The Technology and Attitudinal Fix. Redefining the definition of high performance building

Increasingly the reliance on technology to solve problems concerning the built environment has seen the emergence of the High Performance Building (HPB) as a case that seems to exemplify this direction. The term sustainable building has become old hat and the new rebranding exercise now focusses on performance and associated technical challenges that this concept seems to address. However, in unpacking the Technical Fix, the concept also seems to involve an ‘Attitudinal Fix’ on the part of the owners and occupants concerning the goals of reducing environmental impacts. The Attitudinal Fix focuses on the owners’ and occupants’ pro-environmental values. A working hypothesis suggests favouring conservation rather than resource consumption. The intrinsic problem is that we live in ‘economic times’, which means that the ‘Attitudinal Fix’ is still aspirational. Hence, we need to live in ‘ethical times’ where the Technical Fix to improve performance is fully embraced. The work of science is to collect evidence of Anthropogenic Climate Change and to use this to reinforce ethical values in society for reducing the intensity of resource efficiency (Cook et al. 2014). The ‘Attitudinal’ Fix could be directed to the intensity of resource usage. We would need to change our attitude as to how much energy we use and conflate with the Technical Fix. Many of the articles in this edition demonstrate the importance of attitudes in technical change. The first and second articles in this issue look at timber framing as a construction system. The article by Rana Qasass, Mark Gorgolewski and Huan G. looks at the thermal performance of timber framing used in Toronto residential house construction. This study examines the impact of framing components as thermal bridges on the heat loss in lightweight wood-frame construction. This is recognised in various codes and standards by specifying certain framing percentages to be used in effective thermal resistance calculations. Seventeen residential units under construction were selected at three different locations in the Greater Toronto Area. Detailed on-site measurements provided data for numerical calculation to evaluate the amount of framing within external walls, ceilings and exposed floors (called the Framing Factor, FF). They report