Bookmark & Share
Q Some buildings these days are designed according to fengshui principles. Do you think fengshui and green design go together?
To an extent. Fengshui is traditional Chinese geomancy and might be regarded as a form of ecological planning and design.
Fengshui strictly speaking is a pseudo-science, (not used here as a derogatory term) but what this means is that it developed through intuition and trial and error. It is not based on the Western 'scientific method' for discovery and knowledge acquisition.
There are essentially two schools of fengshui - the morphological school that is based on landforms and the astrological school. The morphological school has many principles that can be explained using modern ecological and physical planning principles, for example having building entrances face the south, with mountains to the north of the building.
Given that a lot of northern China is about 50 to 60 degrees in latitude above the equator, this is ideal as the mountains protect the building from the north wind and the sun comes from the south.
So there is a danger when you take these principles adapted for north China for use in south China, or elsewhere. There has to be a certain amount of translation of fengshui principles for different locations.
Q Lately there has been a lot of publicity on eco-cities. What is your view of them?
An eco-city needs to have four basic types of eco-infrastructure - I call them the grey, blue, red and green.
The grey refers to the engineering eco- technology systems. It has to do with engineering systems that are carbon-free or neutral, the use of renewable sources, waste recycling, energy-saving systems such as CHP (combined heating and power) low-energy transportation systems - in effect, all the eco-engineering systems that contribute to making the city green and sustainable.
Blue infrastructure is water management. We should close the loop by harvesting rainwater, reuse and recycle, have sustainable drainage, so that the water goes back into the ground through bioswales, filtration strips and retention ponds.
Red infrastructure has to do with people. That means our lifestyles have to change, along with our spaces, regulatory systems and legislation.
Green infrastructure refers to 'nature's utilities' - the eco corridors, the nexus of landscape and continuity of planting that would allow for species to interact, migrate and enhance biodiversity. We should not fragment this because once it is fragmented, the interactions of species are disrupted. If any of these are missing, then the design of the eco-city is a little bit suspect.
Q What are the lifestyle changes that people have to make to make green design work?
A sustainable future should start with ourselves. One example is comfort conditions. The air-conditioner (in this interview room) is set at 23 deg C. If you accept (an ambient temperature) of 30 deg C, then the energy savings are significant.
Can you then envisage the energy impact if people used ceiling fans instead? Having a ceiling fan means you use maybe 10 per cent or less of the energy used in air-conditioning.
In the area of transportation, if you are prepared to live near transportation hubs and use public transport rather than private transport, we can further reduce the consumption of energy.
Q In tropical countries, is the technology for the design of skyscrapers adequate?
All technology is available anyway, it depends on how much you want to pay for it, that's all. I think you are talking about developing countries rather than tropical countries. For developing countries, it's not just about the skilled workers. The industry support is not there...Even though people have the intellectual capability and talent to (do a green design), if the support from the industry is not there, then whatever they propose would be expensive to install.
The supply has to be supported by the factories that make components. The factories have to be supported by the engineering capabilities to make the components. The engineering has to be supported by the research from the universities and research institutes. It is the whole value chain from research down to construction - it has to be very refined and developed.
Search Property News
