Around the World, These Building Solutions Keep Things Local
Around the World, These Building Solutions Keep Things Local
全球视野：这些建筑解决方案如何实现“在地化”
It is an oft-quoted—and always alarming—statistic that 34 percent of the world’s carbon emissions are caused by the construction industry, with a significant portion borne specifically from the production of concrete required to erect a standard structure today. At the same time, we are facing a global housing crisis, as a large population of people moves from rural towns into cities, outpacing the number of affordable, high-quality units being built to accommodate them.
建筑业造成了全球 34% 的碳排放，这是一个常被引用且令人警醒的数据；其中很大一部分排放源于建造现代标准建筑所需的混凝土生产。与此同时，我们正面临全球性的住房危机：随着大量人口从农村涌入城市，经济适用且高质量的住房建设速度远远赶不上人口增长的需求。
So how does one put these two crises in alignment? Around the world, innovative architects, scientists, and engineers are exploring building techniques and materials that can create places to live without hastening climate change. The secret? Keeping it local.
那么，如何同时解决这两个危机呢？世界各地的创新建筑师、科学家和工程师们正在探索各种建筑技术与材料，力求在创造居住空间的同时，不再加剧气候变化。秘诀是什么？那就是“在地化”（Keeping it local）。
The concept of embodied carbon—the emissions released across the lifespan of a material, from extraction, manufacturing, and transportation down to disposal—dictates that the most sustainable architecture is built from its surroundings. Forward-thinking minds are tapping both high- and low-tech building methods and materials in every region of the world. From solar-powered pods that can handle the most extreme weather on Earth to residences built, literally, from the earth that surrounds them, each project presents a solution specific to its site, culture, and vernacular—but that can potentially be adapted for use in far-flung places.
“隐含碳”（embodied carbon）的概念——即材料在其整个生命周期（从开采、制造、运输到废弃处理）中所释放的排放量——决定了最可持续的建筑应当就地取材。具有前瞻性的思想者们正在世界各地挖掘高科技与低技术相结合的建筑方法和材料。从能够抵御地球极端天气的太阳能舱，到真正由周围土壤建造的住宅，每一个项目都针对其地理位置、文化和本土特色提出了解决方案，且这些方案都有潜力被推广到更遥远的地方。
The design lessons that can be gleaned from all the examples below are found in their commitment to both planet and people.
从以下所有案例中汲取的建筑设计经验，核心在于它们对地球环境与人类福祉的双重承诺。
Fire-Resistant Timber in California
加利福尼亚州的防火木材
Over the last decade, Seattle-based architecture firm Atelier Jones has been exploring the construction and design potential of one of the Pacific Northwest’s most accessible new building materials, mass timber. Both sustainable (for its local harvesting, low-carbon nature) and structurally strong, the engineered wood product is also highly fire-resistant.
在过去十年中，总部位于西雅图的建筑事务所 Atelier Jones 一直在探索太平洋西北地区最易获取的新型建筑材料之一——大跨度木材（mass timber）的施工与设计潜力。这种工程木材不仅具有可持续性（因其本地采伐和低碳特性），而且结构强度高，同时还具备极佳的防火性能。
After firm founder Susan Jones led the charge for the International Building Code to allow the material’s deployment in higher construction, she used it to design Heartwood, a 67,000-square-foot apartment building in Seattle that in late 2023 became the first tall mass timber structure in the US. Jones and her team then put the promising material into practice in the small Northern California town of Greenville.
在事务所创始人苏珊·琼斯（Susan Jones）推动《国际建筑规范》允许该材料用于高层建筑后，她利用这种材料设计了“Heartwood”。这是一栋位于西雅图、面积达 67,000 平方英尺的公寓楼，于 2023 年底成为美国首座高层大跨度木结构建筑。随后，琼斯及其团队将这种极具前景的材料应用到了北加州的小镇格林维尔（Greenville）。
There, in collaboration with local nonprofit Sierra Institute for Community and Environment, they created the Sierra Houses, three prototype mass timber homes whose capacity for prefabrication would allow them to rapidly and affordably rebuild a community that was itself devastated by fire in 2021. In one-, two-, and three-bedroom models, the lean-to or gable-roofed residences feature Cor-ten steel and aluminum façades surrounding a mass timber structure that, visible in the open-plan interior, also serves as an aesthetic feature. In similarly forested areas of the country, this innovative material has the potential to create safer, environmentally sensitive, locally sourced homes.
在那里，他们与当地非营利组织“塞拉社区与环境研究所”（Sierra Institute for Community and Environment）合作，打造了“塞拉住宅”（Sierra Houses）。这三个大跨度木结构住宅原型具备预制能力，能够以快速且经济的方式重建在 2021 年火灾中被毁的社区。这些住宅提供一居、两居和三居室户型，采用单坡或人字屋顶，外立面由耐候钢和铝材包裹，内部则展示了大跨度木结构，成为开放式空间中的美学亮点。在美国其他类似的森林地区，这种创新材料有潜力创造出更安全、更环保且源于本地的住宅。
Solar-Powered Pods in Antarctica
南极洲的太阳能舱
The coldest, driest, and windiest continent on Earth is, by international law, not a permanent home to any human residents. Plenty of scientists and intrepid tourists, however, stay for lengths of time on this South Pole landmass—and the buildings that house them must withstand an environment where average outdoor temperatures range from 14°F on the coast to −76°F inland.
根据国际法，地球上最寒冷、最干燥、风力最强的大陆不属于任何人类的永久居所。然而，许多科学家和勇敢的游客会在这片南极大陆停留一段时间，而为他们提供庇护的建筑必须能够抵御极端环境——沿海地区的平均气温为 14°F（约 -10°C），而内陆地区则低至 -76°F（约 -60°C）。
White Desert, a hospitality company that offered the first luxury hotel experience in Antarctica, is still the most innovative for on-land stays. Its two explorer camps, Echo Base and Whichaway, comprise highly insulated, igloo-like pods whose modular construction allows them to sit lightly on the landscape and be completely dismantled without a trace at the end of their lifespan. Inside, these domes offer floor-to-ceiling windows and futuristic living spaces that take advantage of Antarctica’s biggest summer resource: 24-hour sunlight. The suites, including the first showers with running hot water in Antarctica’s hospitality industry, are entirely powered by solar and wind energy, proving that even in the harshest environment, buildings can adopt good-for-the-planet design solutions.
White Desert 是一家在南极洲提供首个豪华酒店体验的旅游公司，在陆地住宿方面依然最具创新性。其两个探险营地“Echo Base”和“Whichaway”由高度隔热的冰屋式舱体组成，模块化结构使其能够轻盈地置于地表，并在使用寿命结束后被完全拆除，不留痕迹。在内部，这些圆顶建筑设有落地窗和充满未来感的居住空间，充分利用了南极洲夏季最大的资源：24小时日照。这些套房（包括南极旅游业中首个提供热水淋浴的设施）完全由太阳能和风能供电，证明了即使在最严酷的环境中，建筑也能采用对地球友好的设计方案。
White Desert CEO and founder Patrick Woodhead developed the pods in-house with his expedition team. “For us, true luxury is about creating a sense of ease and comfort in an extreme setting,” he says, “while ensuring that Antarctica remains exactly as we found it.”
White Desert 的首席执行官兼创始人帕特里克·伍德黑德（Patrick Woodhead）与他的探险队共同开发了这些舱体。“对我们来说，真正的奢华是在极端环境中创造一种轻松舒适的感觉，”他说，“同时确保南极洲保持我们发现它时的原貌。”
Compressed-Earth Blocks in Niger
尼日尔的压缩土砖
In Niger’s capital, Niamey, where rapid migration has led to a severe shortage of affordable places to live, architect Mariam Issoufou is using West African vernacular to create high-density, climate-resistant urban housing.
在尼日尔首都尼亚美，快速的移民潮导致经济适用房严重短缺。建筑师玛丽亚姆·伊苏福（Mariam Issoufou）正在利用西非本土建筑语言，创造高密度且抗气候变化的城市住房。
Relying on local compressed-earth masonry blocks and passive thermal design, Issoufou and united4design collaborators Elizabeth Golden, Yasaman Esmaili, and Philip Sträeter built Niamey 2000, which offers 18,300 square feet of multifamily living space, including private courtyards. Similar to precolonial mud-brick construction in Mali、Nigeria, and Niger, thick earthen walls regulate indoor temperatures, while shaded circulation areas and well-sited windows also help assure resident comfort during the city’s extremely arid heat waves.
伊苏福与 united4design 的合作者伊丽莎白·戈尔登（Elizabeth Golden）、亚萨曼·埃斯梅利（Yasaman Esmaili）和菲利普·斯特雷特（Philip Sträeter）依靠当地的压缩土砌块和被动式热设计，建造了“尼亚美 2000”（Niamey 2000）。该项目提供了 18,300 平方英尺的多户居住空间，并包含私人庭院。类似于马里、尼日利亚和尼日尔的前殖民时期泥砖建筑，厚实的土墙能够调节室内温度，而遮阳的交通空间和布局合理的窗户，也有助于确保居民在城市极端干旱的热浪期间保持舒适。
The project proved so successful that Issoufou has continued to incorporate compressed-earth blocks into her eponymous practice, which has offices in Niamey, New York City, and Zurich. She is currently constructing an office tower with bricks made from soil collected right on-site; it will be the tallest building in Niamey when completed and cooled using minimal energy thanks to its material performance and self-shading triangulated facade.
该项目非常成功，以至于伊苏福继续在其同名事务所中推广使用压缩土砖，该事务所在尼亚美、纽约和苏黎世均设有办公室。她目前正在建造一座办公大楼，所用砖块均取自现场土壤；建成后，它将成为尼亚美最高的建筑，并凭借其材料性能和自遮阳的三角形立面，以极低的能耗实现降温。