Architecture today seems to be desperately grasping the concept of eco-friendly design. From Eco-build in London to Earth Day and even Cannes the construction industry seems to be coming around (at least in developed countries) to the idea that green architecture can make a difference. Here are 5 trends in green architecture which seem to be the focus of all the talk amongst these eco-design circles.
Vertical Farming
It doesn’t get any greener than this. The world’s population is expected to increase to 9.1 billion by 2050, according to the UN. Feeding all those people will mean increasing food production by 70%, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, through a combination of higher crop yields and an expansion of the area under cultivation. But the additional land available for cultivation is unevenly distributed, and much of it is suitable for growing only a few crops. So why not create more agricultural land by building upwards?
Straw
Ooh-arr, straw appears to be the sustainable material of choice for a few green builders & designers today. The natural material features in board form in the latest home design from eco-architect Bill Dunster, in prefabricated panels in a turnkey retail building from Modcell and there is even a series of straw bale workshops for those planning to build homes, schools and offices from the readily available agricultural by-product.
For the StramitZED house (left), Dunster has teamed up with straw board manufacturer Stramit to produce an eco-house in two-, three- or four-bedroom configurations, all of which meet the latest Lifetime Homes and London Housing Design Guide standards. Its design is based on Dunster’s code level 6, RuralZED development at Upton in Northampton. The homes are assembled from cassettes of strawboard combined with Welsh timber and recycled newspaper insulation.
Water and electricity are generated by solar photovoltaic and solar thermal panels, with surplus electricity sold to the grid. The homes costs upward of £135,000, a figure claimed to be £20,000 less than the normal cost of constructing a code level 6 house.
Straw bales are at the heart of Modcell’s retail solution too. This uses prefabricated panels made near the costruction site, in a leased workspace or barn. The panels are assembled from untreated, locally sourced straw set into a panel frame assembled from sustainably sourced timber, which is then plastered with a protective lime render. The turnkey solution is claimed to save energy, money, carbon emissions and build times.
Phase change materials (PCMs)
If straw is too rustic and high-tech is more your thing, then check out the new developments in phase change materials (or PCMs in techie-speak).
The advantage of these materials is that they can be used to store both heating and cooling energy. PCMs can be embedded in the walls and ceiling tiles where they will absorb heat to help keep the workspace cool and reduce the need for air conditioning.
BASF’s Micronal PCM has been incorporated into the Racus ceiling tile system for both new build and retrofit applications. Developed by Datum Phase Change, the tiles feature microcapsules of a special wax developed to store latent heat as it absorbs heat during the day, changing from a solid to liquid – . At night, when the temperature drops, the wax gives out heat and returns to being solid. The tile system has been used in the Victorian terrace refurbishment project at BRE in Watford.
Similarly, DuPont phase change offering is called Energain. It is available in lightweight panels developed to enable thermal mass to be added to lightweight structures. The company claims that using the material can reduce indoor temperature peaks by up to 7ºC, optimising comfort and decreasing air conditioning costs.
Beehive in a green roof which was actually declared a nature reserve!
Bees and biodiversity
With wild bee populations facing a growing number of threats including pests and diseases such as the varroa mite as well as a growing lack of wild flowers to provide food and habitat…
is it time for the urban beekeeper to come to the rescue?
A small back garden or access to a rooftop is all that is needed to keep bees. What’s more, there is a rich variety of plants in urban gardens, parks, railway sidings and tree-lined roads, all of which can be turned into delicious honey by our pollen and nectar eating friends.
The idea is not as crazy as it first sounds – probably the most exclusive address for bees anywhere in the world is the roof of upmarket grocers Fortnum & Mason in London’s Piccadilly. Even the beehives have been given a distinct architectural style and some rather elegant gold details.
Honey bees rely on a diverse range of garden and urban flowers for their diet, which means it is important to create an environment in the city that not only safeguards existing wildlife but also encourages further diversity and food for bees. Helping designers and planners incorporate biodiversity and meet new regulations is just one step needed to save the bees an ourselves from certain extinction!
For further details and timings, check out the Cityscape area on the Ecobuild website www.ecobuild.co.uk.Alison Benjamin, co-founder of Urban Bees, will be offering top tips for potential urban beekeepers on Wednesday 2 March, in Cityscape theatre two, at 11am.
Sustainable materials
In addition to the hundreds of products already made from recycled materials, Reaserchers at Kingston University have been looking at the construction industry to use sustainable materials seen in other sectors but little used in design and construction.
Rematerialise, a library of 1,200 samples of sustainable materials from 15 countries, is being launched by Kingston University. The materials have been selected to provide an environmentally responsible alternative to more resource-hungry materials and include post-consumer and post-industrial waste streams, scrap and refuse otherwise destined for landfill. The library holds information on a material’s recycled content and its sustainable attributes along with technical data and examples of current applications for each material. The database was recently used to advise retailer Marks & Spencer on the use of appropriate sustainable materials for its new headquarters.
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
Straw Wall Construction could be making a comeback
