A Fruitful Collaboration

Regardless of how much the industry clings to the old master-builder model, it is in the process of becoming obsolete. Architecture with integrity and relevance, indeed good design of any sort, depends on collaboration across disciplines. Collaborations between architects and engineers—structural, mechanical, and other types—have always been important, but for many firms they have deepened and become more visible in recent years. One such relationship—between Behnisch Architekten and Transsolar ClimateEngineering—has proven enduring and produced enough built and on-the-boards work for a compelling traveling exhibit entitled Ecology .Design. Synergy.

Both firms share a commitment to reduced consumption of resources and greater emphasis on user comfort. The exhibit is organized around the five senses, all framed in the terms of what impacts them: temperature, air, sound, light, and material. This represents the firms’ efforts to redefine sustainability around relationships between humans and the elements of the built environment that surround them.

Each of the five areas is discussed in text beginning with its “bio-physical basics,” a statement from each firm about the issues, and then a look at a number of projects through that lens. The show includes some recognizable projects, such as the Genzyme Center in Cambridge, the Norddeutsche Landesbank in Hannover, and the Senscity Paradise Universe (first designed for Las Vegas and is now slated for construction in Dubai), as well as some future-vision projects. Most of the work suggests directly or implicitly that increased density will be part of that future, which itself raises a question about sustainability that is not completely addressed here: How will greatly increased density square with another element of sustainability considered by many an imperative—that design and human settlement become increasingly place-based?

It is clear from the show and the accompanying catalog that both firms have enjoyed the collaboration; there is a strong sense from many team members that the shared knowledge has propelled them farther than they could have gone without that input. There’s plenty here for architecture junkies, but the material is also organized in such a way that a lay audience would not be left wanting. Even the language is refreshingly free of architectural jargon and instead talks about design in clear terms as it relates to each quality of place or use.

“We believe that it’s difficult to separate the pursuits of architecture and engineering if you are working together closely,” says Martin Haas, a Behnisch partner. “That is as it should be; each inquiry permeates the other.” Thomas Auer of Transsolar says the firms share a belief that energy and environmental issues should be understood holistically: “It is really about the quality of the environment, even though counting the kilowatts per hour is important, too.”

There is an entertaining video clip in the exhibit from Haas and Auer as well as Behnisch Architekten partners Stefan Behnisch and David Cook, and Transsolar partner Matthias Schuler. Given the show’s emphasis on people and the human scale, it would have been interesting to hear a few voices of those who live, work, and play in the completed projects.

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The exhibit at Harvard University, Graduate School of Design in Cambridge, closed October 3. It will be on view at the Yale School of Architecture in New Haven from October 29 to February 1 and will travel to the Heinz Architectural Center in Pittsburgh from February 15 to May 25.

Kira Gould is director of communications at William McDonough + Partners. She is the 2007 chair of the AIA Committee on the Environment and is the co-author, with Lance Hosey, of “Women in Green: Voices of Sustainable Design” (Ecotone Publishing, 2007).