Dialectical Ecologies at Hulsey Yards

Abstract

Rural wooded lots, green pastures, desert landscapes, open plains, and mountain cliffs. These spaces appear to be the ideal setting for ecological design, according to recent publishing. At these "out-there” sites, solar orientation is registered. Surface treatments are hung. Fins are cantilevered. Water is recycled. Roof grass is planted. Geothermal technologies are buried. Low voc paints are brushed. Higher efficacy machines are specified. While the value of these ecological strategies and use of new green products is clear, not even one hundred million new solar houses could environmentally redeem the unforgiving amount of low-density greenfield development built during the last twenty-five years. This paper argues that decoupling the eco-tec project from the urban one is futile, and that the bottom line of sustainability is not the individual low-entropy building but urbanism.