Lessons from the Lunar Surface
By Bob Massaro
Over 20 years ago, I was attending a party in Los Angeles - one of those parties where everyone tries to impress everyone else, or at least hold their own. At that time, I had been building for about five years, and, in the naiveté of my early years, was most impressed with how well our projects had turned out. I commented to all those nearby that one of the things I was most proud of was the fact that my projects "would last for at least 50 years, if not more." A grayhaired fellow within earshot, perhaps 25 years my senior, commented that he also was most proud of how long the things he had built would last. Thinking he, too, was a builder, I asked him what his last project was. His response forever taught me two lessons when he answered: "The Lunar Landing Modules. I work for NASA."
Lesson No. 1: As good as you think you design, engineer or build, you can always do better. One way to become better is to be open to ideas coming from unexpected places.
Throughout the years, all of our buildings have improved as we continue to absorb important ideas from other disciplines. We changed to panelized, cold-formed steel fram- ing with a high recycled content after viewing fabrication facilities in Idaho. We brought Pex plumbing into our projects after investigating its success in heavy industry. Now, we are incorporating indoor air quality monitoring and control systems to regulate energy use and further improve energy efficiency. Every building industry professional can and must constantly strive to make each building better than their last.
Lesson No. 2: When you design, engineer or build, think about it as a 100-year opportunity. The expectation used to be that buildings would last for at least 100 years. As construction professionals, we are confronted with the fact that a building's current average lifespan is now approximately half that be- fore it is demolished or undergoes a major renovation. The consequences of this ever-shortening building lifespan are significant - for the owner's or investor's bottom line, for the occupant's well being and for the environment.
If your practice is focused on sustainability, you have the opportunity to push this statistical average higher. The 100-year building would be constructed of materials that age with time and interact with the environment instead of confronting it. It would be designed such that it is considered beautiful when completed, and will be perceived as beautiful by future generations. Add to that buildings that are carbon neutral, consume zero net energy, are built using sustainable materials and methods of construction and are happy, healthy places to live, work or learn. The result: a better designed, engineered and built 100-year building.
Be it 100 years or more, when the time has come for the building's life to end, it is best that you have designed, engineered or built it so that it is not destroyed, but rather deconstructed, and all of its body parts redirected to find new life in a new building.
By then, all of our successors - the architects, designers, engineers, contractors and builders two generations hence - will have elevated the bar. Perhaps the 200-year building will then be the norm. Yet, still, the new paradigm may be the five-year building when structures become so fluid that they can morph as needed, and in doing so, never die.
No matter, as long as the end products are environmentally, economically and socially sustainable buildings, we shall all win, and our planet will thrive.
So, the next time you look up at the moon, think about all of the lunar landers still there; then, consider the 100-year opportunity that you will be given with your next project. Embrace it. Maximize it. Enjoy it.
August 2008 Builder Architect Edition Issue