Kayakas!

An interesting column written by Argentinean architect Carlos Libedinsky, former head of the Ecology subject at the most prestigious Architecture College in Argentina and now head of a Master in Advanced Design, appeared in the country’s most read newspaper: Clarín. “It’s amazing that environmental subjects are optional for Architecture students, probably the main contaminators of the planet in the future -he writes-. David Cameron (candidate running for Prime Minister in England) has based his political platform on the environment defense; in the United States Al Gore is making a strong statement through An inconvenient truth; and our own president (Nestor Kirchner) is preparing himself to be the leader of Environmental Politics in Latin America*. All these symptoms show that the subject has started to be assumed massively (also seen as a smart way to gain votes), and yet from the teaching point of view, Architecture (which produces edification: the main protagonist of global warming) doesn’t have in most cases a position that’s stronger than just a declamatory and cosmetic pose”. “The Economist registers that the most prestigious universities’ students claim for more information and education in Sustainable Architecture”, continues Libedinsky. “But the only credit for certain projects that are so called by authors and critics environmental is that they incorporate a garden in their interior or a solar panel, that’s more symbolic than effective, in their roof”, he claims. The architect also says “some of the so called intelligent buildings that come up are usually environmentally dumb, since they consume energy in reaction to small climate changes that could be easily fixed by opening a window”.