'We cannot sustain our current modes of consumption and growth, and so to continue to use the word ‘sustainability’ holds out a false promise. In a way these reactions are understandable, but they are not acceptable. They are understandable because the climate and biodiversity emergencies demand systemic change, and this includes architecture and its value systems. The current approaches (technical, ethical, and cultural) are simply not capable of effecting the change required, and so tend to divert from it. But this is not acceptable, for the simple reason that climate emergencies are just that, and we all need to enact radical action as both citizens and experts. To do this, we need to break architecture’s attraction to certain systems and values.'
Jeremy Till in 'Architects after architecture', by Harriss, H., Hyde, R., Marcaccio, R.(Eds.), 2020
To achieve the change in architectural value systems that Till advocates, research like this study is required to initially understand the current value systems of citizens as well as the experts, before conveying the necessary shift. The technical aspects of this research, the carbon calculations and the construction of extensions will not be acknowledged unless their cultural impact on broader society is communicated correctly. This communication comes from the experts, be they architects, local authorities, or policymakers, investing ethically into these urgent issues.
And the integration of carbon into the early stages of construction is not difficult, as is shown in this research. When discussing Bourdieu’s theory of ‘Habitus’, which ‘makes possible the production of an infinite number of practices, but limits the diversity of these practices,’ Pike, Scanlon et al. (2011, pg. 334) outline the rules of engagement applicable to home extensions, by which the system ‘makes possible the free production of all thoughts, perceptions and actions inherent in the particular conditions of its production.... and only those’. These ‘conditions’ or ‘rules of engagement’ include planning, neighbours, site access, budget, and time. There is an argument to make embodied carbon can be another one of these conditions, which would not result initially in this systemic change required, but what it will facilitate a new ‘Habitus’ of carbon-conscious construction in the back gardens of suburban Dublin homes. |