|
Paula Femenías
PhD, Architect MSA
Short CV
Current position:
Researcher at Chalmers Architecture
1998-2004 Doctoral student
1994-1997 Architectural work/ assistant for research and education at
Chalmers Architecture
1993 ETSAV/ETSAB Studies of Architecture, Barcelona
1987-1992 Architectural apprentences/ assistant for research and education
1986-1993
Studies at Chalmers Architecture
Diplomas:
September 2004, PhD in Environmental Sciences and Architecture at Chalmers
University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden, opponent Professor
Anna Grete Hestnes, NTNU, Norway
February 1993,
Master in Architecture Chalmers University of Technolog
Click here for a full list of publications in PDF
|
Demonstration projects
for sustainable building are increasingly common features in the process
towards more sustainable building practices. These projects are initiated
as a means to show and to prove that sustainable building is possible
to achieve within the frames of a rather normal building production.
However, even though many demonstration projects have been successful
they have so far contrarily to their intention have had little influence
on the process of making mainstream building practices more sustainable.
This doctoral thesis explores the phenomenon of demonstration projects
for sustainable building based on Swedish and Dutch experiences in the
late 1990s and discusses factors that impede the diffusion of concepts
and technologies to mainstream building practices. The empirical findings
are discussed using innovation-adoption theory and design theory, the
concepts sustainable development, and sustainable building as well as
a description of the structure and learning and development processes
in the building sector.
The thesis finds demonstration projects to be an important strategy
in the process of making mainstream building practices more sustainable
but the strategy needs to be improved. The lack of diffusion and adoption
of concepts and technology can on the one hand be attributed to the
structure and the organisation of work in the building sector that does
not encourage innovation and changes. The lack of mainstreaming of sustainable
building can also be explained by economic and political systems that
do not create incentives for environmental concern and long-term thinking.
The lack of diffusion and adoption of successful demonstration projects
and practices are also attributed to failures in the organisation of
demonstration projects regarding deficiencies in planning and setting
up of objectives as well as lack of systematic documentation, evaluation,
and dissemination of results. Consequently, the demonstration projects
do not produce reliable and useful information for further adoption.
The building sector also lacks of functioning media and channels for
distribution and reception of information. Furthermore, it cannot be
neglected that many demonstration projects have failed to address actors
in the building sector due to aesthetic and cultural preferences. However,
one of the main factors for lack of adoption and 'routinizing' of demonstration
practices can be explained by the fact that demonstration projects as
well as sustainable building in general are rather special projects
that require extra resources such as time and expert knowledge in the
design and planning which are not routine in the contemporary design
and building processes.
|
|
|
THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Demonstration Projects
for Sustainable Building: Towards a Strategy for Sustainable Development
in the Building Sector based on Swedish and Dutch Experiences
Doctoral Thesis
at Chalmers University of Technology, New series no. 2161, ISSN 0346-718X,
ISBN 91-7291-479-3
Download
the thesis here
|
