Sustainable Design: Case Study

Sustainable Design: This is something that I feel I really need to look at more and research into. Sustainability is something that is used so much around me and in lectures. And in our design projects I hear other students mention the word 'Sustainable' over and over again. And I sit and think... yeah I know what it means but I don’t feel I know quite enough about it to be comfortable with the subject.

So my in this case study I would like to research and learn about a designer and spaces that have been sustainable and find out why and how they are!
I started my research with CABE and there section on 'sustainability' and they started with this quote... "We embed sustainable design in all our work and encourage sustainable living by helping to create buildings and spaces that fulfil environmental, social and economic needs." http://www.cabe.org.uk/sustainability The main phrase which popped out to me being "the fulfil environment, social and economic needs" Fulfil being the all important word to me! To fulfil something is pretty special and exciting. Something to do, carry out it’s almost a promise. The next quote also summed the meaning of sustainability up pretty well too “Sustainable design and good design are mutually reinforcing. Good design is not just defined by how a building, space or place looks. It is also about whether it is responsive to context, adaptable, uses resources efficiently and delivers value over its whole life.”
Researching some of the Case Studies on Sustainable design, I looked at projects all over the world and one of the first ones to jump out at me was a project in Portland, USA, called green streets. http://www.cabe.org.uk/case-studies/green-streets This city has on average 98 centimetres of rain a year.

They have come up with a solution that uses curb side planters that absorb flash flood water run off, a simple design really but what a great idea! And with these planter full of shrubs and trees they have also 'provide shade, air-cooling and colour to the street. "The street’s pavements were retrofitted with a series of specially designed planters that collect storm water, filter it, divert it away from the usual storm water drain – which runs directly into the Willamette River and instead allow it to be absorbed gradually back into the water table."

Sustainable design has so many different ways to take. It’s the fact that every site as its own needs and individual points that it need to became sustainable yet even with all of that it’s still possible for everywhere to be sustainable.