A Sudden Cessation of Stupidity
Founded in 1937 by inventor Edwin Land, Polaroid Corporation embodied American ingenuity for many decades. Land is famously reported to have said, “Every creative act results from a sudden cessation of stupidity.” I love this phrase and have certainly seen it at work in my own life on many occasions. In terms of the green building movement, it seems particularly apt.
Founded in 1937 by inventor Edwin Land, Polaroid Corporation embodied American ingenuity for many decades. Land is famously reported to have said, “Every creative act results from a sudden cessation of stupidity.” I love this phrase and have certainly seen it at work in my own life on many occasions. In terms of the green building movement, it seems particularly apt.
For many decades, it’s been fair to characterize building design and construction as an exercise in collective stupidity. The objective often has been to build space that could be thrown away in a few decades, as long as it was cheap today; to see how much energy and water buildings could consume, without regard to the consequences; to see how much construction and demolition waste could be thrown away cheaply, without consequence; to conduct an uncontrolled experiment in how well people function when deprived of fresh air, daylight and views of the outdoors. P
Now, we are engaged in a race against time to reverse five decades of damaging trends, based on a linear, “throw away” economic model and an unlimited supply of cheap energy. In this respect, perhaps we can now characterize the green building movement properly as “a sudden cessation of stupidity.” Certainly the 13,000-plus attendees at the 2006 Greenbuild conference in Denver earlier this month, along with the nearly 500 exhibitors at the trade show, are leading the way in envisioning a new future for building design, construction and operations.
This is the most exciting time to be in the building industry, in terms of innovation, in many decades, if not ever. We are collectively beginning to cease stupidity and seek wisdom. New products, methods, tools and visions will collectively change the building industry within this decade, more than it changed in the 30-year period from 1970 through 2000.
But as architect and visionary William McDonough often says, our objective is not to be “less bad,” in terms of the environmental, society and economic effects of our buildings and urban settlements, but to be “positively good,” even “restorative.” It’s one thing to stop being stupid, another to seek out and practice real wisdom. Looks like we may be on the way!
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 11/22/2006 at 02:36 PM
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.Next entry: Living buildings go beyond LEED
Previous entry: Rocky Mountain High, Colorado
Subscribe via RSS
Subscribe via Email