552 DIGITAL APTITUDES + OTHER OPENINGS The Ontological Performance of Sustainable Design MICHAEL HARPSTER University of Nebraska-Lincoln INTRODUCTION In speaking of ontological performance, I am refer- ring to a structure’s ability to reveal the fundamen- In recent years, conversations concerning sustain- tal characteristics of human being or existence. In able design have focused almost exclusively on terms of the ontological performance of sustainable questions of resource conservation and energy ef- design, I intend to focus on the potential that sus- ficiency within the built environment. Practitioners tainable design methodologies have to reveal our ba- and scholars alike remain dedicated to the idea that sic relation to and place within the natural world, our the utilization of sustainable design methodologies situatedness both in and across time, and our basic merely serves to create a structure that consumers human mortality. By focusing on the ways in which fewer resources and operates more efficiently than sustainable design solutions might begin to speak to a conventional structure. In other words, many as- us of these basic human characteristics, I hope to sume sustainable design methodologies lead to an demonstrate that, through sustainable design, our improvement in the quantitative performance of a structures have the potential to provide us with a building – nothing more. Such an understanding clearer or at least a more immediate understanding has led many architects and scholars to place a of the fundamental nature of human existence. strong emphasis on the quantitative performance of sustainable design solutions, and even formal However, let me emphasize the fact that I do not systems such as the U.S. Green Building Council’s intend to provide a new definition of sustainable Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design design. I only wish to expand current definitions (LEED) Rating System rely heavily on quantitative or understandings to include a broader range of is- performance standards in an attempt to define and sues. I want to begin a discussion on how sustain- measure the impact sustainable design methodolo- able design can inform more than just the ways in gies have on the built environment. which we use natural resources. In this sense, my approach is focused less on what sustainable de- While understandings of sustainable design that fo- sign is and more on what sustainable design might cus on quantitative or technological performance become or what fundamental aspects of the human are not inaccurate, I do believe they present an in- condition it might reveal. In order to begin answer- complete account of the impact sustainable design ing questions such as these, we must be willing has (or might have) on our lives. It is my goal to to abandon the current limitations that have been explore the non-quantitative impacts of sustainable placed on sustainable design and allow ourselves to design and to thereby provide a fuller and perhaps explore a wider range of possibilities. We must be more meaningful understanding of sustainable de- willing to imagine what architecture might become sign. Ultimately, I intend to shift the discussion and to investigate how the structures we design away from quantitative or technological perfor- might begin to speak to us of ourselves and our mance and toward what I refer to as the ontological place in this world. performance of sustainable design solutions. THE ONTOLOGICAL PERFORMANCE OF SUSTAINABLE DESIGN 553 THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS sponse to increasing levels of environmental degra- dation that pose a significant threat to human life, In The Ethical Function of Architecture, Karsten both now and in the future. In this sense, sustain- Harries identifies a key link between architecture able design ideology can be seen to contain an im- and human being, or dwelling. He suggests that, if plicit recognition of temporal existence and human architecture is to serve dwelling – that is, if archi- mortality, for it acknowledges the continual need to tecture is to result in any meaningful sense of self protect the resources and ecosystems that sustain or human rootedness in the world – it must speak human life over time. Yet, we seldom speak of the to us of our own mortality.1 Echoing Heidegger’s ways in which sustainable design is connected to our belief that being is, fundamentally, a being toward place in time or our mortality. Thomas Fisher writes: death, Harries argues that the structures we build must acknowledge death if they are to have any Our survival as a species seems so remote a possibil- ity that we rarely raise it, even as we have set in mo- relevance in our lives. Noting the significance of tion what scientists now call the ‘sixth extinction,’ in acknowledging death, Harries continues: which, because of our fragmentation of habitat, pol- lution of water, and alteration of the atmosphere, we As long as we remain unable to make our peace will likely see the loss of as many as half of the spe- with the fact that we grow older and sooner or later cies currently alive over the next 40 years. And yet must die, remain unable to make our peace with we remain among the most vulnerable of them all.4 the passage of time, we also will be unable to make our peace with all that binds us to time – with our In light of such refusals to acknowledge human fra- bodies, for example, with our sexuality, and with the setting of the sun, with the coming of winter, and gility and mortality, it seems reasonable to suggest with the earth, which so often withholds its gifts.2 that the buildings we design must not only have positive environmental impacts, but they must As this passage suggests, any failure to acknowl- also reveal the intimate connection we have to the edge the passing of time, aging, and death makes it natural environment and speak to us of our basic difficult for us to acquire an accurate understanding human mortality. of self and the self’s place in the world. According to Juhani Pallasmaa, contemporary architecture often Ultimately, I believe sustainable design has the discourages us from acknowledging or confronting potential to result in structures that do just that. any of these issues. Instead, Pallasmaa writes: By privileging the utilization of natural energy sys- tems, the incorporation of recycled or reused mate- Buildings of this technological age usually deliber- rials, and the performance of a structure over time, ately aim at ageless perfection, and they do not in- sustainable design methodologies lead to the cre- corporate the dimension of time, or the unavoidable and mentally significant processes of aging. This ation of structures that emphasize our connection fear of the traces of wear and age is related to our to the natural world and our existence in and across fear of death.3 time (and therefore our imminent death as well). Due to the inherent consideration it gives to such Due to the continuation of such Modernist tenden- issues, sustainable design is uniquely positioned to cies, today’s built environment continues to dis- present us with a clearer understanding of what courage any recognition of our place in time and it is to exist in the world. In other words, sustain- our mortal being, effectively preventing us from able design solutions not only have the potential confronting one of the fundamental characteristics to achieve high levels of energy performance, they of human being. also have the distinct potential to achieve a signifi- cant level of ontological performance. It is to par- I contend, however, that sustainable design has the ticular examples of this sort of performance that I potential to change this, to result in structures that will now turn my attention. encourage us to confront our temporal being and mortality, and to thereby reach a fuller understand- ONTOLOGICAL PERFORMANCES ing of what it is to exist in the world. Body and Memory At its core, sustainable design is concerned with is- sues of time and human mortality. The entire sus- It may be important to note that the ontological per- tainability movement has emerged as a direct re- formance of sustainable design does not result from 554 DIGITAL APTITUDES + OTHER OPENINGS its ability to produce an new or original experience. and structures have the potential to achieve a level Instead, the ontological performance of sustainable of ontological performance. design is derived from its ability to reveal things al- ready understood but often overlooked or simply Environmental Connectivity unacknowledged. In other words, sustainable design reveals the nature of being by bringing events, cir- As Pallasmaa points out, “Architecture is our prima- cumstances, or objects that are typically overlooked ry instrument in relating us with space and time, into clearer focus, allowing us to confront issues of and giving these dimensions a human measure.”8 time and mortality that we often fail to consider. Although all architecture can reveal our relation to time, I believe sustainable design solutions have As Juhani Pallasmaa suggests, “Architecture does the potential to demonstrate humanity’s relation to not invent meaning; it can move us only if it is ca- time while also reinforcing our relation to the natu- pable of touching something already buried deep in ral world. our embodied memories.”5 This passage alludes to the way in which certain experiences may remind This ability stems from sustainable design’s ten- us of our physical presence and temporal being, dency to privilege the use of passive or active solar aspects of existence that, although buried deep in design strategies. Passive strategies involve an in- our unconscious understanding of self, are rarely herent understanding of a structure’s orientation in confronted directly. Furthermore, it suggests that space and its relation to the movements of the sun architecture must engage these unconscious mem- throughout a single day as well as an entire year.