NONMODERN REGIONALISM AND SUSTAINABILITY: THE CASE OF TWO CONTEXTS A thesis submitted to the College of Architecture and Environmental Design of Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master’s of Architecture By Mina Kalkatechi August 2009 Thesis written by Mina Kalkatechi B.Arch, Azad University, 2004 M.Arch, Kent State University, 2009 Approved by _________________________________, Advisor Steve Rugare _________________________________, Graduate Program Coordinator Gregory Stroh _________________________________, Associate Dean, Coordinator of Architecture Programs Jonathan Fleming _________________________________, Dean, College of Architecture & Environmental Design James Dalton ii KALKATECHI, MINA, M.ARCH., AUGUST,2009 ARCHITECTURE NONMODERN REGIONALISM AND SUSTAINABILITY: THE CASE OF TWO CONTEXTS (95 PP) Director of Thesis: Steve Rugare With growing interest in sustainable practices in architecture, different approaches to sustainability have emerged. This thesis studies the Non modern perspective presented by Steven Moore, the challenges of redefining sustainable architecture as a storyline, and the practicability of this view in large scale sustainable projects which are largely based on Ecological Modernization. Recent developments in Ecological Modernization have brought about a vision of sustainable architecture in which social and cultural experiences are embedded. But the practices of large scale projects are still solely based on economic and financial concerns. The connection between theory and practice has significant role in the success of the sustainable storyline and therefore, the contradictions in the practice of sustainable large scale projects provide significant challenges in viewing them as Non modern practices. Although, social and cultural issues should be considered, we should not forget the role of economy and its contradictions in large scale developments. Non modern theory brings about several questions which might make sustainability practically unachievable in large scale projects, and therefore a utopian concept. While integrating social practices in architecture, we should not undermine the reality of what Ecological modernization has contributed in significant developments in different contexts. TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... vi CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................1 II. NON MODERN REGIONALISM. ......................................................................2 Introduction ..................................................................................................2 History of regionalism .................................................................................3 Critical regionalism ......................................................................................5 Place .............................................................................................................8 Technology ..................................................................................................9 Non modern theory ....................................................................................12 III. REDEFINING SUSTAINABILITY ...................................................................16 Introduction ................................................................................................16 Confusion or certainty? ..............................................................................18 Environmental knowledge in architecture .................................................20 Sustainable building models ......................................................................22 Six Logics of sustainable architecture .......................................................25 IV. ECOLOGICAL MODERNIZATION: THEORIES AND DEBATES .............33 Introduction ................................................................................................33 Early debates ..............................................................................................35 Contemporary debates ...............................................................................37 Ecological modernization, towards a non modern perspective? ................40 V. CASE STUDY: ORESTAD DEVELOPMENT, DENMARK ..........................45 Introduction ................................................................................................45 Project initiation .........................................................................................56 First stages of development .......................................................................66 Criticisms ...................................................................................................69 iii VI. CASE STUDY: MINATO MIRAI 21, JAPAN .................................................72 Introduction ................................................................................................72 Project initiation .........................................................................................77 Development process .................................................................................81 VII. MARKET ORIENTED PROJECTS AS NON MODERN REGIONAL PRACTICES ......................................................................................................83 Introduction ................................................................................................83 Conflicts .....................................................................................................84 VIII. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................91 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..............................................................................................................94 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. The dialogic qualities of place and technology ............................................................12 2. Nonmodern regionalism diagram ...............................................................................15 3. The position of ecological modernization theory in nonmodern diagram .....................43 4. Oresund region ........................................................................................................47 5. 1947 finger plan .......................................................................................................50 6. Orestad Master plan .................................................................................................62 7. Tokyo bay region .....................................................................................................72 8. Kenzo Tange 1960 Tokyo bay plan ............................................................................73 9. Diagram of urban planning policy in Japan ................................................................76 10. Otaka 1981 master plan for MM21 ...........................................................................78 11. Diagram showing the three city axis ..........................................................................80 12. The triangle of conflict goals of planning ...................................................................85 V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my family and friends for their assistance and support during my studies at Kent State. Also, I’m indebted to the committee, Steve Rugare, Jonathan Fleming and Diane Davis for their remarks through the study. I’m grateful to Simon Guy and Andrew Karvonen from school of Environment and Development in University of Manchester for their insights and I would like to thank Orestad Development Corporation for providing more information on the case study. I’m especially grateful to my best friend and wonderful sister, Maryam, for being my backbone, and without whose help and patience I could not have finished this journey. vi 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In today's world, where we are facing global environmental issues, it seems more significant to understand the choices that we as architects can make and the challenges that we may face in this path. After decades of debate on sustainable development, there has not been a consensus on questions such as what can green architecture look like, how we can measure sustainability, and whether sustainable measurement programs such as LEED are enough to determine a sound architectural practice with environmental concerns in mind. Steven Moore, a Professor of University of Texas in Austin, has an interesting hypothesis in this regard. He believes that the various solutions that are practiced should be celebrated, rather than trying to find the best strategy in the sustainability movement to go forward. He has brought up a notion of "non modern Regionalism" where he believes that sustainability should become a regionalist issue, and sustainable architecture should be tied to place. This thesis is a study in non modern regionalism, and the place of ecological modernization within the theory and practice of the nonmodern perspective. Two large scale projects which employ the ideas of ecological modernization will be analyzed through non modern