Existing Buildings: The Elephant in the Room

摘要

For those who knew of me before I became AIA President, it is probably for coining the phrase: "The greenest building is... one that is already built." For more than 20 years I have devoted myself to articulating the relevance of existing buildings to sustainability, resiliency, climate change, and livable communities. In the early years of my quest, it was common to hear statements like "What do existing buildings have to do with [fill in the blank]?" While discourse has progressed considerably, recognition of the importance of existing buildings is far from mainstream in the architectural profession today. Building-sector statistics are compelling. Architects have been busy beavers since World War Ⅱ. From coast to coast, the United States has accumulated so many buildings that economic projections estimate that over the next 30 years more than twice as many will be renovated than newly constructed. To put it another way, today's early-career architects will spend substantially more time renovating buildings than designing new ones. And yet few firms-and even fewer architecture schools-take seriously the opportunities and challenges of existing buildings.