Hubbard advocates green architecture

Author: Ellen Grafton

On Oct. 19, Middlebury's History of Art and Architecture Department hosted the first event of its "Architecture &..." series. Architect and Sustainable Design Consultant Gunnar Hubbard gave the kick-off lecture entitled "Architecture & Remaking the Way We Make Things," a study of the contemporary theories of sustainable design. The film "The Next Industrial Revolution" followed the lecture.

The "Architecture &..." series is a project hosted by Middlebury's Art and Architecture department in conjunction with the local progressive architecture firm Bread Loaf Corporation. The series was made possible by a generous private donation with the intent of enriching and educating the Middlebury campus on issues of architecture that affect many other areas of thought and study.

Christian A. Johnson Professor of Art Glenn Andres commented on the unique opportunities that the "Architecture &..." series provides to Middlebury students through the cooperation of Bread Loaf Corporation and other area architects. "One of Middlebury's peaks is its combination of the liberal arts academia with the real world," he said. "This is a great opportunity for architecture students to interact with real architects from around the state on important issues."

According to Andres, the decision to make "Remaking the Way We Make Things" the first of the "Architecture &..." series was due to the importance of green design in current architectural thought as well as in the Middlebury community. The theme, originally suggested by the Bread Loaf Corporation, focuses on the possibilities of environmentally intelligent designs. The interest in "Remaking the Way We Make Things" was also affected by the recent establishment of a joint Environmental Science and Architecture major, which emphasizes the importance of combining environmental policy with architectural design.

In his lecture prior to the film, Hubbard addressed the principles of green design and construction. Hubbard discussed the importance of biomimicry, in which systems found in nature are studied and simulated to find new sustainable solutions for design. Hubbard is the principal of Fore Solutions, a Maine-based green building consulting firm.

The film, "The Next Industrial Revolution," followed five redesign projects to which chemist Michael Braungart and architect William McDonough contributed. McDonough and Braungart specialize in advising large corporations in redesigning their processes, products and buildings to follow the principles of nature.

The companies featured in the film include Swedish textile factory Rohner, Nike, Ford Motor Company, the Herman Miller furniture factory and Oberlin College. Rohner and Nike sought new ways to make their products non-toxic, while Herman Miller, Ford and Oberlin looked for new building designs that incorporated nature and utilized biomimicry. All of the projects featured were successful in reaching their goals and beneficial both to nature and the productivity of the company.

Throughout the film, McDonough stresses the importance of not only lessening the harmful effects of a product or process, but also stopping it completely through a change in thought and design. Inspiration for such redesign comes from nature. Nature is sustainable - it meets the needs of current members without compromising the prospects of future generations. Under McDonough and Braungart's principles, any process, building or product should seek the same level of sustainability as nature.

Though the film's soundtrack and production values leaned towards the amateur side, the principles of sustainability and biomimicry presented within the film were convincing. The success stories of large, recognizable companies make the ideas of green redesign seem reasonable as well as beneficial.

Both the film and the lecture raised questions that are pertinent to the green interests of the Middlebury community as well as to the themes of design and community discourse that the "Architecture &..." series hopes to engender. As McDonough notes in the film, "The question before us is not growth versus no growth, it is 'what would good growth look like?' And, this is a question of intent, of design."