Sustainable Designs Should Also Be Beautiful
In The Shape of Green: Aesthetics, Ecology, and Design, Lance Hosey, an architect who once worked for William McDonough + Partners and now has his own non-profit organization, argues that beauty is a fundamental component of sustainability. After all, an ugly building is more likely to be torn down and replaced, and something that does not last is by definition unsustainable. There’s also a related problem: because sustainable architecture has focused on environmental impact and not aesthetics, we are left with numerous unattractive “sustainable” buildings. Hosey writes, “Originally, the concept of sustainability promised to broaden the purpose of contemporary design, specifically by adding ethics to aesthetics, but instead it has virtually replaced aesthetics with ethics by providing clear and compelling standards for one and not the other.”
