Just the Beginning...

The world of sustainability has gained a lot of momentum in the past few years; people are now very concerned about the future of our planet, and how that future will affect the human race. I am one of those people, and living in a place like Flagstaff, I am aware of how much the environment plays a part in our lives. However, the amount of polluting or destruction we can do has always been a little hard for me to grasp. The idea that humans can use all of the water in our oceans or pollute all the air in our atmosphere or use up all the space on earth seems kind of far-fetched. Yet, experts say it can be done, and it can be done in a matter of a person’s lifetime. This is why I, personally, am interested in the field of sustainability, and why I built my project around it, and on a different note I am very interested in studying architecture, so I combined them.

This blog will follow the search for the most sustainable architectural materials possible and the real-world applications of those materials. The hard thing about approaching anything surrounding sustainability is that there is no strict definition that someone can follow and be able to confidently say, “yes, this thing is sustainable.” Throughout my research I will be meeting with all kinds of experts that work in the field of sustainability and the first question I want to ask is “How do you personally define sustainability?” Most of the people I have asked (mainly just grad students wandering around the building) have all said something along the lines of “it should sustain a long length of time and have little to no impact on the environment.” This is the definition that I would probably give if I were asked this question as well. It'll be interesting to see how this definition compares to those of experts in the field.  For this project I am going to be comparing the different materials of each aspect of a building, such as structural, roofing, walls, and window materials etc. Then I will see what a college campus construction company uses in their buildings and compare my findings. A big thing with sustainability is that it is expensive, and college campuses don’t generally have the money to buy the more sustainable option. Which is why I added the part of real world application of the materials, to find what materials are sustainable and reasonable for commercial buildings. I start my research this week, so we’ll see how it goes!