Ken Yeang calls for green buildings to be integrated infrastructure

Architect and global green building guru Ken Yeang told the MEED Saudi Green Buildings Forum 2011 in Riyadh this afternoon that developers should create integrated infrastructure plans that address four issues critical to delivering sustainability in the built environment.

Yeang said projects need infrastructure programmes for engineering; water use and reuse; human interaction and vegetation. They should be separate but cohesive, he added.

The green building movement is at an early stage of its development and has much to learn, Yeang said. “I contend that green buildings are the most complex projects you can address. You have to look at their impact through their life cycle.”

Yeang, one of the world’s most respected architects, is an advocate of designs that integrate green building concepts with high-rise developments. He is best known for mulit-storey buildings with atriums and other internal spaces with natural vegetation, including trees.