Loghman Azar - Partner, LINE (Living in Natural Environments) Architect Inc. - linearchitect.com
by Marlane Press
When award-winning architect Loghman Azar looks for inspiration, he eschews new, radical technologies and the triumph of form over function. Instead, he opts to take things back to nature.
The Harvard graduate and partner at LINE Architect, a firm specializing in the design of environmentally sustainable, energy-efficient buildings, believes that using natural technologies is still very much relevant to modern architecture. He argues that the use of fewer mechanical systems and more naturally occurring phenomena are better for the sustainability of architecture—not to mention the obvious environmental benefits.
For instance, he asserts that African termite mounds are one of the best structures designed for natural ventilation: “A simple phenomenon using basic laws of physics that we can use in our modern buildings.”
His beliefs originated during his formative years in Iran. “I was raised learning about things like solar energy because my father was an engineer,” he explains. “The home he designed and built for our family had a solar shower—an innovation anywhere in the world 40 years ago.”
Loghman says his goal is to bring nature into cities and cities into nature. “The convention has been to establish a fair distance between nature and cities. We need a different paradigm. We must build in a way that nature is protected and can survive.”
Recently transplanted after 20 years of living in Toronto, Loghman plans to start offering his successful Friends of Sustainable Architecture seminars to Vancouver audiences.
And if designers and architects like Loghman control the future of building, perhaps nature does indeed have a fighting chance.
