Sustainable architecture is often criticized as having been reduced to "greenwashing".
Pictured is "Antilla", excessively expensive and fundamentally capitalistic, the building justifies itself because of how "green" it is (read "Capitalism: A Ghost Story here). The fundamental motives behind many sustainable design strategies are their non-sustainable contemporaries: luxury, excess, privacy, and denial of mortality. The only difference is a few extra zeroes in the price and a friendly green appearance for the public. Here is one student's response to sustainability:
In defining radicals, punks, and anarchists as the main audience for this piece of sustainability, the project attempts to shed this notion of sustainable excess in favor of something not as pretty but perhaps more apt to shake the foundations of unsustainable design.
The anarchist hotel stretches toward the sun, a precise angle which keeps out the Sun's scorching summer rays while harvesting its fleeting winter warmth. The resemblance to an outstretched middle finger toward the capitalist center of the city may or may not be intentional.
The desired effect of the building promotes non-excessive communal living among urban radicals and flaunts it in the face of the city in a not so status-quo fashion, while shamelessly harvesting its neighbor's waste food and water.
Can the capitalist's definition of luxury exist in a sustainable world? It seems unlikely to this branded consumer. This project by an early architecture student tries to reimagine what luxury might look like - a simple reverence for the sun and the elements along with a deep sense of communal living. Would it actually work in present day Philadelphia? Hell no.
Antilla, the most expensive house in the world, can not even come close to be considered green. It is just one more example of how an unnecessary building is never better than building nothing at all. The 27 story space contains a health club with a gym and dance studio, one swimming pool, a ballroom, a 50-seater cinema, plus three helicopter pads on the roof and a car park for 160 vehicles on the ground floors. The residence, which is larger than the Palace of Versailles, requires a staff of a staggering 600 people to keep everything operating smoothly. ALL FOR A FAMILY OF FIVE, the richest family in India. Apparently, their 13 story current residence was just not big enough. This abandoned space must be included in the embodied energy of the "sustainable" project. Source: http://www.archdaily.com/82053/antilia-worlds-most-expensive-house/
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