Efficient BulkPerspective2012

Resilience of any lifestyle is tied closely to the range of elements that can sustain it.  
Historically, we moved towards construction with concrete and steel as they became more efficient structural systems. They consumed less space so we could accommodate dense urban centres where spatial efficiency is paramount. However there are zones in the transect between city centre and farmland that are not spatially constrained and where the efficiency of these materials is overkill.

Due to overuse of high energy materials, we now struggle to facilitate the use of materials such as rammed earth, straw-bale or other low energy options. Such construction now requires specialized labour and engineers, which makes it expensive to employ these options even though the material itself is cheap. Our adaptability to the transect has depreciated as we prioritize the expectation for high spatial efficiency everywhere.

The overuse of efficient materials has delegated many others to a "worse" category and this lets us relinquish more products into the waste stream. We need to continue to use a diversity of materials, even inefficiently according to our current standards, in order to maximize appropriate allocation. This will not only limit environmental damage by maximizing the use of existing materials but it will also limit the necessity to always invest further energy into new production.

Since the resilience of any lifestyle is tied closely to the range of elements that can sustain it, the efficient but limited industrial processes that we rely on produce a bottleneck that will eventually constrain our ability to maintain what we have produced. Greater efficiency of our current systems cannot replace the value of a diversity in the mediums that can support us.

Danielson Architecture Office

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