Dick Clarke is the principal at Envirotecture and also the jury chair on this year’s Sustainability Awards.
Architecture & Design spoke to Clarke about what he’s looking for in the awards, why there is no other option than sustainability, and how sustainability can be incorporated holistically.
What are you looking for as a judge?
- Clear vision and goals,
- Clear documentation,
- Ratings or other objective measures of performance (not “It was designed to do X”. Does it ACTUALLY do it?)
- Rational statement of facts in response to questions,
- No archi-speak waffle.
How much do you think sustainable design has changed over the past few years?
It has become more holistic, rather than just focussing on energy alone. Broader ecological and social impacts are more considered now.
What do you think is the most pressing sustainability issue at the moment?
Sadly, greenhouse is still at the top of the list - you would think we might have nailed that one by now! It’s time we - those of us outside of government - just said ‘enough is enough, just get on with it and stop all the fighting. And ignore the denialist idiots.'
Do you think sustainability is still an add-on or does it need to be incorporated holistically?
Holistic approaches are the only way to cut the mustard. Add-ons are a thing of the past. Or should be!
Where do you see sustainable design heading in the next few years?
I would like to see it morph into ‘regenerative design’, where we design and build stuff that actually restores and regenerates natural systems. This has already begun to appear, we are encouraging it to take hold, through things like Living Building Challenge, and Passive House ratings etc.
