Cathleen McGuigan, Newsweek's architecture critic, is disdainful of the hype surrounding green architecture, particularly because it so often doesn't address the main problems with land use: proximity to jobs and services, and oversized development.
"When it comes to green, people don't want to hear that size matters. We keep building not just bigger entertainment complexes but bigger houses. 'Green McMansion' is one of my favorite oxymorons. Currently the average new house is 2,500 square feet, up 1.5 percent in size from last year-though the shock of this winter's fuel bills may finally slow the trend. Building green houses-or at least advertising them as green-is on the rise, though there are no national standards about what constitutes a green home. People are attracted to sustainable houses partly as a cool novelty, when in fact green dwellings have been around for eons. Think of igloos, tepees or yurts-they took advantage of readily available local materials and were designed to suit their specific environments. Shelters around the world tend to be situated to benefit from the sun in the winter or to shield their inhabitants from chilling winds. But we forgot those basic principles when we plunked down every possible style of house into our sprawling American suburbs."
Read the full story: The Bad News About Green Architecture
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