Abstract
Adapting to climate change is a social, economic, and environmental imperative. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, states that climate change is widespread, rapid, and intensifying. While the pandemic distracted us, human-induced climate change has already resulted in many weather and climate extremes. Rising temperatures are fueling extreme weather with the average global temperature in the past five years among the highest on record. Even with ambitious action to slow greenhouse gas emissions, sea level will continue to rise, threatening low-lying islands and coastal areas. Countries will need to adapt to the climate crisis, as they experience ecological migration, drought, deforestation, acidifying oceans and shrinking sources of freshwater. With these in mind, last term, we focused the thematic of our 5th year studio from the implementation of sustainable design to adapting for survivability. Looking to use sustainable technologies to adapt to extreme environments took us to develop a sustainability studio course where sustainability became survivability. We migrated our site to Mars, where the students were faced with an inhospitable environment where every design decision had to do with survivability. The result was a series of self-sufficient, projects dependent on sustainable technologies to produce energy, food, and water. Students developed agency about the importance of sustainability and how it relates to their future while developing net positive projects designed to enhance the quality of life of its users. But more importantly, they came out with a set of tools that can be implemented on any future project, here on Earth.
Presenters
Camilo CerroAssociate Professor of Architecture and Interior Design, College of Architecture, Art, and Design, American University of Sharjah, Ash Shariqah [Sharjah], United Arab Emirates
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Close Loop, Sustainability, Adaptability, Survivability
