Significance of research: The earth is an emotional entity and nature, the result of its emotions. Man made and natural disasters are the means of expression of sadness or pain that the earth feels, thus when the earth hurts, Nature cries, likewise when the Earth is in health, Nature smiles. Man's activities through time produce adverse effects to the health of the earth and its expression through nature and since we are all property of the earth and not left out when nature cries, it is then mandatory for man to learn means of appeasing the earth by means of harmonizing his activities with earth's most cherished progeny... nature.
The quest for an ecological understanding and approach in all of man's endeavours and activities, has become a challenge to all that care about nature as it is obviously a systematic method of restoration back to nature, hence a more healthy earth. It is a call that should be answered totally by all professional disciplines, as one unecological activity can prove retrogressive to the efforts of so many. Since architecture contribute in making the built environment, ecology should then be employed as one of its vital tools or element of architectural designs. Our design and construction trend, has witnessed changes and transformations from industrialization to machinism, a trend wihich in recent times is characterized as unfriendly to nature. Designing and building with or in harmony with nature is the one efficient concept which works towards integrating the leements of balance between the built environment and nature.
Understanding the natural environment: The surface of the Earth as a whole is an Ecosystem, called the Biosphere. The Biospere or the surface of the Earth constitutes nature's 'free resources' air, water and land, where living things exist.
The Biosphere with a structure of smaller units called Ecosystems includes all the organisms and the nonliving environment found in a particular place and this also includes our built environment, an area tht needs to be integrated into the ecosystem without negatively affectignt he balance in the ecosystem itself.
Understanding the natural environment is the first step towards achieving a nature integral design. It entails undesrtanding nature's environmental activities, the Ecosystem and its actions and reactions that will relate to building designs. The constant use of such analytical processes that determine and define functions of building designs and its corresponding effect to the immediate and distant environment should not be neglected. These procedures like the environmental conservation, environmental impact assessment, integrated assessment etc, which are normally undertaken for individual projects such as dams, motorways, airposrts or factories should be broadened to include damage assessment, ecological replacement systems or ecology integration solution for smaller project designs like commercial and residential buildings.
Traditional concepts; integating designs with nature by ecological replacement or ecological integration: An argument once arose that the one way to protect the enviroment is for society to place a monetary value on it and then sue any firm or individual that damages it. But how can society measure the economic damage caused by environmental injury? The ecological replacement concept is an idea that discusses ecological solutions in a small or larger scale for the restoration of damages or injury caused by tampering with the natural (green) environment in the process of builidng development. This idea has been utilized in the past based on local knowledge or unconsious attempts to balance the immediate natural environment aroung the built environment (Gadgil et al., 1993). Such local knowledge, usually acquired through experience and oral transmission, often accounts for the inter-relationships among animals, plants, humans and the environment, resembling in some aspects ecological concepts held by scientists (Berkes et al., 1998). Thus, local ecological knowledge is an important keystone to the design and structure of natural resource management strategies. In nature there is no waste. The byproduct of one organism becomes the food for another. In other words, natural systems are made of closed loopes. By working with living processes, we respect the needs of all species. Engaging processes that regenerate rather than deplete, we become more alive. making natural cycles and proceses visible brings the designed environment back to life.
Building designs and construction take up natural foliage spaces or natural landforms. These natural landforms or foliage that supports some useful ecological organisms should be replaced systematically in order to ensure resuscitation of displaced plants and organisms which are also necessary for an ecological balanc. The percentage of replacement may depend on the function of the structure or architecture and also on the construction techniques employed as shown in Fig. 1. Such replacements, enhanes the energy efficiency and overlla thermal and environmental comfort of the area involved.
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