As these new priorities coalesce, they become a catalyst for fresh insights, innovations, and technological advances. Not least of all, they prompt a healthy and invigorating reexamination of the ways in which humans occupy and move through space, generate thought-provoking conclusions about the form and function of designed environments, and point to an intriguing bottom line: density and ecological sensitivity are no longer mutually exclusive.
Design as Conservation
While political perspectives differ and scientific conclusions about the extent and severity of global environmental concerns may vary, there is no debate about the degree to which these issues exert a strong influence over some fundamental aspects of design and development.
Environmentally conscious design principles are given coherent and compelling voice by advocates of smart growth. At its core smart growth promotes increased density in new or existing development that either uses existing infrastructure and utilities or minimizes new construction. The antithesis of urban and suburban sprawl, smart growth advocates dense, compact planning and design choices and integrated mixed-use layouts to create livable environments with a powerful and defining sense of place.
It may seem counterintuitive, but dense development does not necessarily equate to overdevelopment. The true enemy of sustainable, eco-friendly design is not density but uncoordinated, unfocused development. Poorly planned construction undertaken without sufficient regard for efficiencies of movement, usage, and space leads to disorder and sprawl. Dense development can change this counterproductive dynamic and help avoid perpetuating this vicious cycle.
Dense, vertical, thoughtfully considered development has several inherent advantages. Fundamentally, and perhaps most importantly, it simply occupies less space. Smaller footprints translate to less land while providing the same net square footage. Building closer and higher is also more efficient from an energy standpoint. The consistency of master-planned projects and other coordinated development allows for careful planning of the structural grid that can streamline energy delivery and reduce overall demand. Many architects and developers retain specialized engineers and mechanical consultants with expertise in creating tailored cutting-edge systems to maximize energy efficiency and minimize ongoing costs.
Green overflow parking and permeable asphalt are promising technologies that allow water to filter through, but an increasingly popular design option is to take parking facilities in the same conceptual direction as commercial and mixed-use projects and ''go vertical.'' The higher construction costs of parking decks are often offset by reduced land consumption, and owners/developers can sometimes recoup their investment through a tax increment financing plan or by developing shared transit and usage programs in association with local municipalities.
As the issue of parking so clearly shows, most shopping centers are underdeveloped properties that fail to make the most efficient use of space. The power of dense, compact mixed-use design and development, both as an engine of sustainable architectural design and as a place-making tool, stems from the fact that mixed-use is also multi-use. The resulting synergies of design and function are limited only by the imagination.
The intuitive leap from energy-saving rooftop plantings to literal destinations that enliven and add value to a project is a small one, and several developments have already bridged that gap. Atlantic Station in Atlanta, the award-winning Menlyn Park Shopping Center in Pretoria, South Africa, and the soon-to-open Istinye Park in Istanbul, Turkey, all ''recycle'' parking deck rooftops as mixed-use and lifestyle center components, laying the street grid directly above the deck. The result is not only a more energy-efficient and eco-friendly design but a more engaging destination.
Saving Money and Saving the Planet Are Not Mutually Exclusive
Today, it is not uncommon for development proposals to require participating parties to be certified by the US Green Building Council (USGBC), which, in addition to certifying sustainable structures and projects, issues its Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) certification to architects, landscape architects, engineers, real estate professionals, facility and construction managers, and other design and development professionals. LEED certification is becoming a standard industry prerequisite, sometimes even appearing in leasing agreements at the request of retail tenants.
While peer pressure, public relations, and an urge to ''do the right thing'' are undoubtedly driving some early adopters, the explosive growth and burgeoning popularity of these ideas come from the growing recognition that dense, compact, ecologically sensitive design works. Density preserves the aesthetic and functional integrity of our built environments as well as our natural ones. Compact, mixed-use design and smart growth create great places that generate a self-reinforcing cycle — quality spaces that attract more people, who add to the energy and dynamism and further increase density. It is very revealing that many of the smart growth design guidelines touted by environmental organizations like the Sierra Club — narrower streets, wider sidewalks, dense construction, and a mix of uses — are virtually indistinguishable from the tenets of quality design espoused by the design philosophy of New Urbanism.
Appropriately enough, environmental design is at its core an equation about resources — natural resources, of course, but also emotional, aesthetic, and financial resources. It is no coincidence that many of today’s greatest and most innovative retail and mixed-use designs are finding exciting new ways to preserve and promote those resources, proving once and for all that commercial and environmental success stories don’t need to sacrifice one kind of ''green'' in pursuit of another.
About the Author
Roy Higgs is the chief executive officer of Baltimore-based Development Design Group Inc. (DDG), an innovative architecture, planning, and design firm with a history of creating high-profile, high-quality environments around the world. DDG is a member of the US Green Building Council (USGBC) and provides strong in-house professional and financial initiatives to promote and reward LEED certification for design associates.
