RA Magazine: 22 keys to a built environment as an agent of sustainable change

"Material-oriented Ontology" is the degree scroll of issue 22 of the Revista de Arquitectura (RA) of the University of Navarra, an annual publication that has been published since 1998 and ranks among the most prestigious journals in its field in Spain.

The new issue incorporates a manifesto with 22 points to achieve a built environment as an agent of sustainable change, elaborated by Degree professor at design of the School of Architecture and creator Lucas Muñoz; by Cristina Freire, Joan Vellvé Rafecas and Tomás Miranda. "We are going to continue building and, therefore, modifying the environment. However, there are ways and ways, and what we seem to be beginning to realize is that not all of them are valid. In many cases, bread for today is hunger for tomorrow, and when it comes to our unlimited dynamic of consumption of the finite, we have to take measures," explains the designer from Madrid.

Its manifesto revolves around four axes: the value chain -projects must be aligned with a triple positive financial, social and environmental impact, minimizing the ecological footprint, facilitating open access to the information generated, etc.-; honesty (which understands that the work is a co-creation between human beings and the planet with a value above the economic and that affects us all)The manifesto is based on four pillars: the value chain - projects must be aligned with a triple positive financial, social and environmental impact, minimizing the ecological footprint, facilitating open access to the information generated, etc.; honesty (which understands that the work is a co-creation between human beings and the planet with a value above the economic and that affects us all); transparency (by which every movement can be documented and be part of an open file ); and its footprint, calling to build from the context, the Structures, facilities, people and topography that exists in each place.

"With this proposal, which we materialize in an image, we try to put in value the networks and synergies that could be possible in our relationship with the construction of the environment, since the only way we see to modify that dynamic is to get out of linearity and embrace circularity," explains Muñoz, who since 2012 has been working in his studio in Madrid and Eindhoven (Holland).

design coherent, transparent and at the service of welfare

In the opinion of the professor of the Degree in design of the School of Architecture, "the circularity not only corresponds to the material (the raw materials, their transformations, uses and to the work on their end so that they are cyclical), but there is also circularity at other levels: that of the knowledge generated during the construction process, that of the work networks that are created, that of the social context in which the construction is implemented, etc.".

"The 2008 crisis, and all the technological changes we are seeing appearing exponentially, have made us change course and develop a greater awareness of our responsibility as creators. Not only in terms of the material implications of our design decisions, but also in cultural, social or environmental ones." "However, I do not believe that the origin of the solution lies in going backwards. Rather, I believe that the technology and the knowledge that can facilitate better performance are already here," he stresses.

In his view, the term "sustainable" should be considered natural to the environment to which we belong: "We should design within it rather than at its expense. In fact, in my opinion, the three great challenges of design today are coherence, transparency and work for welfare," concludes Muñoz, Degree professor at design of the academic center.

The latest issue of Revista de Arquitectura - indexed among the most prestigious scientific journals of its area- also contains articles by 20 national and international artists, architects, sociologists, biologists, etc., such as Dr. Manuel Quirós, environmentalist Cristina Freire, artist-designer Joel Blanco or vegan designer Erez Nevi Pana.

22 points of the Manifesto for the Built Environment as an Agent of Sustainable Change

Value Chain:

1. development of project horizontal vs vertical

2. Establishment of common values

Honesty:

3. Change of perception

4. Planet

5. Persons

6. project

Transparency:

7. Education and training

8. Common effort

9. Learning

10. volunteer activities in local context

11. Open books, flexibility and openness

12. Approvals vs. gentlemen's agreement

13.Standardizations vs. mastery

14. Co-creation space: people + environment

15.Education and training

16. Donation

Footprint:

17. Material expression

18. Footprint calculation and management

19. Second life and file open

20. Life Cycle

21. Choice of materials from the analysis of sources.

22. Energy and water cycles