Читать книгу Ecological Transition in Education and Research - Группа авторов - Страница 20

1) Student at ENSA Marseille:

What struck me in the presentation was the use of the term sustainable development rather than sustainability. In sustainable development there is the allusion to development and durability which confronts the building with its finiteness: we want it to stay forever. Are the two terms the same for you?

André De Herde: We looked for another term for a very long time. We found no other better term than sustainable development. But it is true that we should talk about architecture as something that needs to be supported (the French term “soutenir” can both be translated as “sustain” and “support”), in the same way that a supporter supports a sports team, but the expression “sustainable architecture” did not work. “Sustainable development” was the expression used by everyone, which is why we made a definition that is different from the definition of something “durable over time”, like concrete, for example. But you are right, it is “sustainable development” in the sense that it can be supported, not in the sense “that it can last over time”. However, if you find another word, I am open to suggestions.

Reactions in whispered words come up from the audience and we hear the word “growth”.

André De Herde continues: I think that Brundtland is right, we must be able to continue to develop, but in what ways and how? It is not the development of multinational companies; it is joint development, of value, of more natural elements, of low technologies and not of high technologies. This is the development of the future, for me.

2) Student at ENSA Montpellier:

You used a phrase that impressed me: “If you are planning a building that does not add anything to its environment, then do not build it. On the contrary, if demolishing a building adds value to its environment, then destroy it.” Yesterday evening I was at Philippe Madec’s conference, which presented a rehabilitation of the Multimedia library and the refugee house. His speech was different: we can no longer afford to destroy a building, because today we build too much, we use too many materials. Demolishing the Multimedia library building could have helped the environment, and so could rebuilding it with a new building, but he decided to keep the building. So where does rehabilitation fit in your speech?

André De Herde: I am convinced that there is no contradiction. I think Philippe Madec wondered whether the building should be demolished or kept. If he estimated in fine that it was worthwhile to keep it, I think he made the right decision. You do not have to demolish the building every time, but sometimes this makes it possible to create a public space, for example, which can provide a benefit. If Philippe Madec had felt he had to demolish the building to do better, he would have done so.

Robert Célaire: Buildings must not be demolished; they must be deconstructed. We have to revive them and reuse the materials.

De Herde: Yes. MATRIciel is currently working on a building without any new material brought to the site, everything is recovered or recycled.

3) Teacher in Marseille:

When you said that we should invent a material that releases and absorbs heat slowly, this has already existed for a long time: it is raw earth.

André De Herde: In Belgium, if you use raw earth, you will have to heat the building at some point, unfortunately, unless you accept a temperature of 16°C inside. But lime hemp plaster has extraordinary qualities.

Robert Célaire: André was referring to the latent heat during phase change, that is, materials that store energy at a constant temperature. It is a research theme.

4) André De Herde’s former graduate:

I graduated under Mr. De Herde 20 years ago. You have in front of you an exceptional person. I would like to pay tribute to him. I came to this conference to talk about him. I am here because you are the answer to the problem. You are all future architects. I have been fighting alongside Mr. De Herde for 20 years to impose this bioclimatic, to take the environment into account in architecture. This is a very difficult thing to do every day a an architect. On some projects, there is even talk of the architectural “option”. So, on the question “do architects want to be part of the problem or the solution?” I think that with this bioclimatic treatise, the architects have the solution. You all have the solution. With your BAC+6 brains, you are all able to tell everyone “we know how to manage the environment, with technical and architectural answers”. I would like to ask all of you to fight to make the profession of architects last. I would like the flaming torch to be passed on, I was one of his disciples and I would like there to be more followers. I ask you all to invest in it and believe in it, to drop all these pessimistic speeches that say that it is the end of the world. It may not be easy, but we have to keep some optimism.

The audience greatly applauded this speech.

5) Former student of ENSA Montpellier and the Réunion branch:

I am referring to the first question, and the term sustainable development. It has been said that it cannot be replaced by the word sustainable. Can we not replace it with the term “low tech”? I saw a lot of buildings which were passive, but which were not necessarily low tech or sustainable development-oriented. On the other hand, all the low tech buildings that I was able to study correspond to the criteria of sustainable development architecture.

André De Herde: That is a good suggestion. I am afraid we might stay too attached to “tech”. Sustainable development architecture also has a lot to do with the program, for example, and the situation in the city. And then, we call a table a table, and a chair a chair. So if the word consecrated by the public is “sustainable development”, why not use the word sustainable? But you have to define it. If you define “low tech” as I define sustainable, that is all right and we agree.

1 1 Available at: https://uclouvain.be/fr/facultes/loci/archi-cli.

2 2 Available at: www.matriciel.be.

This chapter comprises the words of André DE HERDE, transcribed by Marjan SANSEN.