by: Jessica Sheridan Assoc. AIA LEED AP
The Cooper Union Student Eco Initiative is looking for designers who have an opinion on the current trend of green design. The school is collecting responses from professionals, students, and the population at large to incorporate into its first public work: square vinyl stickers, each sporting a quotation about green building, that will be applied this October by students and community members on the construction fence surrounding Cooper Union’s new Morphosis-designed academic building. They will use the building as a vehicle to stimulate public conversation about sustainable construction and green design in the context of NYC and beyond.
Cut and paste the questions below into an e-mail with responses:
The U.S. Green Building Council defines “green buildings” as structures that work “to significantly reduce or eliminate the negative impact of buildings on the environment and on the building occupants, green building design and construction practices address: sustainable site planning, safeguarding water and water efficiency, energy efficiency, conservation of materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality.”
1. Please describe your initial reaction to the term “Green Design.”
2. What are your personal ideas of “green” or ecologically minded design?
3. Are you at all skeptical about the aims of “green development” or the designation “green?”
4. Do you think there are ways in which ecologically minded design can impact fields other than construction? If so, how?
5. Do you think there should be a set of binding rules for new developments (regarding their environmental impact)? If so, what should they be?
6. Will green practices in the United States be enough to solve ecological problems, or is the help of other nations also required?