From Efficiency to Ecology: the Changing Definition of “Sustainability” through the lenses of 20th-century Modernism and 21st-century “Material Ecology”
Disciplines
Architectural History and Criticism
Abstract (300 words maximum)
As the changing climate refocuses the architect’s moral obligations, the idea of sustainability has evolved from efficiency and moderation towards stewardship and reciprocity. A comparison of the works of the modernist architect Frei Otto and the “material ecologist” designer Neri Oxman reveals how two, distinct forms of experimentation --- the structural and biological, respectively --- highlight the moral necessity of design through empirical inquiry. Modernist architects of the 20th century, such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, advanced “Less is More” as an aesthetic of ethical economy: efficiency equated to virtue, a refutation of past epochs. Rejecting the fascist aesthetics of Germany’s Third Reich, Frei pursued a minimization of matter through exhaustive form finding, developing tensile structural systems and lightweight envelopes, with the goal of an egalitarian and democratic built form. Presently, twenty-first-century designer Neri Oxman advances matter to the position of collaborator. Through her theory of “material ecology,” Oxman integrates biological and computational methodologies to produce forms and structures that grow, calcify, and decompose, highlighting the environmental and architectural needs of the new millennium. This paper examines this shifting definition of sustainability through a comparative analysis of Otto’s and Oxman’s respective works. Drawing on their writings and projects, including Otto's Munich Olympic Stadium and Oxman’s Aguahoja I & II, an argument is formed that suggests Otto's ethic of efficiency and Oxman’s framework of symbiosis exist within two distinct ecological paradigms. Ultimately, Otto’s sustainability is quantitative; Oxman’s is qualitative. Together, their work traces the disciplinary shift from a modernist efficiency to a posthuman ecology: from “less is more” to “what if the built environment lived with and beyond us?”
Use of AI Disclaimer
no
Academic department under which the project should be listed
CACM – Architecture
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Ehsan Sheikholharam Mashhadi
From Efficiency to Ecology: the Changing Definition of “Sustainability” through the lenses of 20th-century Modernism and 21st-century “Material Ecology”
As the changing climate refocuses the architect’s moral obligations, the idea of sustainability has evolved from efficiency and moderation towards stewardship and reciprocity. A comparison of the works of the modernist architect Frei Otto and the “material ecologist” designer Neri Oxman reveals how two, distinct forms of experimentation --- the structural and biological, respectively --- highlight the moral necessity of design through empirical inquiry. Modernist architects of the 20th century, such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, advanced “Less is More” as an aesthetic of ethical economy: efficiency equated to virtue, a refutation of past epochs. Rejecting the fascist aesthetics of Germany’s Third Reich, Frei pursued a minimization of matter through exhaustive form finding, developing tensile structural systems and lightweight envelopes, with the goal of an egalitarian and democratic built form. Presently, twenty-first-century designer Neri Oxman advances matter to the position of collaborator. Through her theory of “material ecology,” Oxman integrates biological and computational methodologies to produce forms and structures that grow, calcify, and decompose, highlighting the environmental and architectural needs of the new millennium. This paper examines this shifting definition of sustainability through a comparative analysis of Otto’s and Oxman’s respective works. Drawing on their writings and projects, including Otto's Munich Olympic Stadium and Oxman’s Aguahoja I & II, an argument is formed that suggests Otto's ethic of efficiency and Oxman’s framework of symbiosis exist within two distinct ecological paradigms. Ultimately, Otto’s sustainability is quantitative; Oxman’s is qualitative. Together, their work traces the disciplinary shift from a modernist efficiency to a posthuman ecology: from “less is more” to “what if the built environment lived with and beyond us?”