How does the architecture we praise today square up with a sustainability mandate? Do green imperatives dampen the spirit at the drawing board or can they lift design excellence to new heights?
Paul Finch is the founder and programme director of the World Architecture Festival (WAF). He is an advocate, an analyst and a tastemaker, able to offer insights into the past and, at the same time, move the needle on what’s to come.
WAF is an annual gathering where architects and industry experts from around the world convene to celebrate good design. Over the years, projects and ideas presented here have become a reflection of the profession’s self-image and priorities.
| 00:05:44 | “You find that a piece of architecture or group of buildings or a culture of a city start to reflect the entire society of that era at that time.” |
| 00:08:12 | “One of our ideas was that it would be three days where architects and designers could go to remind themselves why they fell in love with their subject in the first place.” |
| 00:09:43 | Architecture-at-large meets sustainability |
| 00:15:45 | “How do you achieve longevity? Well, you achieve it by creating buildings that can be used in more than one way to do the same thing and be used in completely different ways to do completely different things. And if you do that — and you have longevity — then that’s the first step, I think, towards low carbon…” |
| 00:17:48 | “Why wouldn’t you do more with less? Now, things have moved on since then because of what we’ve subsequently discovered about the perils of carbon.” |
| 00:22:47 | “But I think the fundamentals about creating shelter, creating infrastructure, creating cities, almost inevitably mean that you can’t take single buildings — or single building types even — and expect them to be totally transformed from scratch. I think this is an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary process.” |
| 00:25:49 | Practice |
| 00:28:23 | “And the idea of a world in which the architects thought that they would be responsible for politics and economics and finance and social policy, I think, would be an absurdity. Why would any one discipline be responsible for all that?” |
| 00:30:44 | “Speaking as a non-architect from observation, one of the strengths of architectural thinking is the ability — I don’t use the word compromise because I think that’s too loaded; it’s pejorative — is the ability of an architectural approach and analysis to start to synthesise things which, on the face of it, appear to be close to irreconcilable.” |
| 00:38:27 | Delight |
| 00:40:20 | “Delight, beauty, whatever word one uses, should absolutely be part of the architect’s lexicon. And I think even a dull warehouse can be given some sense of — even if it’s dignity rather than joy — it can be more than the sum of its parts.” |
| 00:50:16 | “The test of any sort of urban proposition is: is this doing something for its street, for its area, for its neighbourhood, for its city, or is it doing something to it? And that’s a good litmus test: something for its neighbourhood or to its neighbourhood. And I think bad buildings do something to the neighbourhood and good buildings do something for it.” |
At WAF, architects present their most recent projects in a variety of categories, with the grand prize being awarded to the ‘World Building of the Year’.
Lisbon played host to the event last year, drawing more than 1,500 attendees with over 420 projects in competition. Singapore will be next, welcoming WAF back for the first time since 2014, from November 29 to December 1, with almost 500 entries in the running.
Paul Finch presided over the World Architecture Festival 2022 in Lisbon, Portugal.
Paul feels that sustainability is a rising tide. Even though a quick survey of the WAF entries reveals that less than half speak of sustainability directly this year, he reckons that’s still a marked improvement over past iterations.
On the ground, the challenge is complex: architects must navigate a broad ecosystem of practice and norms, much of which is often beyond their control. Decisions most often derive from conversations between multiple stakeholders, each with an agenda that is often different from others.
An idea that stems from an architect’s viewpoint — which, Paul says, does not get enough attention in the sustainability world — is ‘long-life, loose-fit’, first championed by Welsh architect Alex Gordon in 1974. He made a case for buildings to last, principally because they are designed to adapt and evolve over time.
Another aim that matters to architects but is often ignored in conversations on the environment is beauty. Paul makes the case that if people are drawn viscerally to buildings they consider beautiful, they are more likely to care for them, which improves the odds that they will endure.
Central to beauty is the perception of form. Some architects, such as Singapore-based WOHA, reinvent form by addressing ecological goals: for instance, the landscaping of buildings and their neighbourhoods. This reimagination of form follows Green functions that can be traced back to the work of practitioners like Malaysia-born Ken Yeang who, starting in the 80s, broke free of conventions of style-based beauty.
Historically, architects have always been interested in creating better environments. Paul puts this purpose into context with the current need for sustainability. He makes the case that there is much that architects do that is not sufficiently valued and that the profession, as a whole, is indeed well on its way to embracing the future.
There is some way to go, of course. However, to those who say that architects are not doing enough, he is quick to remind that decisions are not made in isolation. If there is to be change — real measurable change, that is — it will be because the views of stakeholders are aligned ultimately. The path leading to this convergence of minds is still the real challenge for now.
This episode is brought to you by:
| The Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction The Holcim Foundation helps drive systemic change towards a more sustainable built environment. It was founded in 2003 to define and promote the key principles of sustainability for the construction sector and is committed to accelerating the sector’s transformation so that people and the planet can thrive. The Foundation has investigated various aspects of sustainable construction via a series of roundtables and conferences with international experts. It has also recognised excellent contributions to this field with the Holcim Awards which are considered the world’s most significant competition for sustainable design. Committed to a holistic approach that recognises the equal importance and interdependence of four key goals, the Foundation combines the collective knowledge, ideas, and solutions of our global community of experts with a recognised platform of international competitions to democratise thought leadership for the entire sector. |  |
This episode is brought to you by:
The Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction
The Holcim Foundation helps drive systemic change towards a more sustainable built environment. It was founded in 2003 to define and promote the key principles of sustainability for the construction sector and is committed to accelerating the sector’s transformation so that people and the planet can thrive.
The Foundation has investigated various aspects of sustainable construction via a series of roundtables and conferences with international experts. It has also recognised excellent contributions to this field with the Holcim Awards which are considered the world’s most significant competition for sustainable design.
Committed to a holistic approach that recognises the equal importance and interdependence of four key goals, the Foundation combines the collective knowledge, ideas, and solutions of our global community of experts with a recognised platform of international competitions to democratise thought leadership for the entire sector.
Paul Finch is programme director of the World Architecture Festival, which he founded and launched in 2008.
Born in London in 1949, Paul took a history degree at Selwyn College, Cambridge (UK), before going into journalism. He started his professional life as a journalist in the early 1970s; he has edited Building Design, Architects’ Journal and Architectural Review, where he launched WAF. He has been co-editor of Planning in London since 1994.
He was a founder-commissioner and later chair at CABE (Commission for Architecture & the Built Environment) where he also chaired its design review programme, subsequently chairing its London Olympics design panel from 2005 to 2012.
He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Westminster and honorary fellowships from University College London and the Royal Institute of British Architects. He is an honorary member of the British Council for Offices and the Architectural Association and was awarded an OBE for services to architecture in 2002.
E | paul.Finch@emap.com
W | worldarchitecturefestival.com
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| 00:06:34 | “…you mentioned World Architecture Festival…” World Architecture Festival |
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| 00:14:54 | “…by a man called Alex Gordon…” “Alex Gordon (architect)” | Wikipedia |
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| 00:41:05 | “…the interview I had with Mun Summ Wong and Richard Hassell…” “Richard Hassel” | WOHA |
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| 00:20:18 | “…than I.M. Pei’s pyramid in the courtyard of the Louvre…” “Louvre Pyramid” | Wikipedia |
| 00:35:19 | “…by the first elected mayor of London, Ken Livingston…” “London” | Britannica |
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| 00:37:49 | “…who went on to become, as an independent, the mayor of Bristol…” “Bristol” (England, United Kingdom) | Britannica |
| 00:42:33 | “…when he did his Menara Mesiniaga and Menara UMNO…” “AD Classics: Menara Mesiniaga / T. R. Hamzah & Yeang Sdn. Bhd.” | ArchDaily |
| 00:42:33 | “…when he did his Menara Mesiniaga and Menara UMNO…” “The Bioclimatic Skyscraper: Kenneth Yeang’s Eco-Design Strategies” | ArchDaily |
| 00:19:40 | “…I see a lot of conversation about better facades, green walls, biophilic interiors…” “Green wall” | Wikipedia |
| 00:19:40 | “…I see a lot of conversation about better facades, green walls, biophilic interiors…” “Biophilia: Bringing Nature into Interior Design” | ArchDaily |
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