When it comes to sustainability, less is more …
When it comes to sustainability, less is more. By this I mean less square meters in our homes, less demolition of our existing buildings and, importantly, less embodied and operational carbon in construction.
Australia currently has the largest homes in the world, and WA some of the largest homes in the country. Over the years the consumer has become convinced that they need four bedrooms, a home theatre, a butler’s pantry, a mudroom and more. But do we really need all of these rooms and all of this space? Would we be better off in less space just better designed?
Smaller homes are not only more sustainable – using less materials in construction and less energy to heat and cool – they are also more affordable and enable greater urban density, so that’s less destruction of natural habitats at the fringe. Further, with ever diminishing household sizes, and an increasing proportion of single person households, it makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is a focus on reusing plastic bags and disposing of household waste in FOGO bins if our individual biggest use of resources, our homes, are inherently unsustainable.
As well as building less floor area, we also need to consider where it’s feasible to demolish less in favour of more refurbishments and adaptive reuse. For example, Britain’s top engineers have urged their government to stop buildings being demolished, noting that making bricks and steel creates vast amounts of CO2, with cement alone causing 8% of global emissions.
Adaptive reuse (or turning an existing building into a new place serving another purpose) is a global trend. In the US recent reports show that conversion of former offices into apartments is at an all time high, driven by the movement of working from home. These conversions are obviously not an easy task, and not always feasible, but it is being done and can breathe new life into cities.
Here in Perth there are some great examples of heritage adaptive reuse. Who would have imagined that a collection of one hundred year old Government Buildings would one day house a luxury hotel? There’s also examples of very low budget conversions. Huzzard Photographic Studios in Pier Street is a case in point, occupying a formerly derelict building with minimal intervention. There’s another lesson here - to design and build for future flexibility. The pandemic shows we don’t know what’s around the corner. Our buildings need to be adaptable.
For new builds what now needs to become the norm is a focus on the use of less carbon in both construction and operation. With the built environment accounting for about 39% of carbon emissions globally, it’s a prime target for getting on track to a zero carbon economy.
While mandates for reduced carbon, and eventually zero carbon, will need to be enshrined in the National Construction Code, in the meantime we can all take responsibility now and start measuring the amount of carbon in the buildings we are designing and constructing. There are a number of cost effective tools available to do this.
The saying “less is more” was made famous by internationally renowned architect Mies van der Rohe in the 1920s. A catch cry of the modern movement, the idea of less is more heralded a massive shift in both design aesthetics and construction methodologies. One hundred years later, we are at another turning point. We require a massive shift in the built environment to tackle climate change. Less now means a more sustainable future.
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Opinion published in the West Australian newspaper, 7 December 2022, link here to online version: