Nordic Architec­ture on the Road Towards Renewed Practices

… and produces about 33% of all waste.

The current architecture and construction industry doesn’t function within planetary boundaries. In addition to causing 40% of all climate emissions, the built environment consumes up to half of all virgin resources and produces about a third of all waste. Environmental degradation is a complex challenge, and problems such as the depletion of virgin resources, biodiversity loss, eutrophication, chemical loads, and a socially just transition are all intertwined. Aiming for net zero carbon in construction is therefore a step in the right direction, but if it is viewed as separate from – or as the sole solution to – addressing the wider environmental crisis, the conversation around emissions cannot achieve the systemic change the crisis truly demands. Architecture and other art forms should be recognized as significant media for achieving and making palatable the holistic disruption that is at hand.

To understand how architecture’s environmental impacts arise and where its potential for improving environmental conditions lies, we must focus on the processes through which the built environment is produced. Architecture should not be understood merely as pieces of art conceived at the designer’s desk, culminating in the completion of buildings, but as ongoing processes that both build and maintain humanity’s largest physical objects.

The Beyond Zero dives deeper into these architectural processes, approaching them from six different perspectives:

These perspectives are brought to life by 17 selected architectural projects from the Nordic countries and Estonia, each offering its own ambitious perspective on the transition towards sustainable practices in the building industry.