HONG KONG – Sustainability is not just about the environment but creating decent shelters for people and how buildings and structures can work hand-in-hand with their surroundings toward a greener future, according to experts.

They were speaking at a webinar titled “In celebration of Expo 2020 Dubai: A conversation on sustainable architecture” and organized by the United Arab Emirates Consulate in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

The online event aimed to explore how architecture forms part of the holistic solution to humanity’s shared challenges, where innovative design and technology can mitigate the effects of climate change, as well as manage the effective use of resources, and create sustainable urban environments to support healthy communities and drive the green economy.

READ MORE: Technology could help with imaginative building design

James Law, chief executive officer and founder of James Law Cybertecture, a Hong Kong-based architectural firm, said the building and construction industries, and cities, are some of the key factors and drivers as to how people can “balance the equation for the future”.

It’s very human because it has been done at a scale which makes it very walkable, the buildings are close to each other. It feels very intimate when you are inside it.

Sanjive Khosla, Expo 2020 Dubai

“There is another level of sustainability … which is human sustainability. Our economic, our political systems, of course, yields a lot of (their) by-product problems,” Law said.

“We are suffering from the unaffordability of shelter and housing. So, the sustainability issue isn’t just about the environment. This is also about the matrix that we create to house, at least in basic terms, a decent shelter for people,” he added.

The event included a presentation of the Terra, a sustainability pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai at which design contents are said to have embraced the innovative methodologies of adapting to ecology and climate.

Andrew Whalley, chairman and partner of London-based Grimshaw Architects which designed the Terra, said the first thing they did was to look at not the technology, but how one can work with the more “genius solution to the design”, which minimizes or reduces the need for energy.

“Half the building is actually deep underground, which immediately makes it cooler. And the remaining part of the building, we take the landscape over it. So, it’s actually all in effect to be underneath a very insulated landscape environment,” said Whalley.

Further he said that insulates the building and reduces the energy.

“Over all of that, we have the canopy roof and that helps direct breezes and keeps the whole area cool underneath,” Whalley said.

“It was challenging (building the Terra) but that is what we have achieved.”

Moderator Ryan Wong, who is an architect-in-training at the University of Melbourne in Australia, said it was extremely interesting to know that buildings and structures can not only be constructed sustainably, but they can also help the surrounding environment and serve an actual purpose in urban fabric by being net zero.

Net zero refers to the balance between the amount of greenhouse gas produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere.

Sanjive Khosla, senior vice president of Expo 2020 Dubai’s transition unit, said they are fortunate in terms of the anticipated legacy of the Dubai expo.

 “The legacy is at two levels. One is the physical legacy itself. The second side is the human legacy of what we’re trying to do,” said Khosla.

District 2020, where the Expo site currently is, Khosla said, has been designed and planned as a human-centric city of the future.

ALSO READ: New future for work and living spaces

“It’s very human because it has been done at a scale which makes it very walkable, the buildings are close to each other. It feels very intimate when you are inside it,” said Khosla.

“I think that is something that distinguishes this site from everything else that is surrounding us and we’re very proud of it.  It’s also the sustainable site. It also represents what we believe future cities should be like,” he added.

Expo 2020 Dubai officially kicked off on Oct 1 and will run until March 2022, after a year’s delay due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

The UAE Consulate webinar concluded with a lucky draw of two economy round-trip tickets between Hong Kong and Dubai, sponsored by Emirates Airlines, the main sponsor and official airline of the Expo.

Contact the writer at jan@chinadailyapac.com