Emotional Sustainability: Why Design Buildings That Are Easy to Fall in Love With?

Imagine the year 2100: After a period of tension and mass migration, humanity has finally managed to control climate change. Renewable energy sources and nuclear fusion have helped slow the rise in temperatures. Cities have been gradually rebuilt to help people cope with climate change and enable them to live sustainably. But when you look at the streets of these cities, you notice that most of the buildings from the 20th and early 21st centuries are no longer standing. What happened?

People once, in their shortsightedness, created structures that were only supposed to last fifty to a hundred years. Even many of the buildings that could have lasted longer were demolished because people did not care much about preserving them. Why so? Because they failed to form a meaningful emotional connection with these buildings.

But we have learned our lesson. The cities that stand in 2100 are not only built to last for centuries but also to be loved and protected by  people for just as long. The question is, how do we get there even sooner? How do we significantly increase the chances that the buildings we design today will still be around in 2100 and beyond? What will make them truly sustainable? We know that currently, around fifty per cent of the carbon footprint of a new energy-efficient building is so-called “embodied carbon.” This carbon footprint comes from the entire construction process. So, for buildings to be sustainable, it is not enough that they can be easily dismantled and recycled. It is not just about  the materials but also all the labour, machinery, fuel, transport and other operations that go into building them. So, if we want to create sustainable cities, we really need to start constructing buildings that will last and be used for hundreds of years.

In addition to being strong and high-quality, this means they need to be flexible. They must be versatile enough to serve different purposes over time. Cities change, people’s needs change and the economy changes quickly, as we saw during the recent pandemic. All it took was a dangerous virus to show up, and buildings that were built purely for office use suddenly became empty. Today, most buildings are optimized for their specific function. For example, take office buildings with particular floor plans, depths, cores, HVAC, etc. That means more efficient operation. But it also makes them vulnerable. Suddenly, people stop going to the office, and the building is empty. That also makes such a building unsustainable. Converting it into apartments is expensive and generates a much larger carbon footprint in the process. But in the past, especially before the First World War, many buildings were built very flexibly. They are not exceptionally optimized, so they cost a little more to operate. But in the long run, you can use them for anything. A building like that can have offices or apartments; it can become a  shop, a gallery, or a kindergarten, and we need to be inspired by this kind of flexibility.