Edward Mazria: The Biggest Building Is To Reshape The World

Edward mazria, an architect from Santa Fe, New Mexico, recently won the 2021 gold medal from the American Institute of Architects (AIA). The gold medal of the American Institute of architects was first awarded in 1971 to honor "architects who have a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture". It is known as the highest honor of the American architecture industry. Most of the past award-winning architects have left their moments of glory with impressive construction projects, but this year's gold medal winner is a little different: he won the prize committee's favor by warning the construction industry of the irreversible impact of global warming. "Mazria has long warned us that carbon emissions from multiple factors such as the presence and construction of buildings can lead to climate change, and his career has been dedicated to encouraging the construction industry to make positive changes and take action," the Award Committee said. From architects, researchers, project sponsors to opinion leaders, he has had a profound impact on the construction industry and the construction industry. "

Edward mazria recently won the gold medal of 2021 from the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Materials and pictures

From architect to sustainable activism

"Mazria suggests that architecture can be the key to changing the expected global climate change." Thompson Penney, who was president of the American Institute of architects in 2003, said: "in 2003, when he made his" first voice in the wilderness, "it seemed like an impossible goal to achieve. But in the next decade or so, relying on his unswerving voice and outstanding leadership, he proved to us that this goal can be achieved and is actually on the way to completion! "

Mazria, born in 1940, is 80 years old. In 1963, he graduated from Pratt college with a bachelor's degree in architecture. After graduation, he served as a volunteer in Arequipa, Peru, for two years. During his volunteer service, he realized that building with social moral responsibility is the key to improving society and environment. After returning to the United States, he worked in the company of Edward Larrabee Barnes, the gold medal winner of the American Institute of architects in 2007, and his ideas became solid and firm under the influence of the tutor's pragmatic style. In 1973, mazria went to the University of New Mexico to teach and complete her master's degree. After his master's degree, he was engaged in teaching and scientific research at the University of Oregon, specializing in solar energy utilization.

In 1979, he and his team of experts published passive solar energy. Passive solar building is designed to make full use of solar radiation for heating in winter, and minimize heat loss caused by maintenance structure and ventilation infiltration; in summer, try to reduce the heat caused by solar radiation and heat dissipation of indoor personnel and equipment; on the premise of not using mechanical equipment, it completely relies on strengthening the shielding function of buildings to achieve indoor environment comfort Purpose of environmental protection building. Mazria gives a comprehensive introduction to the design and application of passive solar buildings, and evaluates 27 design models that counteract the effects of solar heating efficiency. The book's Amazon purchase page, there are many readers left five-star reviews. Some readers said: "it's a must read book for people engaged in the design or construction industry, or those who want to really understand how to design and build passive solar buildings. I came into contact with this book early in my career. It inspired me to reduce my carbon footprint as much as possible in my life and set me on the path to becoming an environmental engineer. " The contents of this book are still referred to and quoted by the industry, and the global sales volume has exceeded one million copies.

But research alone can't satisfy mazria's wishes. After finishing his research, he returned to New Mexico, hoping to test his research results in practice. Later, he became one of the most important building environment experts in the world, with a series of landmark passive solar buildings such as stockbrand house, Indian art and Culture Museum and Georgia o'keeff's manor. With his help, the American Institute of architects also founded the Council on the environment (Cote) in the 1990s, and organized student architectural design competitions through mazria's large personal donations in an effort to expand its social influence.

Mazria has a global reputation for a range of iconic passive solar buildings. Materials and pictures

The question is the answer

With the continuous deepening of the research on sustainable building, the energy use and CO of residential and commercial buildings, industry and transportation are becoming more and more important_ In the data compilation of 2 emissions, mazria accidentally found a surprising fact: 48% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions are from the construction environment. "Our research shows that construction is the largest sector of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, almost twice as much as any other sector." "But it's important to recognize that since we're the key to the problem, we're also the key to solving it," mazria says From this, he realized that jointly tackling climate change is the most urgent and far-reaching challenge and mission of architecture, planning and design. Architects should not only focus on the tangible houses in front of them, but also the earth where 7.78 billion people live.

In 2002, he founded the project organization "architecture 2030" and carried out public service in the name of the company. A few years later, the agency became a mature non-profit organization dedicated to changing the climate change process, researching and providing information and innovative solutions on building planning. With mazria's decades of research, teaching and practical experience in the field of architecture, "building 2030" has influenced the world's response to climate change through practical actions. At the 21st conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change, which adopted the Paris Agreement, mazria introduced to the world the important research results of "building 2030" on the greenhouse gas footprint of buildings under standard business practices, and put forward a comprehensive practice plan to help the construction industry achieve zero emissions.

In February 2007, mazria launched two major activities to students, educators and government officials in the construction industry through "building 2030", which attracted great attention of the society. The activity for the former is named "2010 priority", which is hosted by mazria and other well-known climate change and design experts to conduct interactive webcast teaching on global warming, climate change and building environment, so that students can understand how their behavior and design affect the environment, and how the environment affects their design; while the "2030 challenge" for the latter is intended to appeal to the government to build The construction related departments strictly abide by the goal of reducing the carbon emissions of new buildings by 10% every five years and reducing the average carbon emissions of existing building areas by 50%, so as to achieve the vision of carbon neutrality of all new buildings by 2030. "When designing a building, no matter how long it will last, we should set the standard by predicting the carbon emissions that it may produce in the next 50 years," mazria said

The two major activities launched by "building 2030" have attracted the active response and wide participation of major international construction companies, educators and students, the US mayors' conference and various American city and state industry associations. In 2006, the American Institute of architects joined the 2030 challenge and signed a memorandum of understanding agreement with the American Society of heating, refrigeration and air conditioning engineers, the lighting Engineering Society of North America, and the Green Building Council of the United States with the support of the U.S. Department of energy. The Agreement establishes the common goal of achieving zero energy consumption and clean buildings with the baseline of reducing energy emissions.

As an expert in recognizing the importance of the building environment in causing and addressing climate change, mazria pioneered the global threat of climate change as an architectural design issue. His life-long research and work have profoundly influenced the views and positions of the American Institute of architects on sustainable and environmental management. His actions also promoted the cooperation between the American Institute of architects and more non-profit organizations, and initiated a fundamental change in the code of ethics and professional conduct of the American Institute of architects.

Mazria believes that the word "crisis" stands for both danger and opportunity. Therefore, he did not dare to be a little lazy during the new crown epidemic. In June 2020, he published an article in architects magazine, saying: "this year's epidemic has brought global building construction to a standstill and carbon emissions are falling. We are suddenly approaching the goal that we once thought could not be achieved: to keep the temperature of the earth within 1.5 degrees Celsius." He once again appealed to the construction industry: "we should take this opportunity to work hard and cooperate for the common vision after the epidemic. Grasp the current "crisis" and reshape our world. " (editor Dong Mingjie)

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