At One with Nature - Ken Yeang

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an ‘Environment and Climate Emergency’ amidst an ongoing series

      of protests by the group calling itself Extinction Rebellion. It is increasingly apparent

      that the air we breathe, the water we drink, the earth we plant in, the food we eat,

      and − crucially − the overall integration of our natural and built environments have all

      been compromised. This can arguably be largely attributed to decades of governments

      marginalising environmental policies and societies undervaluing ecological designs.

      In this context, Ken Yeang’s prescience as an architect is impressive and highly

      judicious; his doctorate in the early 1970s was titled, ‘Theoretical Framework for

      the Ecological Design and Planning of the Built Environment’. This topic drove his

      dissertation (which was agreed with John Meunier, then Head of Graduate Studies at

      Cambridge University) and became his life‘s agenda when he started a practice. We

      share some academic lineage, both of us having been students at the Department of

      Architecture there, influenced by many of the same minds from the faculty, such as

      Professor Marcial Echenique (who became head of the Department), Dr. Dean Hawkes

      (who left to become Professor at the School of Architecture at Cardiff University), and

      Peter Carl.

      After university, Ken continued to further pursue and develop his work on ecological

      design on both theoretical and practical levels. He developed a model framework through

      the biological integration of sets of ecoinfrastructures, namely natural, technological,

      water management, hydrology systems, and societal factors. In practice, he was able

      to interpret this abstract theory into physical forms through his architecture and his

      masterplans, and his built projects from over 40 years ago and was already looking at

      ways to integrate designed systems more benignly with nature. Through both passive

      and controlled methods of reducing energy demands, he has for decades looked at

      making buildings and communities run as complete ecosystems, with minimal external

      energy supply. It is evident that developing those theoretical subsystems is integral to

      making his architectural designs fully credible.

      INTRODUCTION xiii

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      xiv INTRODUCTION

      His most recent work – which is explored in this book – has honed that rigorous

      research towards architecture specifically mimicking nature’s processes. He now

      integrates the human-made with the landscape completely, because his current theoretical

      work is on ‘ecomimesis’ – the idea of designing by emulating and replicating by design

      the attributes in nature’s ecosystems. He is among the few architects whose built work

      is properly ecocentric, in terms of designing and building wholly based around the science

      of ecology. This is perhaps what differentiates his work and ideas from other ‘green’

      architects, many whose credentials are essentially driven by engineering technology, or

      are simply based on green accreditation systems such as LEED or BREEAM.

      There are specific patterns to the manner in which Ken consistently assimilates

      biotic constituents with the inorganic structures of the built environment. For example,

      one device regularly employed involves constructing sustainable territories within the

      wider development and then populating them with selected indigenous fauna species,

      to augment the local habitat. These are coordinated with selected flora typologies to

      create a multifarious ‘biodiversity matrix’ that goes much deeper than merely adding

      greenery or landscaping to his built forms. The book specifically focuses on his practice’s

      latest projects, defining and explaining every cutting-edge tested technology, and newest

      innovation within each scheme. This is coupled with a pursuit of the aesthetics of

      ecological design, seeking to define in terms of form and materiality what a green building

      or masterplan could and should look like.

      Ken’s continued persistence in advancing green design towards ecocentrism

      makes it environmentally significant; the Guardian newspaper named him as one of the

      ‘50 People Who Could Save The Planet’ in 2008. That urgency is now increasingly being

      realised globally, and his work has never been more pertinent or visionary. Ken’s belief

      is that up until the last decade, architects sought only to prevent further impairments

      of the natural environment. Today – with the extent of devastation and its impact on the

      biosphere evident – the design effort must become a full ‘race and rescue’ mission. His

      ideas are therefore relevant not only to those in the design professions but also to others

      worldwide who share his concern for the future of the planet.

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      INTRODUCTION xv

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      xii INTRODUCTION

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      GREEN TECHNOLOGIES xvii

      Ecological design as the seamless

      and benign biointegration of

      ecoinfrastructures

      © Ken Yeang (2021)

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      xviii INTRODUCTION

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      FAUNA & HABITATS xix

      Species research as basis

      for creation of habitats

      within the built environment

      © Ken Yeang (2021)

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      xx INTRODUCTION

      Built environment as bioengineered ‘constructed ecosystems’

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      LIM KOK WING UNIVERSITY MDTC xxi

      LimKokWing University

      Ecomasterplanning must start with green infrastructures

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