113 Architecture questions - What is the difference between durable and sustainable?
What is the difference between consistent and sustainable?
The difference between 'stable' and 'sustainable' is the horizon of observation, or the perspective. On the one hand, we look at how resistant a system is to external influences; on the other hand, we look at how sustainably an intervention influences existing contexts. Consistency strives for a permanently resistant state. Sustainability plans interventions that ensure that the resilience of complex systems is not permanently disrupted.
Durability has always been a defining theme in construction. Be it from the pursuit of permanent and reliable protection from wind and weather, or from enemies and disasters, but also from the pursuit of self-realisation and immortality.
But 'enduring' does not only mean indestructibility. Durability can also be understood as a sub-aspect of sustainability, as a concept that proves itself continuously and thus endures over time. The main contribution of durability to sustainability is that no new acquisition or new construction is required and therefore no new consumption of resources, no emissions and no environmental pollution.
For sustainable planning and realisation of a building project, ecological and socio-economic interrelationships are considered over the entire life cycle. From land consumption and soil sealing, the consequences of raw material extraction, the effects of building material production, the environmental compatibility of construction projects and their construction management, the efficient, resource-conserving, emission-free operation of buildings, adaptability to changing requirements, deconstructability, with separable building materials for recycling or pollutant-free disposal.
Sustainable concepts integrate compatible interventions for a prosperous future.
For the continuity of better living spaces.
