"pave paradise to put up a parking lot"

“We are building neither a sustainable landscape nor a sustainable culture. Yet our profession seems barely to notice the predicament. Our magazines celebrate individual stylistic successes, while our academic journals debate critical theoretical issues that only marginally relate to building”.

I was particularity intrigued by this statement because personally I feel as if professionals are doing the exact opposite in terms of creating sustainable design. I think that architecturally designed epics are at the utmost level of creating not only a sustainable landscape, but also a sustainable culture. I have been working at a large architectural/ interior design firm in Winnipeg for the past year and from my experience quality and a building’s life cycle is a significant element in the design process. Take LEED for example; this organization is becoming more and more recognized in today’s society and in terms of new architecture, most clients are interested in devolving under these terms not only just to create a sustainable building, but also to be recognized as doing so. I actually had an interesting conversation about LEED with one of my firm’s principles and he said that architects are always thinking about sustainability before LEED was such a huge fad, but now this just make the public more aware of the contribution in which architecture is beginning to embrace. Another organization that I just became certified under is the Canadian Specification Canada organization and under their lead they specifically talk about a building’s life-cycle and how it is important to consider not only the pre-construction, but also the post-demolition, which to me states how the profession is beginning to further recognize our part in the environment. In my personal opinion professional designers look at using better materials that will last longer, which is why their projects are more sustainable than a local developer who is more about the here and now. Looking at suburbia developments is where I see a problem (which is significantly what the article is about) because they are interested in the least amount of time for construction, cheapest materials and past completion, they could care less about the life span. Basically these ‘design solutions’ are what I would consider temporary, but when it comes to the majority of professionals I feel as if they are more about the long-term investment and that’s what is being sold.