2017

 “The ugly truth about sustainable design is that much of it is ugly” wrote Lance Hosey (2012) in the opening pages of his book ‘The Shape of Green: aesthetics, ecology and design.’ Hosey (2012) continues with this quote from the 2009 American Prospect “Is ‘well-designed green architecture’ an oxymoron?” Sustainable architecture has the stigma of being all ethics and no aesthetics, but what does this mean for the progression of the field? Contemporary architecture has been overwhelmed with the effects of ‘greenwashing’ and this has resulted in a built environment flooded with conventional buildings smothered in green-technology add-ons. This not only influences the public’s perceptions of what is considered sustainable but creates a sustainable aesthetic which does not represent a truly sustainable approach to design.

​

This sixth study was chosen to understand both the development and visual language of sustainable architecture but also subsequently what examples are given as best practice and what information is then promoted from the field of sustainable architecture. To achieve this a visual analysis was chosen as a method.