concepts
type: Collection
type: ConceptGroup
member: sustainable architecture

key cases and current trends
type: Concept
narrower: sustainable architecture

sustainable architecture
type: Concept
broader: key cases and current trends
definition: While architecture is often seen culturally as a design-based activity that results in the production of a visually and aesthetically pleasing built environment, the design of sustainable buildings requires an approach that is informed by a knowledge of emergent technologies available to achieve this, as well as a sound grasp of the applied field of “building science.” Practitioners apply these principles in the design of buildings, and architectural technologists inform their work with a functional understanding of the technologies that can be used to reduce a building's energy and materials input demand. Grounding science and technology communication in this way helps to make it relevant, demonstrating to an audience that what may appear to be abstract concepts can be put to use in everyday contexts.A range of examples of how science can be communicated through the medium of sustainable architecture is available, including the idea of passive solar design, the concept of embodied carbon, the use of products that rely on natural energy flows, the implications of various forms of plastic, alternative building materials, insulation, and the exploration of alternative energy technologies.The idea of passive solar design is informed through a knowledge of the geometry of the earth– sun relationship and through an understanding of the angle of incident solar radiation striking any point on the earth's surface—and also how this changes both daily and seasonally. [Source: Encyclopedia of Science and Technology Communication; Architecture, Sustainable]