Metaphysics of architecture: An integral theory framework for sustainability

Lavaf Pour, Yahya; Meraz, Fidel

Abstract

The paper acts as a critique of prevalent current sustainable architecture and proposes a conceptual framework for sustainable design practice. In this paper, we argue that sustainable building standards,such as Passivhaus and BREEAM, have failed to capture a more multidimensional inclusive worldview and therefore, many influential architects have neglected implementing such principles. Through a wide analysis of literature, we observed that a large body of research published with sustainable architecture as a key agenda (88% of the full paper screened), is inclined to take a rather positivistic perspective. Not many published articles have looked at sustainable architecture from a standpoint ofhumanities and theory allowing for non-positivistic viewpoints. Hence, the proposed conceptual framework provides an opportunity to oscillate between positivistic and non-positivistic ideologies or subjective and objective values. We adapt Ken Wilber’s integral theory [1, 2] to devise our conceptual framework. We also substantiate the framework through the lens of Gumbrecht’s identification of a culture of meaning and a culture of presence [3]. By devising a novel conceptual framework, we invitearchitects to practice sustainability through the lenses of this integral framework. That is to entangle subjective and objective, individual and collective worldviews; to exercise physics and metaphysics of sustainable design through a deep consideration of the culture of meaning and the culture of presence. To exemplify the framework’s usefulness, we carried out qualitative case studies of Glenn Murcutt’s work and mapped aspects of his architecture against the proposed framework.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 1, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Apr 17, 2023
• Publication Date: Apr 17, 2023
• Deposit Date: Dec 8, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 18, 2023
• Journal: ARENA Journal of Architectural Research
• Electronic ISSN: 2397-0820
• Publisher: Ubiquity Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 5
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.55588/ajar.374
• Keywords: Metaphysics, Architecture, Integral Theory Framework, Sustainability, Integral theory, critical sustainability, conceptual framework
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10226701
• Publisher URL: https://ajar.arena-architecture.eu/articles/10.55588/ajar.374/