What is sustainability? Does it mean good design that everyone participates in, or is it the location of the building? Actually, Sustainable design means attractive, economical, social designs that affect people and the environment. It is the new movement of Eco- friendly design that uses recycled and renewable materials. These materials that are used are not harmful to the environment or to us. This movement is applied to every object that is used every day and also it is applied to every area such as architecture, fashion design, interior design, and graphic designs. However, this new movement is reviving and borrowing from ancient architecture, especially Islamic architecture. The importance of the movement is that old ancient building still remain and those ancient buildings has been standing for over 1000 years such as the Great Mosque at Djenne in Southwest Mali. This movement is indicating the importance of the environment that is surrounding the buildings, and how the environment and the people are part of the design process. In fact, the materials that have been used in the old Islamic building constructions are materials from the environment. These materials include mud, clay, bones, and palms serve the need of the people and the space based on the topography of the place and the climate, which is known for its hot, dry and humidity. These buildings still exit up till now which proves to the new designers that nothing is better than using the resources that is friendly to the environment.
I think this is a very valid point. Materials used hundreds of years ago were not harmful to humanity as the materials that we used in the last 100 years. I think we are re-inventing the wheel in many ways as far as sustainable design goes, but with that said we are also looking at new ways to reduce our footprint. Obviously with the growth of the human population we have new factors that we need to keep in mind now that we didn't have to years back. Energy conservation as well as water conservation also play a big role, and weren't as important when resources were still plentiful. It makes me think of the film Food Inc. It states how our food has changed the most in the last 50 years than it ever has. Sadly with the expansion of technology, and the need to decrease costs, I think so many things have been altered in a negative manner that now we almost have to go back and retrack our footsteps and try to clean up the mess.
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