ABSTRACT
In order for something to be truly sustainable, it has to work simultaneously at three levels: existential, institutional and ecological.2 The author calls this the “triad of sustainability.” This triadic approach prevents such oxymorons as “sustainable prisons,” “green S.U.V.s,” and “ecological torture chambers!” Architecture differs from mere building and infrastructure through its engagement of the existential and institutional dimensions. Architecture is not just about making buildings; it is about making institutions. Further, architecture needs to move us, inspire us, and ennoble our otherwise prosaic and absurd existence. It is not difficult to find architects, even those of us who claim to make sustainable architecture, who share the feelings of Antoine Roquentin, fearful of making architecture that is complex, animate, and moving. No matter how we dress it, we hesitate to make architecture that is more than utilitarian, subservient, slick, performative, and infrastructural. We hesitate to address the issues of the existential and institutional complexities of our life-world that go beyond the physical making of architecture. These are some of the critical concerns of sustainability that the Solar Sails project takes into consideration.
