The Lion's Pride Lion's Pride Volume 12 (Spring 2019) | Page 69

Sustainability – current issues
According to the article “Sustainability Improves the Quality of Life
and Human Enjoyment,” in recent years, sustainability and sustainable
design in architecture have become popular in the U.S. Several
sustainable design standards were introduced in the mid-90s, including
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Living Future
Challenge, and Energy Star. They have been growing over the last
decades, and yet there are some social, economic, and environmental
challenges. These challenges include client demands, aspirations,
and pressures. Generally, a developer or a funder is only interested in
sales, but not in sustainability. However, each team member has to allow
sustainability as a core value. Politics can present other challenges for
sustainability. Due to complex issues, it seems like a sustainable design
will need to make some form of sacrifice. Gathering people’s attention
and support for sustainable design will be the key to build a
hedonistically sustainable building.
Sustainable design focuses on minimizing the negative environmental
impact, moderating the material and energy use, and developing spaces
and ecosystems. Because of the improvement of technology and the
growing sustainability movement, many buildings have cost-effective
elements, such as efficient heating, ventilating, and air conditioning
(HVAC), and mechanical equipment including cooling towers, boilers,
plumbing, and lights. The more technology improves, the more we