8/31/2023 0 Comments Elevated design architect![]() ![]() Humans have an ingrained desire to connect. Yet despite putting up physical barriers between nature and us, we still cannot shake our deep tie to and need for other species. Through the daily experience of the designed environment, we learn detachment… As nature has receded from our daily lives, it has receded from our ethics." "What do we learn from this kind of 'nowhere' environment? When living and working in nowhere places becomes normal, it is no wonder that we literally lose some of our sensitivity toward nature. Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan describe this impact in their seminal book, Ecological Design: ![]() The environment appears distant because we designed it as such. Unfortunately, this estrangement from nature has not only directly impacted our health, it has impacted our ability to respond to crucial modern challenges, such as climate change, because these dire environmental topics feel removed from us. ![]() Obesity, ADHD, autism, a decline in creativity-these are all connected to a lack of environmental connection. The separation that we have crafted over the centuries through our isolating designs hasn't come without costs. Yet reinvigorating our bond with nature is a challenge architecture and urban design are well placed to address.Īrchitects and designers have control over our built environment by changing the way we design cities and buildings to connect to rather than disconnect from nature, we can change our proximity to nature and shift our physical relationship to the environment. Poorly conceived design divides us in urban areas from our wilds and has contributed to seeing nature as something isolated from us. To many people, the impact of a changing environment seems distant and completely separate from our existence until we are directly confronted with the negative results. They always said that polar bears would starve to death, but they never told us our lawns would look like crap."Īlthough this does not represent a real person's exact feelings, the underlying sentiment sadly has more than a hint of truth. WilsonĪ recent, satirical New Yorker piece by Andy Borowitz quoted a fictitious resident who blamed scientists "for failing to warn us of the true cost of climate change. "The more we know of other forms of life, the more we enjoy and respect ourselves…Humanity is exalted not because we are so far above other living creatures, but because knowing them well elevates the very concept of life." - E.O. ![]() This post details how architecture and urban design can bring us back to nature, in schools, cities, workplaces and hospitals, with numerous benefits. eran chen, founding principal of ODA new york comments: ‘ there must be a better way to arrange our homes in our increasingly dense cities where we can enjoy our privacy while acknowledging our neighbors, where we can all access outdoor spaces and feel the sunshine on our face.Poorly conceived design divides us in urban areas from our wilds and has contributed to seeing nature as something isolated from us this actually diminishes us. these elevated amenities offer views of the sea or mountains in the distance, new places to connect with neighbors in outdoor gardens, open to the breeze. rather than opening a window, the design team seeks ways that the occupant might open a door onto a garden in the sky. ODA new york’s seattle tower expresses powerful new forms, seeking to use architecture to bridge communities and create spaces for connection. the void in the middle of the tower serves residents two fold - in placing a shared amenity space outdoors, while offering views provided by seattle’s natural beauty. the ambition of the project is to create unique suspended gardens that echo the topography of the surroundings. the design reflects ODA founding principle eran chen’s belief that every city dweller should have access to outdoor space in their homes. Sited in downtown seattle, ODA’s proposed tower expresses a sculptural void in its center that contains amenities offering views to mount rainier. this may be in part because technology has not historically supported bold such architectural concepts as floor plans that actually open up to nature, or - with ODA’s envisioned seattle tower - an amenity garden on the 53rd floor. this typology lacks any element of social interaction and disconnects occupants from the outside world. this shift toward vertical living has created a community of voyeurs and observers, rather than participants. the occupant of a typical skyscraper is found isolated high above city streets, disconnected from neighbors and from the surrounding context. In a continuing critique of the skycraper typology, ODA new york re-imagines the role of high rises with its ‘seattle tower’. ![]()
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