Integration of Latent Ideas & Apparent forms to Create Sustainable Architecture: A Theoretical Exploration

Abstract

Sustainability is a concept that addresses the growing environmental problems on the planet. From an architectural point of view, it is affected by the thoughts of architecture that comes from the community which faces environmental problems. A community can have a different understanding of it, leading to architectural formations that will affect the culture of the society and sense of its identity. In architecture, the images represent the meanings and the materials that produce them. A building expresses identity and the ideas change the potentials of architecture. With the emergence of global architectural trends, societies are subject to the concepts of ‘one architecture’ and ‘one culture’ by means of ideas and technologies. Such a new universal identity makes alternative memories and unique places to lose their identity. By losing their essence, the products could become far from being sustainable. Architecture / the sensory circle, and the potential of architecture / psychological circle lead to sustainable architecture. It is subject to sensory and cognitive perceptions, and the use of the senses for extrapolation to extract and generate concepts and transfer them to achieve the goals of architecture. This integration is dependent of the mind being an examiner and a mastermind. This research revealsthe nature of the relationship between the latent and the apparent aspects in sustainable architecture. The research employs the descriptive-analytical study and a case study method as a means of testing. Data for the case study were collected from published studies on the project or from the self-description of the project designer himself. One of the most important conclusions is that environmentally sustainable architecture is the result of the union of two forces, the power of thought and the power of matter, and the creative interaction between them.