SYNRGYdesign

As an architect, I have seen the growth of “Going Green.”  It’s now mainstream.  Everyone wants it.  Everyone knows something about it.  It’s the new IN thing.  But I have to ask - what took you all so long?  As a kid growing up in Southern California, I was exposed to a lot of things.  I remember people talking back then about the environment and conserving water.  I remember the big thing was the hole in the  ozone layer.  But I guess the thinking just stopped for most people at the hole in the ozone layer.  Because nothing else was really done about all the other things we need to do to save the environment. 

Then I went to Architecture School.  I was fortunate enough to be in a program that was in School of Environmental Design.  I learned a lot there.  But a lot of what I learned wasn’t new, cutting edge stuff.  It was stuff that has been around since the beginning - when humans figured out they needed some sort of shelter from the environment.  Concepts like natural lighting, cross ventilation, use of natural materials - have all been around for centuries.  So what happened?  Where did we loose those concepts to can lights, air conditioning, and synthetic materials?  How did we loose our way? And more importantly, how can we find our way back?