How do we love all the children of all species for all time?
| April 23, 2009 | |
By Alice Wang
A sample design of Mr. McDonough’s architectural projects.
The 41st Annual Fred R. Foard Jr. Memorial Lecture was held on Wednesday April 1, 2009, at the William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education starting at 6:00 pm. The attendance of over 500 people was the largest turnout in 41 years. The event featured William McDonough, a renowned sustainable designer who TIME Magazine noted as a “Hero for the Planet” in 1999. The event was sponsored by the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health (SPH), the UNC Institute for the Environment, and Greenbridge Developments, LLC. William McDonough, an architect, was chosen as a Foard lecturer because many people have begun to realize the connection between our built environment, the natural environment, and the consequences to public health. Design principles are greatly important because “we have a need for a new design (because we have no other plan) and we now need a new plan, rather than just striving to be less bad.” At the beginning of the lecture, Mr. McDonough posed a thought-provoking question -“How do we love all the children of all species for all time?” Obviously, the current way humans are utilizing Earth will not do. Mr. McDonough stressed that we must rethink how we build things, and we must begin considering cradle-to-cradle designs, things should be made of “nutrients” (not toxins) and designs that are meant to be recycled (specifically up-cycled and not down-cycled). Mr. McDonough emphasized how we should look to nature for inspiration -that we should have “buildings like trees and cities like forests.” He also stressed that the world is meant to be fecund; that growth is good (with proper design); and that we should look for optimization not minimization. Mr. McDonough argued that currently most of our designs are not effective, and that while we may be more concerned and cautious these days, unless we change our design we are still on the same path. He emphasized that “being less bad is not being good” and gave the example of driving the wrong way at 100 mph. It wouldn’t help if you slowed down to 20 mph -you would still be going the wrong way! The only way to solve this problem would be to make a U-turn, which is exactly what we should do with our designs. Mr. McDonough displayed several of his architectural projects, all of which are mixed- use buildings with features such as green roofs, solar panels, and rainwater runoff systems. He also described his ambitious project, Greenbridge, located in downtown Chapel Hill. His designs were all hopeful, realistic, and inspiring. In the end, how do we answer the posed question? According to Mr. McDonough, the solution is to strive for “a delightfully, diverse, safe, health, and just world, with clean air water, soil, and power -economically, equitably, ecologically and elegantly enjoyed.” For more information on the Foard Lecture, see the SPH External Affairs Office’s webpages. For more information on William McDonough and his designs, see the site for his architecture and community design firm. ************************************************************************************************** |
