CRITICAL ASPECTS, MOTIVATORS AND BARRIERS OF BUILDING-INTEGRATED VEGETATION

• Published in: Iconarp International J. of Architecture and Planning
• Main Authors: Monder Almuder, Ozge Suzer
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Konya Technical University Faculty of Architecture and Design 2020
• Subjects: Building-Integrated Vegetation; Green Roofs; Green Walls; Interior Gardens; Architecture; NA1-9428; City planning; HT165.5-169.9; Canada; Subarctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.15320/ICONARP.2020.107; https://doaj.org/article/ec08e3d1529341559194d430050617d8

Purpose Green buildings which provide improved user health conditions and environmentally responsible applications have gained significant attention, due to the increasing environmental problems, particularly caused by the construction industry at the global scale. However, vegetation is still not sufficiently integrated into buildings, even though numerous benefits of plants have been proven by many studies in literature. This research aims to find out the opinions of professionals and academicians in architecture-related fields regarding the critical aspects, as well as the motivators and barriers faced in BIV applications, namely; green roofs, green walls and interior gardens. Hence, it strives to help increase their application rates by underlining the significant issues to be considered. Design/methodology/approach As to fulfilling these objectives, a questionnaire survey was conducted on 120 participants with varying professions including architects, landscape designers and civil engineers, from four countries. Findings The results of this study pointed out that, healthcare buildings were given the first priority among the building types for applying BIV. Moreover, among the motivator factors, receiving a certificate was found as an important incentive, besides the environmental, social and economic benefits of BIV. Furthermore, although the highly rated barriers were found as ‘the lack of proper regulations’ and ‘lack of demand by the user/client’, the findings showed that the highest responsibility for the implementation of these applications was placed on the architect. Research Limitations/Implications Based on the five major groups of Köppen climate classification system, the case countries were selected as one from each of the four main types, and by neglecting only Polar, as it lacks settlements. By considering diverse levels of development and economic welfare, countries were selected as; Canada (Snow: Humid-Subarctic), Libya (Dry: Desert-arid), Malaysia (Tropical: Tropical-Rain forest) and Turkey ...