Sustainable architecture can – and need to be designed much more extreme

Drawing, concept and text by Frits Ahlefeldt

With more and more people on the planet we need to rethink the ways we build cities and use resources, three things that can be combined in a new generation of architecture are:

1. Solar powered roofs
   This is going mainstream with a lot of huge global companies investing money in new kind of energy collecting roofs
2. Integrated food production
   With new technology, vertical gardens, and better monitored farming, it is possible to grow a lot of food on and around a house. The benefits are many, from saving money, getting better relationships, better health, reduced stress and reconnecting much better to our food and at the same time reduce the load we place on the rest of the planet.
3. Using roofs to collect rain water
   This has not been much used yet in modern architecture, but it can help buffer the water flow of the cities and stop flooding, by working almost as a kind of sponge, securing water under heavy rain and extreme weather, and then slowly releasing the water, for plant and food growth.

Concept sketch of one of a billion ways a green house could look

Here is just a fast concept sketch where I work with how these three elements, solar roofs, water collection and growing food might be combined

Finding new ways of designing houses and cities is part of the work to take pressure of the landscapes to help thrive, biodiversity and sustainability at the same time