Perkins&Will sustainability director Asif Din joins the Architecture Today Awards jury in the search of projects that function as “team players in the world” rather than “Thatcherite objects selfishly looking inwards and contribute little to society”.
As sustainability director Asif Din has been responsible for raising the profile of carbon proficiency and circularity at the practice, delivering a Zero Carbon Report and Life Cycle Analysis for all projects at Perkins&Will. During his two decades of experience delivering zero carbon architecture, Din has worked on projects including BedZED and Jubilee Wharf and received a PhD in Life Cycle design of buildings from The School of Art, Architecture and Design at London Metropolitan University.
What attracted you to be a judge at Architecture Today Awards?
Architecture awards have suffered in recent years of being objects in space devoid of function. I am keen to evaluate how buildings work systematically in an artificial sense through their use of technology to reduce consumption, and also with regards to their place within a natural system in terms of their impact on their surroundings and the materials they are composed of. Nature is the ideal circular system and although we are not there yet with the built environment, this does not mean that buildings shouldn’t be evaluated on a similar basis.
What qualities will you be looking out for – what will make a project stand out to you
A project that does not optimise a single aspect, but deals well with the conflicts inherent in any brief to create an optimised solution. This should not only provide a good solution for the building now, but also deal with its stated lifespan both in terms of the environmental and social change that buildings must adapt to. In this manner, buildings can be evaluated for redundancy to ensure they are not demolished before the end of their designed lifespan.
What do you hope will be taken away from the live presentation and judging process?
I, like everybody else in this world, is learning as we go along. The reason I am judging is to learn how other people think and work; although it may not be the way I would conduct a project, it is important to recognise the good work in others. I look forward to being enlightened by the high level of work that will be presented and has got to this stage of the judging process.
What building would you most like to see among the entries?
A project that is fit for today but also fit for tomorrow. A project that has parked its ego, and functions as a team player in the world. This is opposed to many projects that exist today, which operate like Thatcherite objects by selfishly looking inwards and contribute little to society.
Find out more about the Architecture Today Awards and how to enter by visiting the Architecture Today Awards portal.
