), Studio 804, and Work Architecture Company.