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Thoughts and ideas on ecological sustainability and the reflections on architecture

By: Aksoy M. 1, Bilgen S. 1, Baslo M. 1
1Department of Architecture, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract

Sustainability concept that particularly mentions a ‘futurity’ is defined as ‘meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ in ‘Our Common Future’ (Brundtland Report) in 1987. [1] Concept of ecology was and still is being evaluated with the change of environmental problems, political, economic and social attitudes. Before the industrialization, for the societies living within the nature, environmental consciousness was within the daily life. Environmentalism emerged being against to mechanization and focused on nature-centered view instead of human-centered view after industrialization. If the action of architecture is interpreted as ‘to build’, from the deep ecologists’ perspective to interfere to the earth (to build) is an anti-ecological action. On this paper, based on the intersection of ecological sustainability and architecture, basically the circumstances that are merged when the concept of ecological sustainability encounters with the discipline of architecture which is defined as an anti-ecologic activity by deep-ecologists’ point of view will be discussed; the transformation of the concept of ecology throughout years will be summarized and the e volution of ecologic architecture will be displayed. The reflections of ecological discourse on the architecture which is defined as an anti-ecological act and the architectural approaches developed by ecological objectives will be discussed. © 2013 IAHS.