There are two available methods of reducing the energy that goes into the making of buildings; first, the reduction in the amount of material, and second, the selection of the material requiring least energy to perform a certain function. One consequence of our present scale of buildings is a tendency to diminish the awesome and vast dimensions of natural landscape. As the crises of our environment become more inescapable, there are intensified efforts to remove the design of buildings from the limiting demands imposed by our awareness. There is a relationship between the forms of buildings and the controls that produce them. This includes materials, technical knowledge, verbal development, and social patterns. When an ordinate use of any control occurs, exceeding what the end product requires for realization, the quality of that end product suffers as a cultural and artistic manifestation. |
