SENA KASKA, MArch

TOWARDS AN ECOLOGICAL ARCHITECTURE:
On Energy and High-Density Dwelling



Rapid changes in climate and the increase in global population are putting great stress on cities and creating an important discourse on the relationship between energy, ecology, and high-density dwellings. Today’s notion of sustainable design and its incremental improvements to reducing energy use will be insufficient to accommodate the increasing future energy and dwelling demands, as well as to maintain the viability of urban human habitats. There is a great opportunity to maximize thermodynamic interdependencies and better connect processes of systems ecology to dwelling design. This thesis, therefore, critiques today’s notion of sustainability and urban housing practices and introduces the principles, processes, and interpretations of energy dynamics into dwelling design in order to culminate a new conceptualization of high-density dwellings that offer new spatial possibilities for prosperous human habitats.


Today’s notion of sustainable design and its incremental improvements to reducing energy use will be insufficient to accommodate the increasing future energy and dwelling demands, as well as to maintain the viability of urban human habitats.


Toronto Metropolitan Department of  Architectural Science Toronto, CA.