A lifeline and a reason to be: the future of sustainable architecture in Spain and its European context

Abstract

Background: Architecture and construction in Europe have felt, like few other sectors, the consequences of the financial crisis that set in during 2008. This is only a logical result of their enormous dependency on different kinds of resources (financial, material, energetic). The outcome of these events can be interpreted within a general urgency to establish more sustainable patterns of life and this leads us to analyse the shifting paradigms that society applies regarding the appreciation of building performance. This affects Spanish architecture specially, since both the causes and the effects of this traumatic transition have been very prominent in this country. Methods: Through the comparison of different phenomena that affect architecture in a more or less direct way tendencies can be discerned, on what will be defining architectonic criteria in the years to come. A description of these heterogeneous interfering aspects establishes a preliminary approach to interpret the Spanish situation, for which then more specific examples are listed. After having recognised a series of sustainability themes, which society takes into account generally, they are being extrapolated to the field of architecture. Results: The interpretation of social and economic phenomena as conditioning circumstances for the creation of architecture is a first step to apply the forthcoming logics to the profession. After this, a coherent set of results generates new objectives, which mark a way for the profession to become meaningful from the point of view of a scarcity of resources, covering simultaneously economical and ecological aspects. Examples from legislation and reports confirm this arising framework for the Spanish context. Conclusions: Answering the questions that society poses to architecture implies taking a stand in the rapidly developing discussion on sustainability and for this Spanish architects have an important series of tools to their disposal. It is paramount nevertheless that the lecture of the new situation in which they have to work, takes into account the various conditioning aspects combined with a coherent interpretation of their effects. Thus a new social legitimization of architecture can be established.