Josh Aronson ’07 gave a public presentation of his research on sustainable architecture to community members working to create an environmental education center on the North End. The presentation, held Thursday at the First Church of Christ on Court St., focused on the sustainable building materials and techniques that could be used in the final design for The Jonah Center on Earth and Art.
Last spring, Center President John Hall asked students in Aronson’s Architecture II class to come up with concepts for a sustainable building that the Center could occupy. When Aronson visited the proposed site at the Middletown city landfill, he was struck by the view and how the bridges over the Connecticut stood out in the landscape. He was inspired to mirror elements of the bridges’ design in his proposed model, which was displayed at the presentation.
During the fall semester, Aronson worked with Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Barrett Feldman to look at trends in sustainable architecture that could inform a final design for the building.
“The model phase last year was very conceptual and last semester was more of a research phase,” Aronson said.
Aronson presented a variety of successful sustainable buildings from all over the world. He named several European buildings, including The Earth Centre in England, that incorporate many of the goals of the Jonah Center into their architecture.
“There are plenty of examples out there,” Aronson said. “I looked through lots of examples before picking those [buildings]. I picked them because of their similarities to the Jonah Center.”
The Jonah Center will be an educational facility, tourist destination, and an overall ecological center.
“We want to help people cross the traditional barriers between classroom and community, science and art, economic growth and preservation of natural resources,” states The Jonah Center’s website. “We want to help people view urban communities, food and energy production, and education in a way that leads to more imaginative, responsible, and sustainable ways of living in relationship to the whole creation around us.”
Aronson explained that a sustainable building must carefully consider all aspects of its design. Different materials, like wood, concrete, and steel, have different properties and different levels of impact on the environment, so selecting the right ones for a project is essential.
A building’s design can make it low-impact and energy efficient. Aronson discussed how geothermal heating and cooling and innovative designs like displacement ventilation can control temperature in a building without costly and wasteful air conditioning systems. These systems save energy, and eventually money, according to Aronson.
“Taking extra steps in the beginning may be more expensive, but in the long term it is more effective and economical,” he said.
Members of the Jonah Center committee attended the presentation, as did several Middletown city officials.
“They’re trying to get politicians and city workers involved so they can make it more of a real thing,” Aronson said.
Aronson fielded a number of questions and comments from audience members. Several were curious about how the concepts he had researched would play out in the Center’s final design, but Aronson didn’t have firm answers for them.
“This is very conceptual and pre-design,” Aronson said. “The details of the design have yet to be worked out.”
Aronson is deciding whether to continue his work on the design as a senior thesis next year.
“If I were to continue the project it would be making the design more realistic and more believable in its design and applying my research,” Aronson said.
Leave a Reply