Eco-Capitalism and Architecture: Environmentally Friendly Materials and Technologies

There was a time when buildings wanted to be mountains, roofs wanted to be forests, and pillars wanted to be trees. As the world began to go into a state of alert with the melting of glaciers and the consequent rise of Earth’s temperature, architecture – from a general perspective – was concerned with imitating the shapes of nature. Something close to human-made “ecosystems”, seen by many as allegoric and decorative, in service of marketable images of “sustainable development”.

Eco-Capitalism and Architecture: Environmentally Friendly Materials and Technologies
Urban Park Micro Renovation / Atelier cnS + School of Architecture, South China University of Technology. Image: © Siming Wu. Urban Park Micro Renovation / Atelier cnS + School of Architecture, South China University of Technology. Image: © Siming Wu.

There was a time when buildings wanted to be mountains, roofs wanted to be forests, and pillars wanted to be trees. As the world began to go into a state of alert with the melting of glaciers and the consequent rise of Earth’s temperature, architecture – from a general perspective – was concerned with imitating the shapes of nature. Something close to human-made “ecosystems”, seen by many as allegoric and decorative, in service of marketable images of “sustainable development”.

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