ABSTRACT
Sustainable building design of the twenty-first century increasingly is incorporating technological advances in high performance materials, multi-functional assemblies and automated monitoring, sensing and control systems. Simultaneously, design strategies for sustainable buildings of the future are closely aligned with the basic scientific principles applied to great nineteenth-century buildings. Thermal mass is again recognized as an integral concept in sustainable design strategies, as exemplified by exposed concrete ceilings and structurally integrated hydronic heating and cooling. As one delves into the fertile ground between the future and the past, sincere interest in advanced building designs leads to an understanding of the necessity to learn from the past, to question the present and to build a sustainable future. The best buildings of the future, like those of the past, share a common devotion: to create comfortable built environments for human activity, while maintaining a sustainable relationship with the natural world.
