One of them is based in Bangkok
Fact: Climate change is real. Which is why it is becoming ever more urgent for mankind to live sustainably, even if it is something as simple as declining a plastic straw.
On a macro scale, green architecture is one of the key ways to build sustainable cities that will have as minimal an impact on the environment as possible. These days, urban planners, real estate developers, hoteliers and homeowners are increasingly looking to eco-architects. These eco-warriors are known for designing buildings that have a minimal impact on the environment, through the use of renewable materials and natural energy sources.
Here are the world’s most notable green architects who are doing their part to keep the planet liveable, one building at a time.
1. Debora Mesa Molina
This Spanish architect may not be quite as famous as the others on this list—yet—but with a recent TED Talk under her belt and a unique approach to architecture, that probably won’t be the case for long. Her take on sustainable architecture is to use unwanted materials that would be otherwise discarded, such as leftover fragments from a rock quarry or precast concrete blocks, to build homes and other structures.
For example, her firm Ensamble Studio stacked massive concrete beams on top of each other to build the frame for a house in Madrid—one beam was even used as a swimming pool. She is currently also looking at ways to use lightweight materials such as galvanised steel studs, insulating foams and cement boards to build sustainable, prefabricated homes. The green impact of such residences have the potential to be significant—they are lighter and hence require less energy to transport and less waste material is incurred since all the pieces have been built to size.