Environmental consciousness places respect for our world and, consequently, human life at the forefront of each and every endeavour. The current issue of Elle Decoration SA examines how our homes reflect this trend, writes LAUREN SHANTALL

THE margins have shifted. Now, they are printed on recycled paper originating in a sustainable forest. Barely 30 years ago, few would have predicted that people would be scrambling for free-range eggs and erecting skyscrapers that generate their own power and supply any excess to the national grid, thanks to photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight to electricity.

Environmental consciousness has come of age. "History shows that in the late hour before every paradigm shift, ideas appear for which the time has come nothing fires imagination like sheer necessity," says green architect Etienne Bruwer.

We have been forced to come up with solutions to halt global warming, decontaminate our food and drinking water and depollute our air.

This burgeoning green movement is here to stay. It is an encompassing awareness that places respect for the environment and consequently, human life, at the forefront of each and every endeavour. "It's too broad a movement to go away. All the professions are busy with it, all sectors are in review about practices," says Bruwer.

Especially the built environment, where a radical rethink is required to counteract the fact that buildings currently use at least 50% of the world's non-renewable resources. As striking as a signature edifice such as Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao might be, it is not sustainable.

"In view of present global crises population expansion, natural resource depletion and ecological disasters there is an urgent need to align development and architecture with the concept of sustainability," says Andy Horn, of Eco Design.

Ecosensitive architecture is armed with an array of alternatives that include anything from solar water heaters, to rainwater harvesters, natural ventilation and self-composting toilets. It is not merely a matter of adding green "accessories" to existing structures. Our building methods must be realigned with modern thinking about resource efficiency.

Walls consisting of earth, stone, unfired clay bricks, alien timber and straw bales, and planted gardens for roofs, are all part of the new architectural language. Even corporate structures like skyscrapers can be reinvented. Solar glass to reflect heat and glare, natural ventilation, atriums, hanging gardens and recycling programmes are almost compulsory in the latest European buildings.

For architect Pedro Roos, it is a challenge to do such ground-breaking and pioneering work, considering that there is still a long way for people to go before green building becomes completely mainstream.

This kind of architecture leaves a green legacy of buildings that respond to their specific sites and climates, instead of imposing invasive and ecologically ineffective structures upon us. Luckily, SA is still a developing country. We should relish the opportunity to create an architectural vernacular reflecting our landscape that sets an ecofriendly example for the rest of the world.

If buildings and their occupants are to have any kind of tomorrow, this is undoubtedly the way forward.

Architect Mike Schröder, who created The Green Building in Cape Town's Westlake Office Park, advocates sustainability yoked to economic viability.

Inexpensive to build and offering the cheapest office rental in the complex, The Green Building is flanked by a fragrant indigenous garden and punctuated by skylights.

When sustainability simultaneously operates in the realm of design, it can be profoundly beautiful, as witnessed in the work of Absa Atelier Award-winning artist Paul Edmunds, who sculpts from recycled materials, and that of Cape Town's Natural Architecture Keith Struthers.

Struthers's curvilinear roof for a sustainable home in Jackals Valley undulates like its surrounding hills, making it difficult to imagine the landscape without its presence. He mapped out the lines on site so that the house seemed to grow out of the earth.

South Africans are fortunate to have pioneers such as Roos, Struthers, Schröder, Horn and Bruwer; all part of a growing number of green architects here and abroad. They consider "more holistic methods of design and construction, which give fuller expression to our humanness", as Struthers puts it.

In the 21st century, modernity necessitates being "modern in one's consciousness and awareness", he says. "I see that that is where architecture is going. I see it in all fields."

This is indeed the spirit of our times, and the shape of things to come. A host of talented designers and architects have realised that we can recycle our old ideas about style, and save the planet at the same time. The eco vanguard offers us all the ethically sourced luxury products we require at the high-end design standards we expect. Going green has never been easier.

If our homes are indeed our sanctuaries, then we need to preserve their sanctity.

Thankfully, we are able to "retrofit" green fixtures and we no longer have to put up with invasive chemical products that emit toxic gases in our living environments. There are non-poisonous paint and wall finishes instead. Healthier attitudes towards our homes naturally extend to our minds and bodies.

Once we realise that global environmental crises and how we design our living rooms are linked through our consumption patterns, it's time for a new lifestyle: one which favours the current crop of furniture designers who are finding their inspiration in the increasing reverence for the natural world.

Design-world-darling Tord Boontje, who used to work with recycled glass, has given us the Garland light for Habitat in London. This floral fantasy sold over 70000 units. Boontje's recent, breathtaking crystal chandeliers for Swarovski (which won the Elle Deco International Design Award) resemble branches laden with spring blooms. There is an emotional content in such pieces, honouring the environment that sustains us, which is lacking in the hard lines of the angular minimalist pieces we appear to be leaving behind.

What we are witnessing, as our living habits change, is an enormous backlash. We are clearly tired of the errors of our past. But it is about time. Hundertwasser, the Viennese artist who was designing rooftop gardens about four decades ago in what was then a revolutionary ecological stand, was right when he called for a "peace treaty with nature". At last, we are starting to write its terms.

Jun 28 2004 09:01:52:000AM Business Day 1st Edition