How to do better with less?
Working Space © LAST / EPFL / Olivier Wavre
The State of Vaud has just published issue 14 of the "Jalons" collection. This publication explores – from a building perspective – the issues related to the need to drastically reduce environmental impacts and the sparse use of available resources. On this occasion, Prof. Emmanuel Rey was invited to present some considerations related to the issues and strategies of intervention for buildings. Several research projects of the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) are also among the concrete avenues presented in the publication.
The issue "Jalons 14" is published against the backdrop of the unavoidable challenge of reducing our environmental impact. It aims to provide a synthesis of multiple issues already clearly identified and an organization of possible actions to direct the built environment and lifestyles towards more quality, resilience, and sobriety.
This publication is the result of a collective effort involving many partners; it is not intended as a tool or a policy agenda. By its essay character, it rather proposes a vision shared by the actors involved in its conception and an invitation to imagine - collectively and concretely - the universe of possibilities in terms of transition towards sustainability.
Among the alternative possibilities to current standard practices are the results of recent research projects on the integration of sustainability issues into architectural projects: "Working Space", which concerns the vertical extension of administrative buildings, "Living Shell", whose investigations concern the extension of collective housing buildings, and "Advanced Active Façades", which has led to the development of a new constructive system for the realization of low-carbon residential facades.