Sustainable development – development that meets the needs of the present-day societies without compromising the possibilities of the future societies to meet their needs – became the predominant paradigm of planning policies. This concept with its environmental, social, economic and cultural dimensions has been applied to the field of architecture since the end of the 20th century. However, numerous researchers still notice technological and ecological orientation of sustainable architecture and the lack of attention to its cultural, place-based and aesthetics aspects. The question may be asked if it is possible to distinguish the aesthetics of sustainable architecture. Thus, this research analyses the question of sustainability aesthetics and the ways that it is expressed in the field of architecture. In order to reach this aim: the quantitative and qualitative literature review on the questions of sustainability aesthetics and sustainability aesthetics in architecture was performed; the discussion of the notion of sustainability aesthetics and the aesthetic trends of sustainable architecture was developed based on the results of literature analysis.
This theoretical study examines the role of aesthetics in the assessment frameworks of sustainable architecture. The article is organized into two main sections: a general literature review and the results. The results section encompasses an analysis of the place of aesthetic quality in the understanding of sustainable architecture, and an overview and discussion of the general sustainable building assessment frameworks and the main sustainable buildings certification systems (LEED, BREEAM, WELL, Living Building Challenge), identifying the existing and potential place of cultural sustainability and aesthetics in them. Finally, four architectural theories holding the potential for balancing human and environmental criteria in the assessment of sustainable architecture are presented. These theories are: sustainability aesthetics, genius loci, biophilia, and a regenerative approach. The conclusion was made that these approaches hold the potential for the breakthrough of aesthetic quality and uniqueness of sustainable architecture.
Architecture, as a mean of art and as a factor that physically shapes the environment, undoubtedly serves as a form of expression of ethical attitudes. It combines ethical values and responsibility for solving environmental problems with aesthetic qualities of the built environment. The holistic approach is gaining ground in the paradigm of sustainability, where architectural concepts such as biophilic, biomimetic, resilient, restorative, and others reinforce the idea of coexistence between humans and nature. In the 21st century, sustainability has become a global phenomenon; therefore, contemporary architecture is expected to reflect the idea of sustainability in its expression. This study explores the relationship between ethics and aesthetics in sustainable architecture in practice. Furthermore, this study attempts to illustrate how the architectural expression of certified sustainable buildings in the Baltic Sea region reflects the trends of sustainability within an ethical paradigm. The research question of this study is as follows: what are the prevailing aesthetic trends and are environmental ethical values expressed in the sustainable architecture of the Baltic Sea region? The study of examples of sustainable architecture was carried out by analyzing the three main databases of certified sustainable buildings—Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen (DGNB), Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM). The study found eight predominant groups of aesthetic expressions of sustainable buildings and the absence of a distinctive architectural expression that could be considered as sustainability aesthetics. It can be hypothesized that the lack of aesthetic distinctiveness of certified sustainable buildings could be related to the absence of cultural, aesthetically oriented criteria in building sustainability rating systems.
Biophilic design approach aims at creating favorable conditions for humans in various types of anthropogenic environments, while at the same time restoring broken human–nature connection. The biophilic design guidelines and principles are general and flexible and allow wide array of architectural expressions. In order to better understand the architectural expression possibilities provided by biophilic design approach, the existing classifications of biophilic architecture and biophilic design examples were analyzed with the aim to develop the classification that would reflect the links between a building’s architectural expression and biophilic qualities. Three categories of biophilic architecture were distinguished in the developed classification: mimetic, applied, and organic. The distinguished categories were illustrated with the characteristic building examples and the evaluation of biophilic qualities and human-nature collaboration potential of these example buildings was carried out using comprehensive system of criteria. The analysis has demonstrated that all three distinguished categories—mimetic, applied, organic—allow for the creation of biophilic environments and hold the potential for human–nature collaboration, although organic biophilic design would be currently considered as the least developed, although most promising category.
The concept of urban acupuncture, which has been gaining ground in recent decades, is based on the activation and revitalization of urban environments using small architectural or landscape architectural interventions in precise carefully selected locations of urban fabric. However, the rapid and unexpected design solutions of urban acupuncture, based on ecological design, nature dynamics, street art, material re-use, can cause different social and psychological reactions of urban population and these reactions may vary depending on cultural contexts. Consequently, in order to implement successful urban acupuncture projects in Lithuanian cities, it is very important to find out public opinion and priorities in the fields of public space management, aesthetics, and public art. The aim of the research was to analyze the opinion of Kaunas city residents regarding these issues. For this purpose, a sociological questionnaire survey was used. The questionnaire containing 20 questions was designed, with the aim to find out the trends of use of public spaces in the city, the attitudes of residents towards street art and other small-scale initiatives in public spaces implemented in the recent years, possibilities of creating landscape architecture based on ecological ideas in urban environment, the attitude of inhabitants towards community spaces and community space design in the city, etc. 100 residents of Kaunas participated in this online administered survey. The survey has demonstrated general positive attitude towards contemporary design trends of public spaces and public art; however, the surveyed population expressed preferences towards fully equipped public spaces offering possibilities for a wide range of activities.
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