Sustainability from a Performance-Oriented Architecture Perspective – Alternative Approaches to Questions regarding the Sustainability of the Built Environment

This article introduces and discusses a series of alternative and interrelated concepts and approaches regarding questions of the sustainability of the built environment and architectural design. The need for this discussion arises from the realization that the majority of current approaches to questions of sustainability in architectural design tend to considerably stifle complexity in approach, problem analysis and definition. This development is characterized by isolated and partial aspects of environmental problems, instead of a more holistic systems approach, often present in the approaches of other disciplines or interdisciplinary efforts. The shortage of alternative approaches in architectural design requires a critical rethinking of the question of sustainability of the built environment and its relation to other domains in and outside the anthroposphere. To address this problem is the goal of this article. In doing so, it introduces and discusses concepts and approaches that are rooted in a systems approach and aims for more complex problem definitions, while taking longer-term perspectives into consideration. This is done from a performance oriented architecture perspective, which operates on the dynamic interactions between local ecosystems (including humans), environment and the spatial–material organization complex of architecture.