The built environment evolved from social, political and geographical influences with, until recently, a dependence on the sun. And therefore renewable energy.
For millennia climate dictated our buildings and built environment, buildings evolving in response to climatic influences. Climate and shelter were always interconnected – one driving the need for the other, the other being shaped by the first.
But then technology allowed us to control our indoor environment with buildings no longer dependent on their local climate. The spread of globalization allowed inappropriate adoption to take place. A lack of climate understanding resulted in inappropriate buildings, not only no longer dependent, but increasingly losing touch with it.
A visual journey of the historical overview of how energy has shaped our buildings, how our buildings have begun to shape our climate and how now, in a full circle, we are reshaping our buildings as a response to climate change and renewable energy.
A return to the balance of aesthetics and practicality, between beauty and function, of human comfort both spiritual and physical. A reconnection with our climate, coupled with the ability of renewable energy to provide our modern lifestyle, as it does and will re-shape our buildings now and into the future.