The Idea of Building Sense Now
The construction of our built environment is driven by a dangerous mixture of need for growth, the hunger for modernity and by strict cost and time constraints. This leads to buildings which are not designed to provide a positive impact for their users, their city or the environment. Being confronted with our global climate goals we need to start to build our future today by disrupting the status quo.
Meet the Initiators of Building Sense Now
On November 8 in 2017 six pioneering doers of the sustainable building community met in Frankfurt, Germany, to officially launch the initiative Building Sense Now.
moreThe Initiators
Christine Lemaitre Chief Executive Officer, German Sustainable Building Council – DGNB e.V.
"To design and construct buildings has such a long tradition and looking at our existing building stock is the largest case study of all times. We know so much and understand what is working and what needs improvement but in too many cases it seems like this is not taking into consideration."
Prashant Kapoor Chief Industry Specialist, IFC Climate Business Group, World Bank Group
"Architects must develop new skills, knowledge and attitudes to support green design. Only then will it be possible to design a building that is inspirational in every way: financially, environmentally and esthetically."
Bruno Sauer Chief Executive Officer, Green Building Council España (GBCe)
"We are reaching a point of no return. Globalization, until now, did not take into account the value in cultural differences, neither local needs because of climate or social circumstances."
Ashok Lall Design & Technology Chair at Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture (KRVIA), Mumbai
"The good news? The architecture of low carbon building and the DNA of low carbon urban development – the way to the future - is being demonstrated in all parts of the globe."
Peter Sharratt Director Strategic Consulting, WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff
"As the world continues to urbanise, as shifts in climate and extreme weather events become more ‘normal’ and as we learn more about the complexity of the challenges that lie ahead; designers and problem solvers have a growing role to play in coming up with the solutions that will make a difference."
Michael Braungart CEO BRAUNGART EPEA Internationale Umweltforschung GmbH
"As a matter of fact, buildings are the urban mines of the future. And architecture can make a difference and is able to improve our quality of life.
With buildings that are useful for people and nature, we can truly celebrate our positive human footprint."
Thomas Auer Chair of Building Technology and Climate Responsive Design, TU Munich
"The built environment is more than the physical building. Several factors affect the occupant experience - including their variation in time and space. Indoors or outdoors, a climate is continually changing. Climate engineering responds with dynamic solutions that work with the natural variability, not against it. Despite the development of new technologies and innovative applications, one has to recognize that technology alone is not the answer."
Edward Mazria Founder of Architecture 2030
"With 80% of greenhouse gas emissions attributed to the built environment, addressing climate change is the architecture, planning, and design community's most urgent and far-reaching challenge."
Ipsita Mahajan Principal Consultant, Real Estate Development, Mumbai
"Despite all the progress made by humankind, life on Earth is still wholly dependent on its finite pool of natural resources. Today, with a burgeoning global population, that threatens to rapidly overwhelm the planet’s ecological balance, we are presented a huge challenge to very quickly figure out how to stretch the meagre resources that remain and find ways to regain the lost equilibrium before we reach a point of no return."
The construction of our built environment is driven by a dangerous mixture of need for growth, the hunger for modernity and by strict cost and time constraints. This leads to buildings which are not designed to provide a positive impact for their users, their city or the environment. Being confronted with our global climate goals we need to start to build our future today by disrupting the status quo. Building Sense NOW! is an initiative by a group of dedicated international architects and engineers who will lead by example. Building Sense Now is an initiative that wants to share knowledge and understanding directly in between Architects and Engineers. And it is an initiative that wants to act today therefore several supporters already joined Building Sense Now.
We want to share knowledge and experiences, both good and bad. We want to bring the message to all who have a role in shaping our cities and buildings, from governments, to manufacturers, from clients to young designers of the future.
If you want to become a supporter of Building Sense Now, apply here.
Videos of Building Sense Now
