One theme of "green architecture" is the idea of multi-use structures. When a building system does multiple functions, complexity, costs and resource consumption can be reduced, reducing environmental impacts. In Ecological Design this is referred to as Multi-use in Design.
Building materials that go into the construction of a building should as often as possible, do several things, so as minimize the use of materials, such as increasing the energy efficiency of the building, providing structural integrity, while being sandwiched and integrated within the other components of the building, to provide significant architectural form.
Examples:
Uni-Solar a division of Energy Conversion Devices helped developed what is now called Building Integrated Solar. Skylights, roof panels and windows can now be made with thin film photovoltiacs (flexible solar laminates) so that they can produce electricity. Ed Stevenson CEO of Solar Integrated Technologies says that Uni-Solar has made it possible for his company to install roofing systems that produce electricity.
Examples In Arcology:
Soleri pioneered the concept of Multi-use in Design through his designs and proposals for Arcologies. They are "multi-use designs" in that they emphasize the power of architecture to affect people, while encompassing a more practical and ecologically sane mode of urban design. There appears to be a growing movement towards a return to multi-use or Mixed Use buildings that possibly may be inspired by Soleri's work in promoting Arcology. However the term Multi-use in Design as it is used here refers to the design of the building itself so it incorporates components in a way that reflects the vision of Elegant Frugality - that resources and energy are minimized both in the construction and operation of the building to increase the level of sustainability by minimizing the Ecological Footprint of the building (which includes the Embodied Energy expended in building it).
Specifically relation to Arcology and Arcosanti, Multi-use in Design is evident in the Energy Apron where the Energy Apron Greenhouses would recycle biologically based wastes into food. What makes the greenhouse part of the Energy Apron is the idea that they would capture surplus heat in the winter months for use in heating the living spaces upon above on top of the Mesa via the Heat Duct Tunnel which connects to the East Crescent and the SOD Building.
References & Notes:
Another example of Multi-use in Design is Combined Heating and Power Gen Sets & Fuel Cell Unit that powers the Glastonbury CT Whole Foods, which when it was installed was the first of its kind in a grocery store. It provides electricity through a connection to the national gas grid as well secondary heat stream through stream that provides building heating, cooling (via a Chiller) and hot water. One benefit is that it enables the site to have more reliable power to prevent outages during storms, heat waves and other grid problems.
This Stub relates to Muda a Concept that Soleri talked about during School of Thought at Arcosanti in the early 2000s in the context of a review and discussion of the book Natural Capitalism.
Multi-use in Design does relate also to what Amory Lovins in the book Natural Capitalism referred to as a Cost Barrier Breakthrough (or Breaking through Cost Barrier). That is where if a building successfully achieves tenets of Ecological Design by reducing and simplifying the components needed, significantly reducing the construction and operational costs. This is crucial in many Green Buildings where the costs are often more than in traditionally designed ones. Achieving Cost Barrier Breakthroughs through Multi-use is an example of the principles of Synergy being put into practice to show how well designed sustainable buildings need not cost more than conventional ones.