DISCOVERING COMMUNICATION IN GREENNESS: DETERMINING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATION OF GREEN BUILDINGS

Abstract

Green buildings are on the rise globally. Though predominantly voluntary, more new buildings and old buildings seek retrofitting to meet mandatory requirements to achieve green certification. As architecture starts to embrace the rapid integration of this green agenda, does the increased awareness and attention to achieve accreditation in all aspects of its design makes a shift of focus away from what the building does and communicates? The paper will investigate if architects choose to communicate only selected ideas in green buildings and if there are new ideologies to be revealed in this transition of the assimilation of the green agenda. This dissertation seeks to create a framework to understand how effectively green buildings communicate. A literature review is first carried out to define what is meant by ‘communication’ in the context of architecture and establish what architecture communicates. Subsequently, case studies of diverse green buildings will be accessed and analyzed to determine what green buildings communicate. Finally, the paper discusses if green buildings are communicating effectively and sufficiently and the reasons for failing to do so. Additionally, what could be done if architects fumblingly imposing the green agenda into buildings and as a result green buildings lack in communication. This paper will provide valuable insight of how green buildings could communicate to further assimilate the green agenda into buildings proper and a tool to achieve future green design ambitions.