Week 8

Presentation to industry experts

Panel feedback

Celine

Agrees that disconnect exists and that it’s difficult to work around a solution for client at the later stage
Thinks there is a demand for it
Recommends built environment architecture -https://carboncounts.fcbstudios.com/
Potentially as it is such a large scale project if running globally, consider trialing it in a smaller scenario i.e. university students or department – maybe it encourages students to understand issues with sustainability?

Boris

Agrees with Celine that non-extractive architecture can be interesting to look into
Awareness isn’t enough at this point – everyone is aware. What about legislation and laws?
I mentioned that his statement reminded me of the bottle bill in some countries, where bottles are charged a few pence more and then that gets refunded when recycled. Consider the plastic bag scheme now it’s a 10p charge. It forces people to act now through lifestyle changes
Recommends https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/non-extractive-architecture-volume-1 (which I can’t buy in the UK sadly) and https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled?t=1626995948372

NPR – Big Oil Misled the Public

This article that Boris recommended is a great example of greenwashing behind the scenes and purposely tricking consumers into buying what they think is an ethical product:

“…”A degradation of resin properties and performance occurs during the initial fabrication, through ageing, and in any reclamation process,” the report told executives. Recycling plastic is “costly,” it says, and sorting it, the report concludes, is “infeasible.”
And there are more documents, echoing decades of this knowledge, including one analysis from a top official at the industry’s most powerful trade group. “The costs of separating plastics … are high,” he tells colleagues, before noting that the cost of using oil to make plastic is so low that recycling plastic waste “can’t yet be justified economically.”…”

Big corporations are only interested in the cheapest methods of production – unless they are forced to investigate the more expensive option why would they?

“…Industry documents from this time show that just a couple of years earlier, starting in 1989, oil and plastics executives began a quiet campaign to lobby almost 40 states to mandate that the symbol appear on all plastic — even if there was no way to economically recycle it. Some environmentalists also supported the symbol, thinking it would help separate plastic. Smith said what it did was make all plastic look recyclable. “The consumers were confused,” Smith says. “It totally undermined our credibility, undermined what we knew was the truth in our community, not the truth from a lobbying group out of D.C.”…”

This is a great example of not educating consumers and tricking them into thinking they are recycling but actually they are causing more problems. Recycling facilities have to sort out and separate plastic types which people still don’t realise to today – and it’s been happening since the 80’s. It’s a huge problem.

Sherida

My project is like reinventing a business model for design as all sustainable measures are considered and developed prior to meeting with a graphic designer
Loves the idea of a platform and social media could influence this, which would appeal to all
Filters for sustainable preferences could be an option for clients to filter requirements
The whole process is not possible to be sustainable – maybe focus on one area?
Recommends never too small architecture – https://www.nevertoosmall.com/

I find it really interesting that two out of three of the industry panel have recommended sustainable architecture and to look at that field – something I had not thought of. I am going to look and see what exists and see what inspiration I can take from that area of design.