The topic seems controversial, but it was the main thought of Mr. Diaa El-Masry’s online lecture at Mansoura University (Egypt); that was attended by students and academia of the Department of Architecture. The event took place on Friday, 6th November 2020 and was the first in a series of events aiming at augmenting the academic education with real experience. The lecture was given in “Arabic“, but we will summarize the main thoughts in this article. In addition, the presentation and the video recording are available at the end of this article.
By “Heroes“, I meant a person who, in my opinion, has special abilities, professional qualifications or personal qualities and is regarded as a “Leader” of the Green Building process. My definition has nothing to do with classical mythology, where “Heroes” were considered semi-Gods! It is also related to Egyptian culture, where we Egyptians use the same word to refer to “Leaders” of any process or operation.
Diaa El-Masry
The objective of the lecture was to focus on the important role of architects, as the initiators of the building design, in improving the building performance and achieving the Green Building goals. This is definitely without denying the important roles taken by other disciplines or stakeholders in the same process. In the lecture, the collaborative manner between the architects, structural engineers, MEP engineers, landscape architects, interior designers and all other disciplines was stressed and appreciated.
Here are the topics discussed in the lecture:
- How to Make a Building Green?
- How to Tell if it is REALLY Green?
- Credibility of Green Building through 3rd Party Verification
- A,B,C Green Building…
- Integrated Design Process
- Integrated Team Approach
- So, Why Architects are Heroes?
- But, Heroes Sometimes Make Mistakes…
- Be a Green Hero!
The slides of the presentation are here:
And, here is the video recording of the lecture: