I have heard the former mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel’s quote repeated often recently; “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.”

 

2019 was the year where Greta Thunberg’s environmental campaign gained huge traction. With global declarations of a climate emergency, punctuated by carbon emission and pledges to stem the rise of global warming. So too, was 2019 remembered for a time when mental and physical health and wellbeing became firmly on everyone’s agenda. 

 

It is extraordinary that the culmination of these rising trends should be followed by a public health emergency and a resulting global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus. COVID has catapulted environmental responsibility, human health and wellbeing firmly out of the nice-to-haves and into the imperative.

 

For those of us working within the built environment, there is a lot of speculation about how the current pandemic will impact our cities and architecture - with hopes that it will be for the better. 

 

This crisis has brought the relationship between humans and our planet sharply into focus. Many people in lockdown are currently witnessing the return of nature to their cities; deer and boar roam the streets of Paris, goats nibble front hedges in Wales. Those lucky enough to have gardens have been watching spring unfold with enhanced clarity, enjoying birdsong no longer drowned out by the noise of aeroplanes and traffic. Our cities are reconnecting to nature. We are enjoying drastically cleaner air in major cities. The value and importance of park access during lockdown - their reputation as the ‘lungs’ of the city is elevated to priceless proportions. 

 

It is more important now than ever to foster a better understanding of how our actions, our buildings, spaces and places have an impact on our environment - as organisations and as individuals. 

 

 

Cities and organisations around the world have now signed up to net-zero carbon commitments by 2030 for new buildings. And by 2050 all buildings should stem the rise of global temperatures, improve air quality and the health of citizens.

 

Currently, the built environment still accounts for around 40% of carbon dioxide emissions globally. Operational carbon emissions; power for lighting, heating, and cooling, make up the majority of these emissions. The rest comes from embodied carbon - emissions generated through manufacturing materials, transportation and the construction process. 

 

We need to get to net-zero carbon buildings; this is when the building produces as much power as it consumes annually, from carbon-free renewable energy sources. Meaning a net-zero building needs to produce enough renewable energy to meet its annual operations and to offset the carbon emitted from its construction. 

 

This is no mean feat, particularly for existing building stock which makes up the vast majority. In order to make this a reality, we need to engage everyone in the challenge. To ensure occupiers of space, users and visitors, understand and play a part in getting this done. Media architecture can help to do this.

 

 

We are flooded with data - now more than ever - with a roughly estimated 90% of the world’s data being generated over only the last few years. When it comes to the buildings, environmental credentials are more available than ever before. From air pollution ratings to industry certification programs like BREEAM and LEED, the way we gather and access information about our buildings is richer than ever. But much of this data is unfathomable, uncategorised and under-utilised. Much of it is hidden away and inaccessible. 

 

Media architecture can bring data and information to life in a beautiful, human-centric and participatory way. At Squint/Opera we have used media architecture as a way to communicate data in a beautiful and meaningful way at Weill Cornell Medicine’s (WCM) lobby in New York. For this project, we developed a wall-sized artwork comprised of thousands of tiny screens that each display information about the medical discoveries and research taking place within the building.  Data-driven installations like this offer a transparent, accessible and importantly, an interesting way to display and communicate with people.  

 

Looking forward, we can choose to design spaces that beautifully and seamlessly engulf you in the story of a place - and its environmental credentials. An experience in which you are a part of the narrative. That brings to life the invisible data that is the lifeblood of a place - the people who occupy it, the ideas formed within it, the energy that flows through it, the carbon it produces (or doesn’t), the water it recycles, the solar energy it creates.

 

We need to make this information accessible and readable to all. And we need these to be shared experiences, collective and collaborative, not something that’s only on an app. We need to create dialogues with all users of the city.

 

The COVID pandemic has changed things permanently. This is an opportunity to prove you can do things that you think weren’t possible before. It is an extraordinary time in history to enact real change - working together we can bring down emissions, we can get closer to our carbon commitments. We all now have a responsibility to understand and take actions to get closer to understanding the impact of our existence in the city. 

 

Certainly, the way we work and convene in the future will change permanently in a number of different ways. But, crucially, the reason why people will be reconvening will be to see and interact with other people - we will need places which offer richer experiences for human interaction.