RESPONSIBLE ARCHITECTURE
by Professor, architect Matti Rautiola
08.11.2010 13:21
The modernist, function-driven model of society is a tree. Its administration, organisations and land use are divided into sectors. The people, information and materials travel back and forth between various places and addresses. The consequence is the construction and use of specialised buildings; housing, offices, public services, residential homes, industrial blocks, commercial buildings. They are all located in their own specific areas and used only for part of the day. Most of the time, the spaces are ventilated and heated for the invisible user, to keep the conditions comfortable and in line with norms.
The end result is an overwhelming environmental burden; disproportionate use of energy. Environmentally conscious authorities demand better insulation, tighter structures and more intelligent automation technology in new construction. Unfortunately, the volume of new construction represents only one per cent of the existing stock in a year. Therefore, it does not settle concerns over the future. The technological challenge seems overwhelming and the solutions too time consuming. In conclusion, we have to do all of the above and design the buildings much better, but in addition, we have to learn to live differently in the existing environment.
Information technology, international economic structures and the global rearrangement of production have already changed the world. The change is happening all the time and the effects seem permanent. Various societal activities, the traditional foundation of a city, have evolved into a state where they float and use independent of scale, place, time and form. There is an evident contradiction between the urban patterns of the modernist sectoral city and the new four-dimensional global order and networks. Architectural styles and technological applications only offer marginal solutions. The second conclusion is that the cities themselves must change. Instead of a division of functions, there is a need for an urban structure that facilitates the simultaneous presence of multiple, evolving, ever changing human activities and related organisations.
We Finns tend to think that in the past, we lived in a poor, remote and isolated country. The harsh climate and drastic seasonal changes dominated the pace of life. Such a severe lifestyle does not sound very tempting. However, we have a lot to learn from those times. People lived in harmony with nature, with a deep understanding of its powers. They took nature into account, made their everyday tools and buildings out of natural materials and adjusted their lifestyle according to the seasons. From generation to generation, the culture built its foundation on necessity. Conditions of survival and success became the leading values in both everyday life and high culture. The obvious qualities of the physical environment; usefulness, durability and well-chosen materials became virtues, appreciated features, ethical alternatives and approved ways of doing things. This truthfulness and goodness was seen as beautiful. Beauty was in simplicity and form that explained itself. Decoration was not necessary. An additional advantage was that these objects dissolved into nature when obsolete and deserted.
Looking back, one might say that we have closed our eyes from something on the way to modern prosperity. The resolving method may just be an interpretation of history. Cultural heritage does not disappear easily. It lasts through generations, in the human genome. Even though the world has recently experienced a tremendous explosion of information and chaos of optimized truths, traditional values still have a place in our judgement. Information can be turned into knowledge, and applied in built and object environment to find new interpretations of ecological simplicity.
We architects have always envied our colleagues of the early 20th century, because they faced such a challenge in constructing a new dream society. Current times with all their global problems lay a heavy burden of responsibility on our shoulders, but also open up a tremendous source of inspiration that urges us to seek brave new visions in urbanity, architecture and design, as well as a future environment which is sound, flexible, sustainable, intellectual, energy efficient and good to live in.
Especially here in Japan, we have an exceptionally good opportunity to learn from each other.
Professor, Architect SAFA Matti Rautiola is Director General of the Building Information Foundation RTS of Finland and Chairman of the Executive Board of the Finnish Institute in Japan. He has a long career as an architect and has also been Chairman of the Executive Board of the Finnish Association of Architects SAFA.