For many years, it has been recognised that improving the energy performance of the existing housing stock is vital if energy demand is to be reduced to combat climate change. The art of retrofit is posited as a way forward beyond today’s weak pseudo-Modernist architecture – all that is left – the final echo of Modernism’s original utopian impulse.
Central to the book is the presentation of domestic street-by-street retrofit as an issue with technical, financial and societal dimensions. A holistic view of the complex, interacting factors that have held back any advance is interspersed with a historical account of retrofit’s faltering progress over the last 20 years. The crucial challenges that have been encountered are described, including the technological and human factors that urgently need to be addressed. It is suggested that the utopian instincts that propelled early Modernism can be redeployed in finding an approach to retrofit that will pave the way towards a politically engaged architecture of social purpose.
Street-by-Street Retrofit’s goal is to involve the creative imagination of designers and form an alliance with policymakers and many others in the business of urban improvement; it is intended for all these audiences.
By:
Mike McEvoy
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781032932262
ISBN 10: 1032932260
Series: Routledge Research in Architecture
Pages: 174
Publication Date: 16 December 2024
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Primary
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
List of figures Introduction Part One: The State of the Art Chapter One: Which Way to Jump? Case Study: Energiesprong Chapter Two: The Carrying Capacity of the Planet The Anthropocene and nature Sustainable Development, its origins and implications Ecomodernism and the magic of technology The climate crisis and the crisis of culture Cultural juncture Case Study: IFORE Innovation for Renewal Chapter Three: Re-evaluation of Modernism Tipping point Regulation Alternative directions The ecomodernist direction: geo-engineering Case Study: Parity Projects Chapter Four: Sustainable Retreat Technology (alone) is not the answer The future slowdown The idea of progress Modernism and the natural world Architecture as a belief system Case Study: Link Road Birmingham Chapter Five: Caring Architecture The future role of the architect will be to build sparingly Building little implies making good what we already have i.e. retrofit Part Two: A Brief History of Retrofit Chapter Six: Size of the Problem The energy case for retrofit Problem #1 Determining the outcomes Chapter Seven: Pre-requisites for Retrofit Retrofit at the urban scale Retrofit origins The 40 per cent house Problem #2 Insulation Chapter Eight: Drivers for Change Problem #3 Overheating Chapter Nine: Home Truths 40 per cent House to achieving zero Problem #4 Ventilation Chapter Ten: Anticipating the Green Deal Problem #5 Air-tightness Chapter Eleven: Retrofit Comes to a Halt Problem #6 Renewables Chapter Twelve: Measuring Success – 80% Reduction and ‘Retrofit for the Future’ Low carbon Britain Problem #7 The occupants Chapter Thirteen: The Progress of Retrofit Retrofit and performance Architects as retrofit leaders Architectural skills required? Part Three: Towards a New Utopia Chapter Fourteen: The Art of the Imagination Retrofit realigned Retrofit and utopia Chapter Fifteen: The Problem of Theory The politics of architecture Capitalism and creative destruction Modernism and radical politics Chapter Sixteen: Architecture’s Very Uniquely Compromised Position The roots of modernism: Hannes Meyer and the New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) The hidden aspects of consciousness, the uncanny, Gothic and Surrealism Urban ecology Chapter Seventeen: Echoes from the Past: Herbert Marcuse Society as a work of art Retrofit as the representation of society as a work of art Marcuse’s utopia of hope, utopia as a realisable dream Retrofit as subversive art Chapter Eighteen: Retrofit and Architects: A Future. Architects and innovation – our utopian mission Architecture or Extinction Index
Mike McEvoy studied at Cambridge prior to registration as an architect, then went on a postgraduate scholarship to Cornell; his PhD is from the Bartlett. He was in practice in the United States and Canada and for a decade with Arup Associates in London. Subsequently, he was Coordinator of Technical Studies at the University of Westminster; on the faculty at Cambridge and a Fellow Commoner of Downing College; and latterly, Professor of Architecture at the University of Brighton, where he led EU IFORE an Anglo/French €6.3million street-by-street retrofit programme (which is the background to this book). Previously, he had completed, and published, the outcomes of several funded research projects into low-energy construction. He has written three other books on architectural technology: Architecture and Construction in Steel, External Components, and Environmental Construction Handbook.
