Sustainable Development and Society - GSA

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Sustainable Development and Society The Ecology of Sustainable Design By William McDonough William McDonough, FAIA, is a founding partner of William McDonough + Partners, Architecture and Community Design, and Co-founder and principal, MBDC. For all the benefits that have come from the technological advances of the last century, and there are many, it has become difficult to deny that the practices of conventional architecture and industry often prove to be at odds with economic, ecological and social health. As industry takes, makes, and wastes, using materials in a cradle-to-grave system designed more than a century ago, our air, water and soil— the very fabric of life—bear the consequences. An architect’s material choices also influence human health. Beyond the widespread environmental problems that undermine social well-being, the various ingredients that add up to a building also have invisible, long-term effects on both building occupants and those who manufacture and dispose of architectural materials. Indeed, none of the materials used to make large-scale buildings is specifically designed to be healthful for people. Even a cursory inventory begins to suggest some of the challenges architects are dealing with. Consider, for example, the ubiquitous use of polyvinyl chloride. Polyvinyl chloride, better known as PVC or vinyl, is a common ingredient in windows, doors, flooring, wallcoverings, interior surfaces, and insulating materials. Many formulations of PVC have been known to contain toxic heavy metals and plasticizers that are carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting. Equally common is formaldehyde—a reproductive toxin found in particleboard, paints, and textiles—and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs), some of which are suspected carcinogens and immune-system disrupters that occur in adhesives and carpets. Formaldehyde and VOCs seep, or off-gas, from architectural materials, accumulating in tightly sealed buildings in concentrations that make indoor air quality on average three times worse than the most noxious urban air. The forced flow of chemicals through inadequate ventilation systems adds up to costly health problems, like those associated with Sick Building Syndrome. Fortunately, an expanding palette of materials is allowing designers to phase out the use of polyvinyl chloride and other toxic substances, a very promising step for twenty-first century architecture. Cradle to Cradle Design The destructive qualities of today’s cradleto-grave system are fundamentally a deeply ingrained design problem, not an inevitable outcome of human activity. Indeed, good design can transform the making of 49
Sustainable Development and Society 50 things—from products to buildings to community plans—into a positive, regenerative force. Based on principles observed in nature, this new conception of design goes beyond retrofitting the systems of architecture and industry to simply reduce their harm. It offers instead a profoundly effective alternative, a framework in which the regenerative, cradle-to-cradle cycles of nature—nutrient cycles, water cycles, energy flows—are seen as both the model for and the context of human designs. Within this cradle-tocradle framework, design can generate wholly positive effects whose benefits enhance all life allowing us to imagine and create architectural and industrial systems that purify air, land and water, use current solar income and generate no toxic waste, use materials that replenish the earth or can be perpetually recycled. Over the past decade, the cradle-to-cradle framework has evolved steadily from theory to practice. In the world of industry it is creating a new conception of materials and material flows. Just as in the natural world, in which one organism’s “waste” cycles through an ecosystem to provide nourishment for other living things, cradleto-cradle materials circulate in closed-loop cycles, providing nutrients for nature or industry. The cradle-to-cradle model recognizes two metabolisms within which materials flow as healthy nutrients. Nature’s nutrient cycles comprise the biological metabolism. Materials designed to flow optimally in the biological metabolism, known in the cradle-to-cradle model as biological nutrients, can be safely returned to the environment after use to nourish living systems. The technical metabolism, designed to mirror the earth’s cradle-to-cradle cycles, is a closed-loop system in which valuable, high-tech synthetics and mineral resources—what German chemist Michael Braungart calls technical nutrients—circulate in a perpetual cycle of production, recovery, and remanufacture. Biological and technical nutrients have already entered the marketplace. The upholstery fabric Climatex Lifecycle is a blend of pesticide-residue-free wool and organically grown ramie, dyed and processed entirely with non-toxic chemicals. All of its product and process inputs were defined and selected for their human and ecological safety within the biological metabolism. One result: the fabric trimmings are made into felt and used by garden clubs as mulch for growing fruits and vegetables, returning the textile’s biological nutrients to the soil to feed new growth. Shaw, the world’s largest carpet manufacturer, has designed a carpet tile system made for the technical metabolism. These carpet tiles are made from a nylon 6 face fiber called EcoSolutionQ and a polyolefin backing material called EcoWorx , both of which are perpetually recyclable. When the carpet is being replaced after years of use, customers can call the toll-free phone number printed on the back of each carpet tile and Shaw will retrieve the carpet for recycling. The face fiber and backing are separated, and the nylon 6 is returned to its constituent molecules and repolymerized into first quality fiber, while the polyolefin backing is mechanically reprocessed into high quality backing for a new tile. The carpet is rematerialized, not dematerialized—a true cradle-to-cradle product. The production of nutrients cycling in healthy metabolisms starts with material chemistry. We are only beginning to understand the effects of the chemicals we live with every day in our homes and workplaces, and each year, approximately 2,000 new chemicals are introduced worldwide without any need for approval.
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GSA Office of Governmentwide Policy
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Foreword and Acknowledgements Alber
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Contents Hugh Pearce Botts, “Cons
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Smarter Solutions October 2004 GSA
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