Unsustainable buildings are like unhealthy bodies. Currently, the world is filled with buildings that simply weren’t designed to function efficiently or age gracefully.
Sadly, many of our buildings have been diagnosed with metabolic syndrome due to their initial makeup, or structure, and a lifestyle of inefficient and carbon-intensive practices, which combined, account for almost 40 per cent of global embodied and operational carbon emissions.
Until recently, reducing operational carbon, which accounts for most of a building’s emissions, has been the focus of sustainable building design and ongoing asset management. In addition, operational carbon is exacerbated by several ‘unhealthy’ practices.
Designers and engineers can wield considerable influence on the ‘bones’.
Skyscraper facades, or the skin of these buildings, are so shiny and wrinkle-free because the fashion is glass box exteriors. Poor insulation in some glass, however, renders it a rather impractical and irresponsible choice during a climate crisis.
The brain, or energy systems, are showing signs of cognitive decline and just can't keep up with the demand. Vital organs, or the MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) systems, account for half of the carbon footprint, and over-design (enlarged hearts) is common. Buildings such as data centres are large emitters of carbon through their energy-intensive practices, which is only becoming more challenging with the rapid increase in technologies such as AI.
The remaining emissions, which come from embodied carbon (the manufacturing, transportation, construction, maintenance and end of life of building materials) – the bones, or structural elements of our buildings – are like skeletons in the closet, hiding vast amounts of carbon in their concrete and conventional steel reinforcement.
As we increasingly achieve decarbonisation of the grid, the significance of our buildings’ bones increases. In Thailand, for example, while the primary mitigation for emissions is focused in the energy sector, cement was reported as the highest emitting material in the industrial sector, contributing five per cent of the country's total emissions.
Continuing to design buildings that are unhealthy and unsustainable, makes us prone to many risks. Unfortunately, like some of us experience, we never realise it until we get sick and it’s too late. How can we get them in good shape?
From scratch: sustainable and resilient by design
Although our genetic makeup is set from conception, there are increasing opportunities to screen for diseases or abnormalities that can be rectified either in-utero or post-birth. Similarly, designers and engineers can wield considerable influence on the ‘bones’ of a building by adopting environmentally conscious and circular design decisions right from the project's inception.
Global Warming Potential (GWP) is now being considered in designs alongside cost, speed and aesthetics, almost like pre-natal genetic screenings – and rightfully so. This shouldn’t be optional; this should be a must. Through these metrics or design standards, designers and engineers can make better decisions for the future of our communities and our planet – how we should design future buildings, which materials to use and all other factors that will impact lifespan. After all, we will live with those decisions for decades, or if we’re lucky, centuries. And we don’t want to live in regret.
Can old buildings learn new tricks?
Some argue that the greenest building is the one that is already built, and that it will take a really long time to build our way to sustainability from scratch. We already know how to design new green buildings, but how to repurpose and deal with existing buildings is one of the biggest challenges in sustainable design.
Fortunately, we are starting to see better options. The increasing viability of technologies such as green steel and hydrogen, and new materials like cool brick and bio-coal lining, along with hybrid timber and steel, and construction methodologies such as modularisation, all contribute to reducing the embodied carbon of buildings across their lifecycle. We are also seeing an increasing trend towards the adaptive reuse or refurbishment of existing buildings through deconstruction (rather than demolition) - the proper disassembly of old buildings that helps preserve materials to be reused.
If we’re able to harness these new approaches to design and build greener buildings, we’ll be able to achieve more net zero buildings in the future.
How can we repurpose and improve existing buildings?
A good example of this is the Chicago Sun-Times' printing site in the US, which was found to be a perfect adaptive reuse into a data centre because of its ‘strong bones,’ and the former bank building turned into a high-density NEXTDC B2 data centre in Brisbane, Australia.
Could ‘extreme building makeovers’ be the next expertise our designers and engineers need to harness to increase their lifespan and achieve net zero embodied carbon?
If cylindrical, concrete silos can be transformed to residences, homes, and even art museums to reduce construction waste, what more can designers, engineers, and advisors do to repurpose buildings in the future? Where can our creativity take us?
From dust to dust
Of course, reaching the end of its life is inevitable as with human lives but the end doesn’t mean that all our efforts are futile. Re-using existing buildings to extend their useful lives and delay obsolescence will move us towards more circular economies and cities, where assets and materials will be retained at their highest value for the longest possible time. And before the time comes, we have the opportunity to create circular systems for the industry to help create a more sustainable future.
In Vietnamese culture, there is a strong belief in “Nhan Qua” or the cause-effect philosophy, that whatever we give out in life, we will get in return. If we make it our life purpose to find ways to create a better future for our communities and the planet, the next generations will reap what we sow. So, let’s go beyond just addressing operational carbon emissions and consider how we can design circularity and sustainability into our buildings from the outset, embracing renewable resources and practices. In this way, we will achieve a total systems transformation underpinned by intentional design.
