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The notimi of sustainability relates Io the necessary balance between a specific species, its natural environment, and the system of which il is a part. The end result must extend beyond maintenance of the system without jeopardizing the survival of futuri1 general ions; to the extent possible it. must strive to improve the system.
Sustain ability applied to architecture and urban design pertains to the system that views people from a twofold perspective, as individuals and as members of a community, together with the planning and building activities they carry out to modify the system with a view to enhancing it in the future.
Also known as green architecture or pc:o-architec!ure, sustainahle architecture proposes architectural and urban planning designs that make use of natural resources with minimal impact on the environment, through the rational design of buildings and their materials and infrastructures, and that provide their inhabitants with a sense of well-being.
The 20th century witnessed profound changes and a major revolution in ideas and forms of artistic expression. In architecture, the search for the new art that ushered in the century entailed a radical departure from the past atid with it from traditional forms of planning and building. It seemed obvious that, by rejecting old methods and exploring the infinite possibilities of new materials and manufact u red products along with the fresh ideas inspiring creative processes, success would be ensured. However, those new interests abandoned basic principles and have lrd to many of today's problems, which make the pursuit of architectural sustaii lability a priority objective.
The figure of Frank Lloyd Wright in ibis context assumes great importance. His search for balance and harmony with nature inspired a new architecture, which made him the precursor of that first generation of heroic architects, the fathers of modern architecture, whose impact has not yet been surpassed. He was the precursor of the concept of architectural space and demonstrated that, universal principles derived from human nature itself were all that was needed to produce the innovative architecture called for by the new century.
This American architect, born in Wisconsin in 1869, applied the principles of sustai liability to his architecture with great ease and spontaneity. He did not make reference to them explicitly but rather inescapably,...