Re-contextualising design: three ways of practising sustainable architecture

The predominant model of sustainable architecture is based on a sharp differentiation between technical and social realms that tends to situate architectural design practice in an ambiguous and marginalised position. Sustainable architecture as a whole has come to be dominated by a focus on engineering design with a related emphasis on energy efficiency and climate-change strategies that seek to improve the economic performance of buildings whilst providing little or no consideration of the wider contexts of architectural design and production. This paper argues for an expanded understanding of sustainable design and draws on ideas developed within the Philosophy of Technology to point to the broader cultural values and practices that surround particular design choices. From this perspective the work of engineers, architects, and other designers of the built environment provide settings upon which the ongoing dramas of political action are mounted.

Through analysis of ‘live’ student design-build projects, the paper explores three distinct conceptualisations of sustainable design practice in which buildings are interpreted as physical manifestations of differentiated frames of design thinking that emphasise either de-contextualised, context-bound or re-contextualising design processes. Although these apparently distinct practices can be analytically differentiated, it is argued that the realisation of sustainable design practices inevitably involves a seamless interaction and interchange between the differentiated dimensions. The conclusion draws on the work of Andrew Feenberg to conceptualise sustainable design as a concrete practice whereby abstract technical concerns and social considerations seamlessly converge to produce artefacts that fit specific contexts.