Date of Submission
Spring 5-9-2023
Degree Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Architecture
Department
Architecture
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Tim Frank
Abstract
The rapid expansion of the urban landscape is destroying habitat and displacing native populations of organisms at an alarming rate. Disrupting bird migratory paths and the danger glazing poses to birds, lowering soil and water access, reducing pollinators are among the large number of issues caused by large buildings. Today's built environment accounts for 39% of carbon emissions globally and it is thought that by 2050 two thirds of the world's population will inhabit urban environments. This all means we must design structures that meet energy requirements while not just thinking about humans as the only occupants. It is our job as architects to design for all that inhabit an area, future and past. We can design and incorporate analogous architectural habitat into our urban spaces. Analogous Habitat refers to "man-made artificial ecosystems that can support native biodiversity, in part due to material, structural or functional resemblance to natural ecosystems." -Ariane Harrison- Design cannot solve the issues of climate change by itself but it can start to highlight the issues with our current methodology. LEED -Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design- is the most widely used system for green design. Their lists and classifications for efficient materials and efficient building design could be used to create analogous architectural habitat as either facade, roofs, bridges, art instillations, etc. This thesis aims to understand how analogous architectural habitats and bio diverse design can influence the broader topic of sustainable design. Ultimately, taking the metrics for sustainable design that LEED puts forth and adding a native species design points criterion. My thesis would then show its effectiveness by giving examples of it in use in various locations. The goal being to serve native populations, either displaced or not, of plants and animals while lending itself to an efficient building type, creating a NET+ Habitat definition for architects to use in their work. Why couldn't we design low energy, low carbon structures that use passive systems and materiality to design more inclusively for all inhabitants, human or not?