from The Philosophy of Architecture to Architecture 2030

    I am taking a course called the philosophy of art this semester and we just read about Plato's viewpoint on poetry. He thought that poetry only gives people pleasure, but is not beneficial to the society, therefore, should not have a place in the world. He explained that poetry encourages and magnifies the flow out of emotions, when in fact,those emotions should be kept inside individuals.
    I found Plato's opinions on the art form--poetry extremely interesting. How can we define "good art" and "bad art"? What does art do to us and the society as a whole?
    Those in class discussions encouraged me to think about architecture as a form of art.
    Wikipedia defines "architecture" as The art and science of designing and erecting buildings and other physical structures. I've always found architecture from different times and regions interesting because they reflect history, philosophy and culture. However, if I think along Plato's way, why is architecture beneficial to the society？ Yes we all need a shelter to avoid rain and keep us warm, but why is the art of architecture more than just a shelter? What is a good architecture?
   To me, a good architecture can truly benefit the world by creating a harmony relationship between the structure and nature. With the growth of the population on earth and the improvement of our technology, more and more skyscrapers raised up during the 20th century. Steel and glass boxes office buildings became the love of cities because they are cheap and easy to build. At the same time, problems like the "heat island effect" are causing more people's attention. We are here on earth as a part of the nature, so why are we destroying our land?! Thus, energy efficient and environmental friendly houses start to catch people's attention and become the architecture of today.
    Recently, a website/project caught my attention: architecture 2030
    According to researches on the website of architecture 2030, buildings consume a lot of energies, are the largest contributor to the climate change and the health of economy is tied to the buildings. In order to slow the growth rate of green house gases(GHG), architecture 2030 issued The 2030 Challenge asking the global architecture and building community to adopt the following targets:

• All new buildings, developments and major renovations shall be designed to meet a fossil fuel, GHG-emitting, energy consumption performance standard of 60% of the regional (or country) average for that building type.
• At a minimum, an equal amount of existing building area shall be renovated annually to meet a fossil fuel, GHG-emitting, energy consumption performance standard of 60% of the regional (or country) average for that building type.
• The fossil fuel reduction standard for all new buildings and major renovations shall be increased to:
• 70% in 2015
• 80% in 2020
• 90% in 2025
• Carbon-neutral in 2030 (using no fossil fuel GHG emitting energy to operate).

    The next question is : How are we going to achieve our goals. And that's us--today and tomorrow's architects' job.