The project must convey a high standard of architectural quality as to the manner in which it addresses its cultural and physical context. With space and form of utmost significance, the construction must have a lasting aesthetic impact on its surrounding environment.
- Improvement of existing contextual conditions responding to the natural and human-made contexts.
- Interdependencies of landscape, infrastructure, urban fabric and architecture.
- Cautious restoration and alteration of the built environment.
- Programming strategies (use, flexibility, multiplicity of functions, change).
- Architectural quality and its aesthetic impact (space, form, light, ambiance).
Design quality is the aspect that clearly distinguishes sustainable construction from other forms of sustainable development. Visual expression and fitness of form are two essential qualities of all good architecture and planning, and these are also central to sustainable construction. This applies at all scales: land use planning, urban planning, and architectural design.
Land use planning should preserve natural areas and the inherent qualities of the landscape. Besides providing an efficient and functional infrastructure, urban planning should create spaces and places of cultural significance and social value. Urban redevelopment projects and large public projects should heal and upgrade neighborhoods and city quarters. And architectural projects should not only meet the owner’s requirements (program), but match the physical context (site and neighborhood) and improve the local surroundings.
Measuring up to the criteria of sustainable construction: Office building in Costa Rica
The Holcim Costa Rica office building perfectly suits its tropical context, expresses corporate responsibility and the products of Holcim, offers durable, functional, pleasant, flexible spaces, fits into its industrial setting while improving the site as a natural habitat, and is visually attractive from many perspectives.