Design that can keep our nature live

Sustainable Design

What is sustainable design?

Sustainability is defined as allowing for the needs of all people to be met without preventing those same needs from being met by future generations (Brundtland Commission, 1987).

Sustainable design (also called "environmental design", “green design”, “eco-design” and "environmentally-conscious design." ) in my awareness, is a kind of design meant to yield products that are made only of renewable resources. Furthermore, products made with this type of design are intended not to seriously impact the environment either when they are being created or when they are being used. These products are also often designed to allow the users to feel more connected or to relate more closely to the natural environment.

Sustainable design principles include the ability to optimize site potential, minimize non-renewable energy consumption while use environmentally preferable products, it should protect and conserve water resources, enhance indoor environmental quality, and also optimize operational and maintenance practices and so much more.

Utilizing a sustainable design philosophy encourages decisions at each phase of the design process that will reduce negative impacts on the environment and the health of the occupants, without compromising the bottom line.

 It is an integrated, holistic approach that encourages compromise. Such an integrated approach positively impacts all phases of a building's life-cycle, including design, construction, operation and decommissioning.

However, the true sustainability goes beyond just "being green" and is moreover not easy to achieve. Its concept is interconnected with everything we do, consume and make. Currently there is nothing created by humans that truly fits its definition. 

Oh my god. What are we going to do ?

Sustainable design is a timeless topic that has been mentions year after year after year. I have to admit it I am kind of getting sick of hearing this word now.

However, Sustainable design, green design as we usually call it, it is very important to modern designers.

Our environment is so damaged due to the work of the advanced technology, but I would say, designers in the past century might have to take a bit blame for that as well.

When designers in the past invented plastic bags, bowls, knives, forks and other things for a more convenient society, they didn’t think of the far away further, which we live in a very convenient world with less healthy nature in it.

That’s our mission, to prevent it from happening again to the people who live in the next century. Cause we are much more advanced now, not technology but psychological aspect, we have further visions than the designers in the psst century did. We witnessed what would happen if we don’t take sustainable design seriously and we lived inside the consequences that left by other designers.

So now, we are not just designing for human race, we are designing for everything else as well.

What we can do now, is try to think as far as possible for our design: Is it recyclable? Does the material has to be those convenient nature poison? What will it end up when people finished using it? How long can it last?

And try our best to perfect those lose ends for a more secured future for our next generation.

Don't worry, sustainable is on the way!

Puma

PUMA Introduces C2C-Certified, Recyclable Track Jacket, Backpack as Part of InCycle Collection

Did you know that 31 waste-disposal trucks are needed to clear the waste that 100,000 pairs of conventional sneakers create during the production process and consumer life (until their owners throw them away and they end up in landfills or incinerators)?

To help reduce this volume of waste, sport lifestyle company PUMA has introduced a new collection of products that are either recyclable or biodegradable. 

The PUMA InCycle collection, launched this spring, is the brand’s first full collection of closed-loop, 100% Cradle-to-Cradle Basic certified  footwear, apparel and accessories.

 Only select raw materials have been used to manufacture this collection: PUMA InCycle uses biodegradable polymers, recycled polyester and organic cotton in order to eliminate pesticides, chemical fertilizers and other hazardous chemicals.

The recyclable PUMA Track Jacket is 98% made of recycled polyester deriving from used PET bottles.  In comparison, the conventional PUMA Track Jacket contains additional materials, such as elastane. To fully ensure the homogeneity of materials, the recyclable jacket’s zipper is made of recycled polyester as well.

The InCycle PUMA Track Jacket can be turned back into polyester granulate, which then serves as a secondary raw material for other products made of recycled polyester, reducing the need for crude oil, energy and the amount of waste created.

Another recyclable product example from the new PUMA InCycle collection is the PUMA Backpack, which is made of polypropylene. It will be returned to the original manufacturer in China, who will then produce new backpacks from the recycled polypropylene.

To educate consumers and facilitate the process, PUMA’s InCycle apparel, footwear and accessories have special labels that identify the product as part of the biological cycle, meaning the product is compostable and can be turned into biological nutrients; or the technical cycle, meaning it can be turned back into a raw material, or technical nutrients, for recycling into new products.

Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt (EGWW) Federal Building Modernization

Portland, Oregon / SERA Architects with Cutler Anderson Architects

On track to be one of the lowest energy-use buildings in the U.S., EGWW is a model for U.S. General Services Administration nationwide. The project’s goal was to transform the existing building from an aging, energy hog to one of the premiere environmentally-friendly buildings in the nation. With a unique facade of “reeds”, light shelf /sunshades designed by orientation and a roof canopy that supports a 180 kW photovoltaic array while collecting rainwater, EGWW pushes the boundaries for innovative sustainable deign strategies. 

In addition to the energy improvements, the design reveals the history of the building, exposing the artifacts of the original builders.

Sustainability Treehouse

Glen Jean, West Virginia / Mithun with BNIM

Situated in the forest at the Summit Bechtel Reserve, this interactive, interpretive and gathering facility serves as a unique icon of scouting adventure, environmental stewardship and high performance building design.

 Visitors ascend indoor and outdoor platforms to experience the forest from multiple vantages and engage with educational exhibits that explore the site and ecosystem at the levels of ground, tree canopy and sky. Innovative green building systems—including a 6,450-watt photovoltaic array output, two 4,000-watt wind turbines, and a 1,000-gallon cistern and water cleansing system—combine to yield a net-zero energy and net-zero water facility that touches its site lightly.