Green Architecture
Since man started creating permanent structures, architecture has conformed to the environment and technology of the time and place it was created. For a time, during the mid-20th century, it can be said that architecture deviated from this as new technologies allowed for architects to consider their buildings as art forms that existed for its own sake.
They followed the dictum “form over function”. With the beginning of Postmodernism in architecture (the first discipline to use the term), there was a return to, at least, the idea that architecture should serve, first and foremost the people that use it.
Now, with dwindling natural resources, architects are again returning to the idea that architecture should strive to fit within its natural setting and use technologies appropriate to that setting.
The “green” architecture movement, then, fits within a long tradition and takes it further. Many architects now are seeking the best ways to integrate their buildings into the environment, using new and old technologies to make the structures more energy efficient, more eco-friendly.
What renewable resources are readily available? What energy sources?
