Sustainable Architecture is Humanity's Greatest Unfinished Mission

What would happen if civilization never recognised what a building truly is, or worse, what if it never existed at all?

Quixotically, we would have lost the meaning of space, and the very arenas in which human life unfolds and connects. Without them, we would lose a significant part of what makes us human. And yet, to build buildings is never simple, because it demands enormous effort, carries enormous consequences, and bears enormous weight on the sustainability of the world we inhabit together. This is precisely why the truest colour of happiness is not found in comfort. But happiness is found in the challenging and existentially noble act of constructing meaning. Mine is this: a world where architecture and nature become one living ecosystem of human achievement, where the built environment transforms the grey devaluation of space into something worthy and alive. In that pursuit of making it a reality, in the relentless realisation of it, lives the most human form of joy there is. The joy of making the world genuinely better.

I grew up in a legacy family of architecture. Both my grandparents and my parents graduated from architecture school. So, since I was a toddler, I was surrounded by discussions at the dining table, books, visuals, and stories all about architecture. We even joked about how boring it is to discuss architecture-related topics when eating out. So, the answer to why I wanted to go into architecture always seemed obvious, it was simply my background. But deep down, an existential question lingered: Why do I exist? Through years of reflection and experience, I came to see that architecture is far more than designing beautiful buildings. Rather, it is one of the most consequential acts a human can undertake. Far from a superficial profession, it profoundly reflects and shapes civilization itself. What I inherited from my family was not just a career, but a deep responsibility, to repair a broken metabolic relationship between the built world and the living planet.

Architecture is not a product of civilization, it is the condition for it. We see in movies, Dune, Blade Runner 2049, for example, that whenever dystopian architecture appears, the atmosphere of humanity’s life feels abrupt and lacking in meaning. An unsustainable built environment is, in the most literal sense, an application crash of human civilization. Historically, every great civilization, Egyptian, Classical Greek, and Ottoman, has brought profoundly great architecture; nevertheless, they built the very framework through which human progress became possible. In today’s world, where globalisation impacts almost everywhere on Earth, we have a greater responsibility to meet current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

There is no better time than today to make it a reality. According to the Berkeley Earth Institute, the last 11 years have stood out as the 11 warmest years since the last interglacial period, about 120 thousand years ago. A team of researchers warns that we are currently living at a tipping point where the tilt towards a Hothouse Earth would become inevitable, indirectly stating that we could experience a mean temperature rise of 2-3 times current conditions. This sets up a great time to focus effectively on sustainable architecture, because the building and construction sector is a primary driver of climate change, generating approximately 37% to over 40% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions.

The greatest challenge currently is the fragmentation of the building and construction sector. Many companies and government institutions systemically act towards their bounded rationality. Developers prioritize short-term construction costs over long-term sustainability. Governments build to the minimum code rather than the maximum potential because policy moves slowly. Architects design sustainably, but contractors cut corners. There is a gap between reality and the vision. The result is that sustainable architecture merely exists in theory and in beautiful, narrated communication techniques rather than a genuinely and truly manifested vision.

We do not lack the knowledge to build sustainably, we lack the collective will to demand it as the only acceptable standard. LEED-certified buildings demonstrate 34% lower CO2 emissions, consume 25% less energy, and use 11% less water than conventional buildings. Nonetheless, the adoption gap is damning. As of 2024, there are over 195,000 LEED-certified buildings across the world, which sounds astonishing, until you consider there are an estimated 2,75 billion buildings on Earth. According to the United Nations, despite some policy successes in reducing CO2 emissions from building operations, in reality, they have risen by nearly 5,4% since the Paris Agreement, instead of falling. We have not truly improved the planet’s trajectory, and we have been doing it slowly and fragmentarily.

In spite of those challenges, there are so many opportunities for us to leave behind for future generations. The global green building market currently stands at $565 billion and is projected to reach $1.37 trillion by 2034, growing nearly 10% annually, proving that the economic will is beginning to follow the moral standpoint. Biophilic design significantly improves stress level reduction physiologically and productivity in workplaces. The World Green Building Council optimistically targets that all buildings must operate at net zero carbon by 2050. There are endless opportunities for solutions, because every building that is designed regeneratively, each one is a direct improvement in the quality of a human life and nature somewhere in the world. A child in Jakarta who grows up in a thermally efficient school, a community in Dhaka whose neighbourhood doesn’t flood because its surfaces are permeable. Those are examples where civilization is functioning as it should be. Architecture serves the world rather than slowly degrading it. The mission is truly hard. It demands endurance, innovation, and the willingness to hold a long vision in a world that rewards short-term thinking. But the hardship itself is precisely the point. Meaning is not found in what is easy. It is found in what is worth doing, and that is where joy comes in. Joy in actively making life better, both for humans and for nature.

I believe happiness is a result of creating meaning, rather than seeking convenience. By dedicating myself to unifying architecture and nature, I tap into a raw human joy to leave the world better than I found it. That being said, it is clear that sustainable architecture is humanity’s greatest unfinished mission. Architecture plays a key role in determining the impact of buildings, and designing for sustainability must be the standard. We have already mastered the art of making shelter, but we have failed the science of metabolism. We must make sustainable architecture the absolute and common future we all experience. And so, my colour of happiness is the clarity found when we stop building objects and start creating ecosystems.