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(PDF) Building to Cool the Climate
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Building to Cool the Climate

2018, Architect

Carbon has become a dirty word. Discharged from smokestacks and tailpipes, the excess carbon in our atmosphere is now undermining the climate stability of our planet. Yet we know from Chemistry 101 how valuable carbon is. As the fourth most common element in the universe, this inherently versatile substance is one of the key components of all life. In fact, carbon is the next most abundant elemental ingredient in our own body, after oxygen.

Sustainable materials specialists Chris Magwood and Massey

Burke turn our focus to the "other carbon-capturing 'forests' that have so far escaped much attention-the vast miniature forests where we grow our food." The authors note that we grow some 720 million hectares of cereal grains annually for their seeds; meanwhile, "supporting every nutritious seed head is a tubular stalk that is essentially a little tree." These stalks, otherwise known as straw, can provide an important carbon-sequestering function in building materials such as straw bales, insulating straw blocks, straw panels, and plant fiber insulation systems.

One common material that requires significant improvements for the purposes of making new carbon architecture is concrete, the most widespread building material on Earth. The energy intensity of Portland cement, which results in one ton of carbon emitted for every ton of material produced, has made the ingredient a prime target for elimination in concrete mixes. According to engineers Fernando Martirena and Paul Jaquin, embodied carbon is only one of two fundamental challenges with today's concrete. The second problem is that "there's not enough cement-making capacity in the world to take care of the next three billion people due in the next 15 or so years." Instead, the authors encourage the use of alternative earthen materials including rammed earth, adobe, and cob.

Another problem substance is plastic-specifically the traditional petroleum-based variety. Despite petroplastic's many benefits, the substance is inherently flawed. Made from abiotic carbon-the non-biogenic varietypetrochemical polymers are composed of carbon "that is nonrenewable on a human time scale." This would not be such a problem were it not for petroplastics' unintended yet ubiquitous persistence in the world's oceans. According to the New Plastics Economy initiative, "by 2050 the amount of plastics in the world's oceans from dumping and runoff could exceed the weight of all the fish in the seas." Although there are no easy solutions, the authors point to improved recovery and recycling, nontoxic varieties, and biopolymer alternatives for petroleum-derived plastics.

In addition to material topics, The New Carbon Architecture addresses several other building design and constructionrelated issues. Larry Strain, FAIA, principal of Siegel & Strain Architects in Emeryville, Calif., focuses on the fundamental advantages of adaptive reuse over raze-and-rebuild strategies. Green design consultant Ann Edminster evaluates the topic of size, asking the loaded question "Can buildings be too tall?" For all the useful and inspiring information in The New Carbon Architecture, King admits that the book could have been much longer, claiming that "to make for a simple read, we chose to barely touch on a great many subjects… that each call for more notice, if not an entire book, to themselves." Perhaps the most intriguing omission is not subject matter depth per se, but rather the focus of the title-architecture. Although the authors mention a few specific buildings, the text otherwise prioritizes material technologies, life cycle assessment, industrial processes, climate agreements, and cultural norms. The reader seeking stimulating architectural case studies or in-depth building methods will be disappointed. Rather, the authors provide a variety of concise, well-researched arguments that set the stage for a new carbon architecture without actually describing what it is-like narrators establishing the scene for an absent protagonist.

Perhaps this exclusion is for the best, as it invites one's imagination to roam freely. Architects who venture to peruse The New Carbon Architecture will, therefore, have to conceive their own buildings made of sky.









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