NORDIC JOURNAL OF ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH NA

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NORDISK ARKITEKTURFORSKNINGNORDIC JOURNAL OF ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH

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NORDISKARKITEKTURFORSKNING

RedaksjonEivind Kasa (Sjefsredaktør/Editor-in-Chief)Ruth Woods (Redaksjonssekretær/Editorial Secr.)Birgit Cold (Redaktør/Editor)Rolee Aranya (Redaktør/Editor)

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Tidsskriftet er utgitt i samarbeid medNordisk Arkitekturakademi

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ArbeidsutvalgPresident: Peter Thule Kristensen([email protected])Vice president: Ebbe Harder([email protected])Secretary: Charlotte Mathiassen,([email protected])Cashier: Marianne Schou([email protected])

Board members, DenmarkPeter Thule Kristensen([email protected])Jörgen Dehs, ([email protected])Gitte Marling, ([email protected])Ebbe Harder (deputy member)([email protected])Henrik Reeh, (deputy member)([email protected])Ole Michael Jensen (deputy member)([email protected])Gertrud Jørgensen, (deputy member)([email protected])

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NORDISK ARKITEKTURFORSKNINGNORDIC JOURNAL OF ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH

1/2.2010

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THE ARTICLES HAVE BEEN PEER REVIEWED BY AT LEAST TWO OF THE FOLLOWING RESEARCHERS:

ANNEMIE WYCKMANS, NTNU

ARNE FØRLAND, Aarhus School of Engineering

ELI STØA, NTNU

HANNE LEHRSKOV, Aarhus School of Engineering

HANNE TINE RING HANSEN,Rambøll, Denmark

INGER-LISE SAGLIE, University of Life Sciences, Ås

JAAN-HENRIK KAIN, Chalmers University of Technology

LARS-GÖRAN MATTSSON, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm

MATHILDE PETRI, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture

PER HEISELBERG, Aalborg University

RASMUS LUND JENSEN, Aalborg University

THOMAS JUEL CLEMMENSEN, Aarhus School of Architecture

TOMAS SVENSSON, Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute

TORBEN DAHL, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture

MICHAEL JONES, NTNU

MARIE LOUISE ANKER, STFK

SIGMUND ASMERVIK, UMB, Ås

FINN HAKONSEN, NTNU

DAG KITTANG, NTNU

STAALE SINDING-LARSEN, NTNU

MAGNUS RÖNN, KTH

TIM ANSTEY, KTH

BIRGIT COLD, NTNU

ANNE KATHRINE FRANDSEN, SBI


Innhold: Vol. 22, No 1/2.2010NORDISK ARKITEKTURFORSKNING – NORDIC JOURNAL OF ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH

3

TOPIC: ARCHITECTURE, ENERGY AND CLIMATE

Architecture, Energy and Climate

Housing, mobility and urban sustainability - examples and best practices fromcontemporary cities

Building for climate change – meeting the design challenges of the 21st century

Towards a New Paradigm: Design Strategies for Architecture, Energy andClimate Change using Danish Office Builidings as a Case Study

From ecological houses to sustainable cities. Architectural minds

How can we adapt education programmes to the architecture of the future?

Three types of environmental effort– behavioural changes, technical development, architectural design

Integrating Urban Design, Land Use and Transport Policies to ContributeTowards Sustainable Development. The Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT) in ThreeDeveloping-Country Metropolises: Curitiba, Beijing and Johannesburg

VITENSKAPELIGE ARTIKLER UTENFOR TEMAReusing the past: Popular architecture in Golsfjellet summer mountain farmarea

Accessibility and sensory experiences: designing dwellings for the visual andhearing impaired

The Wooden City of Stavanger. Self image as a basis for development

Retracing Khufu’s Great Pyramid. The “diamond matrix” and the number 7

Architects and the creation of images

FORUMARTIKLERHva skal vi med arkitekturforskningen? Samtale med tre praktiserendearkitekter i Trondheim om arkitekturforskning og praksis

Om at skabe tankevækkende viden - vidensformer mellem arkitekturens praksisog forskning. Et intevju med Kristian Kreiner

BOKANMELDELSERTom Nielsen:Gode intensjoner og uregjerlige byer

Åshild Lappegard Hauge: Housing and Identity. The Meaning of housingcommunication identity and its influence on self-perception

Books Recieved/Bokomtaler

4MICHAEL LAURING

9PETTER NÆSS, VICTOR ANDRADE

21MATHIAS HAASE, INGRID ANDRESEN, BERIT TIME, ANNE GRETE HESTNES

32ROB MARSH, VIBEKE GRUPE LARSEN, JAKE HACKER

47MICHAEL LAURING

61MARY-ANN KNUDSTRUP

74CLAUS BECH-DANIELSEN

83VICTOR ANDRADE

95INGER-LISE SAGLIE, GRETE SWENSEN

109CAMILLA RYHL

123LEROY OLAF TONNING

135OLE JØRGEN BRYN

145YLVA DAHLMAN

157KENNETH STOLTZ

169INGE METTE KIRKEBY

177DAG KITTANG

179RANDI A. NARVESTAD, DAVID CLAPHAM, EINAR STRUMSE

181EIVIND KASA


Nordisk Arkitekturforskning 1/2-201074

Three types of environmentalefforts – behavioural changes,technical development,architectural design

In this article three generations of sustainableconstructions in Denmark are presented, and onthis background three types of environmentalefforts in the built environment are pointed out.In one of them the environmental results areachieved through development of techniques, inanother type the environmental results are achi-eved through changes in behaviour, and in thethird type the environmental results are achievedthrough architectural design. It is important that architects are aware of thedifferent types of environmental efforts. Firstly,they can all lead to significant environmentalresults, and therefore they should all be consi-dered in relation to specific projects. Secondly, itis important that the three types of environmen-

tal efforts are combined and planned in relationto each other in order to make them interact infortunate ways. Finally, the article emphasizes that architects inthe initial design phase make a series of choicesthat are crucial to resultant consumption in theconstruction – and that the environmental consi-derations can act as the fundamental architectu-ral idea.

Claus Bech-Danielsen

Nordic Journal of Architectural ResearchVolume 22, No 1/2, 2010, 8 pagesNordic Association for Architectural ResearchClaus Bech-DanielsenDanish Building Research Institute, Aalborg University, Denmark


Keywords:Sustainable constructions in Denmark, changein behaviour, technical approach, architecturalapproach..

Abstract:


IntroductionIn Denmark the first environmental efforts inconstructions were developed about forty yearsago (Jensen, 1994). Subsequently, there havebeen three generations of sustainable con-structions. In all three, the objective was toreduce the environmental impacts of construc-tion, but the environmental outcomes wereachieved in different ways.

In the 1970s environmentalists and grassrootsmovements - at the tail end of the youth revoltand as part of a protest against 'bourgeois life'in the established community - experimentedwith alternative ways of living (Jensen, 1994).They quit their jobs in modern society andmoved into production collectives where theygrew their own vegetables in order to rediscov-er the fundamental qualities of life and byusing inexpensive recycled materials in DIYconstruction they freed themselves from theeconomic constraints of the wider community.'Sustainability' was not yet a topic, but many ofthe changes and efforts of the grassrootsmovements became fixtures in sustainableconstructions of the following decades.

In the 1980s engineers, researchers and tech-nicians entered the scene. The report of theBrundtland Commission, launched in 1983 andpublished in 1987, identified 'sustainable devel-opment' as an important societal goal (WorldCommission 1987), and it was realised that 40-50% of total energy consumption in mostWestern countries are used for constructionand operation of building (Østergaard 1992),and as such focus was put on buildings andsettlements. Thus the efforts of increasinginsulation standards, which had been animportant goal since the energy crisis in 1973,was extended and expanded with the develop-ment and use of other forms of resource sav-ing techniques (heat exchangers, solar panels,water saving fittings, etc.). Also there wasincreased focus on environmental manage-ment and on the use of software and LCAanalysis (Dinesen et al. 1997), which charts thetotal environmental impact from cradle tograve.

Finally, in the 1990s the architects entered thescene. From an environmental perspective bothgrassroots and building engineers hadachieved interesting results, but the architec-tural outcome was less satisfactory (Bech-Danielsen et al., 1997). As a result, sustainableconstructions were only attractive to a narrow

group of residents, and during the 1990sawareness arose that sustainable construc-tions had to be designed in modern and beauti-ful architecture in order to create crediblealternatives to conventional solutions. And itwas realized, that architects during the designphase make a series of choices that are crucialto later consumption in the building. Therefore,initiatives were taken to have the environmen-tal considerations taken into account in thearchitectural design, and in some projects theenvironmental considerations even became thefundamental architectural idea.

The three generations of sustainable construc-tion show three different types of environmen-tal performance. Grassroots primarily achievetheir environmental results through a change inbehaviour (habits, routines, patterns of con-sumption etc.). Engineers primarily achievetheir environmental results through develop-ment of technologies (constructions, materials,insulation techniques, renewable energy sup-plies etc) Architects primarily achieve theirenvironmental results by basing the architec-tural design on environmental considerations(the layout of the house, minimising the build-ing surface, climatic adaptation etc.)

As an architect it is important to know all threetypes of environmental efforts. First, becausethey can all lead to significant environmentalresults, and therefore they should all be used.Secondly, they can (which will be given exam-ples of in the following) interact in unfortunateways, if they are not planned in relation to eachother.

Therefore, this article presents the three kindsof environmental efforts, and gives examples ofhow they interact - fortunate and unfortunate -with each other. The article is based on experi-ence from research projects conducted at theDanish Building Research Institute in the lastfifteen years.

Environmental effort – focusing on behav-ioural changes.In the Danish context, suburban one-familyhouses and the associated lifestyle have oftenbeen considered as environmentally problem-atic. From a theoretical and logical point ofview there is also no doubt that a detachedhouse having outer surfaces all around, poten-tially has a greater heat loss and thereforeshould be more energy consuming than for

Claus Bech-Danielsen: Three types of environmental efforts – behavioural changes, technical development, architectural design 75

Claus Bech-Danielsen

Nordic Journal of Architectural ResearchVolume 22, No 1/2, 2010, 8 pagesNordic Association for Architectural ResearchClaus Bech-DanielsenDanish Building Research Institute, Aalborg University, Denmark



example a dwelling in a multi-storey buildingsurrounded by other dwellings.

However, this is not always the case. Quiteoften green accounts reveal that energy con-sumption in one-family houses is not neces-sarily higher than in other housing types -sometimes their energy consumption is evenlower.1 Why is that?

One explanation you get, when you look intosimilar consumption measurements / greenaccounts made in other housing types. Forexample, a few years back a Copenhagen sub-urban municipality made green accounts in alldense/low settlements of the municipality(Albertslund Kommune 2008). The energy con-sumption in the settlements was measured,and it turned out that it varied dramaticallybetween settlements. Since they were builtduring the same period, constructed using thesame building techniques and had the samestandards of insulation, the variation in energyconsumption had no technical explanation. Themain explanation parameter was ownership. Inrental housing, (where a caretaker is in chargeof heating and where the tenants are notdirectly responsible for his/her heating) theenergy consumption was, in some cases, twiceas much as that of a similar privately-ownedhouse.

The importance of focusing on lifestyles andbehaviour was pointed out during the prepara-tion of the doctoral thesis "Urban Ecology andaesthetics" at the Danish Building ResearchInstitute (Bech-Danielsen, 1996). As part of theresearch project the patterns of consumptionin a residential block were studied, and it wasfound that the use of resources varied dramati-cally between the individual apartments - eventhough they were provided with the same watersaving techniques; in one apartment the dailywater consumption was 66 liters/person, in asecond home, it was 287 liters/person. Thusthere was a variation of approx. 440%. In com-parison, specialists attribute the use of water-saving technology a savings potential of approx.30%. The doctoral thesis concluded that tech-nical measures certainly lead to environmentalachievements, but it stressed the importanceof also focusing on the residents' behaviour.The behaviour and the routines in everyday lifeare crucial to the environmental performance.

Behavioural changes could be, for example,that residents take shorter showers, that they

turn down the heating, that they turn off thelights when they leave a room, that they sepa-rate waste, that they use public transport, etc.This behaviour may not be influenced directlyby the work of the architects, however, in someprojects they have tried to increase the envi-ronmental awareness among residents inorder to influence their behaviour. This hashappened in projects where residents areinvolved in the design of the sustainable con-cept of the buildings. This was the case in avery interesting housing project that was builtback in 1990 - 'Ökohaus-Cornelius Strasse' –designed by the German architect Frei Otto. Toensure the motivation and the involvement ofthe residents, Otto is convinced that sustain-able changes should start with the individualchoices of each resident. Therefore, in the cur-rent housing project information on environ-mental issues was an important part of thesustainable concept. Environmental expertswere hired to inform the residents about envi-ronmental problems and to teach them how todeal with these problems (Bech-Danielsen,1996). Subsequently all professionals andexperts stepped back and left it up to individualfamilies to decide the extent and nature of theirenvironmental efforts.

Thus the initiatives taken in the individualdwellings in Ökohaus are very different and inthis way the ideals of diversity that penetratearchitecture during these years and which arecertainly expressed in the architecture of Öko-haus, are also expressed in the sustainableconcept of the settlement. One family has builttheir home of clay, a second family cleans andrecycles the grey water directly in the dwelling,while a third family (where the man is an elec-trician), has reduced the electromagnetic radi-ation from the home network. Otto, however,does not so much emphasise this range oftechnical solutions but rather the process thatthe residents have been through. He is con-vinced that it has influenced residents' aware-ness and behaviour in an environmentallysound direction (Bech-Danielsen, 1996).

Another interesting observation we made at theDanish Building Research Institute when wewere linked to an urban renewal project inKolding. We were asked to do green accountingon the consumption of energy and water beforeand after the planned renewal - in order toclarify whether the planned savings wereachieved. The objective of the urban renewalproject was – through the use of a number of



technical measures - to save 10-15% of water,electricity and heat (Jensen 2000). For variousreasons the project was postponed for a year,nevertheless, the researcher from the DanishBuilding Research Institute took the opportuni-ty to send the results of the green accounts tothe residents. This way the residents wereinformed about their personal consumptionand about the environmental effects related tothis consumption. A year later the green lightwas given for the planned renewal, and theresearcher was again asked to determine theresidents' consumption of water, electricity andheat immediately before the renewal.Surprisingly it appeared that all the targetedsavings had been achieved even before theactual work on the renewal had started.2 Theconclusion is that visualization and the result-ing awareness can be effective ways to achieveimportant changes in the patterns of consump-tion - and thus a very inexpensive way toachieve environmental results.

A fundamental reason why environmentalproblems grow and grow, despite the ¬techno-logical progress, increased efficiency andimproved standards of insulation is ourincreasing wealth. So far the increasing wealthhas resulted in increased consumption. Forinstance, the Danish energy consumption fordomestic heating has not decreased at anytime in the last 100 years - despite the fact thatthe Danish Building Regulations have madeever stricter requirements to building insula-tion. One major reason is that in parallel withour growing efficiency in heating each residen-tial square meter, the residential space hasincreased considerably in size.3 Thus our totalliving area is growing every year, and thereforewe fail to reduce the energy used for spaceheating.

Environmental effort – focusing on technicaldevelopment. Most Danes associate environmental action inthe built environment with a technicalapproach, and they are quite confident that theenvironmental problems can be solved throughthe use of new techniques and by developingnew materials. Action at the infrastructurallevel – improved efficiency of power plants anddistrict heating and increased use of renewableenergy sources4 have been followed by techni-cal efforts and improved efficiency at the build-ing level. Among the most well-known tech-niques are building insulation, solar panels,

photovoltaics, heat pumps, ground heating andfuel cells, but also various forms of water-sav-ing technologies for recycling and reuse havebeen quite popular.

The development of the technically orientedenvironmental effort is primarily the domain ofengineers, and a number of technical featurescan be located in basements and ceilingswhich therefore have no impact on eitherarchitectural design or on the residents' well-being and lifestyle. Thus it is a typical featureof the technical environmental effort that itdoes not impose specific requirements on resi-dents' participation and environmental aware-ness; a lot of techniques reduce the environ-mental impact of the dwelling regardless ofresidents' behaviour. Therefore the technicalsolutions are particularly suitable in residentialsettlements, where the environmental interestand enthusiasm among the residents is small.


Figure 1:In a research project conductedby SBi, energy consumption invarious residential areas in ÅrhusMunicipality was mapped. Notsurprisingly, the most affluentneighbourhoods have the largestconsumption. Our traditional wayof spending our wealth leads togreater consumption and envi-ronmental problems. (Bech-Danielsen et al, 20041; Jensenand Olsen 2003).


Building insulation is the energy-saving tech-nique that has been particularly highlighted inDenmark and the other Nordic countries. Sincethe first energy crisis in 1973, the requirementsfor insulation of buildings have been reinforcedrepeatedly by changing Building Regulations.These have had architectural implications. Forinstance, the single-family houses of the 1970sand 1980s had a closed and massing appear-ance to the north (having only small and fewwindows). However, in recent versions, theDanish Building Regulations have changed, sothe previous requirements for each part of thebuilding have been replaced by a definition ofthe amount of consumed energy allowed. Thisleaves more freedom for the architecturaldesign.

At the same time there have been significantimprovements of the insulating effect of mate-rials. This has especially been the case withwindows, which were previously associatedwith very high heat losses. The development ofhighly insulating windows is now reaching astage where the glass insulates almost as wellas a solid wall. When adding the passive solarheat (gained through the windows), a façade ofglass can now be more heat-efficient than asolid outer wall. This makes it possible - atleast in theory - to construct low-energy hous-ing as 'boxes of glass'. There have been experi-mental buildings in Denmark that have testedthe possibilities of the new types of glazing,including a low-energy housing project byarchitects Lundgaard and Tranberg (SBi, 1999).The 1970s and 1980s closed architecture haddisappeared, and instead the low-energy build-ing appeared in glass and steel. In this version,the architectural ideal of modernism becamesustainable.

In the latest version of the Danish BuildingRegulations (BR08), the insulation require-ments were tightened: the energy consumptionin new buildings is now required to be lessthan 70 kWh /m² per. year.5 It is expected thatthe energy requirements to buildings will betightened further in the near future. In 2010 itis the plan to further reduce energy consump-tion in new buildings by 25% and in 2015 newbuilding requirements are expected to cut fur-ther 25% off the energy consumption. It is theDanish as well as the European intention thatbuilding regulations will require the equivalentof 'passive houses' by 2020. The increasedrequirements imposed on new building make itincreasingly essential to focus on the energyconsumption of existing buildings.

The Danish Building Research Institute recent-ly conducted an assessment of the potentialheat savings in existing Danish housing(Wittchen, 2004). It was stated that it is possi-ble to save more than 30 Peta Joule, simply byreplacing windows and improving insulation ofwalls, floors and roofs. The biggest energy sav-ings can be achieved in old houses built before1930, but also in houses built in the period1961 to 1972 major energy savings can beachieved.

The technical development is strong, andimportant energy savings and environmentalresults can be achieved by means of new envi-ronmentally-oriented techniques. However,one-sided confidence in the technical develop-ment can foster the result that the environ-mentally favourable effects fail to materialise.This has been the case in a number of housingestates that were fitted with glass-enclosedbalconies with a southern exposure in connec-tion with a comprehensive process of sustain-able urban renewal (Svensson & Wittchen2003). The working notion behind the glassenclosure is to turn the balcony into a seasonalconservatory, which is then supposed to inducepassive solar warmth into the remaining sec-tions of the apartment. However, the residentsdid not always make use of the glass enclo-sures as intended. Electric radiators wereplaced in the glass-enclosed balconies, so thatthese spaces could be used all year round, withthe consequence that the anticipated savings interms of energy failed to materialise and theend result was an increased consumption ofenergy.


Figure 2:Low-energy housing transforma-tion - the development of newtypes of glazing have turnedarchitecture inside out, in whichnow appears with an open 'skin'of glass and steel. (Architects:Boje Lundgaard and LeneTranberg). Photographer: Bech-Danielsen.


Environmental effort – focusing onarchitectural design As the architectural qualities in grassrootssustainable settlements as well as in engi-neers environmental experiments had repeat-edly been questioned, the sustainable con-struction had an image problem.6 It simply didnot appeal to a wide audience of users, and anumber of initiatives were launched in the1990s to develop the architectural design of thesustainable construction. It was, among otherthings, the essential goal of 'The Green Fund'initiated by The Danish Environmental Ministry(Gram-Hanssen, 1998): Sustainable construc-tion had to be designed in architectural qualityin order to appeal to a wider circle of people.

When architects entered the scene, a new typeof environmental action was developed. Alreadyin the initial design phase, architects make aseries of choices that may be crucial to laterconsumption in the building, and on that back-ground the environmental considerations werenow taken into account in the architecturaldesign in line with other considerations. Theenvironmental considerations impinge directlyon the architectural design – the environmentalconsiderations can even act as the fundamen-tal architectural idea.

This has been proven in many projectsdesigned by the German architect ThomasHerzog. For example, in a two-family house inPullach-Munich the main environmental objec-tive was to exploit daylight optimally - partly inorder to achieve passive solar energy (for heat-ing) and partly to minimise the need for elec-tricity (for artificial lighting). This has led to along, narrow building body that lets sunlightreach deep into all the rooms. The large over-hang of the building is also environmentallyjustified, as it protects the facades againstweather and thus reduces the need for futuremaintenance - and extends the life of thebuilding. The architectural form is the environ-mental effort.

Also the Australian architect Glenn Murcutthas achieved environmental results by puttingthe building-related consumption in the designwork. Murcutt's buildings are designed basedon conditions at the actual place - the cultureof the place, the planting on the site, the localclimate etc. Wind conditions and the height andcourse of the sun over the year are some of thelocal qualities that are crucial for his design.

Thus Murcutt's design is always related to aspecific place, and this should remind us thatan architectural / sustainable concept thatworks well in a building in one specific placecannot necessarily be repeated uncritically in abuilding somewhere else: A sustainable con-cept cannot be regarded as a fixed guidelinethat can be repeated again and again. Forexample, have a look at some of the sustain-able constructions in Berlin, where architectshave made great efforts to ensure that therainwater can seep directly into the groundwa-ter. In the neighbouring settlement you mightfind massive pipes installed to pump groundwater away from the area. The fact is thatBerlin is built on wetlands, where groundwateris extremely high - and that recent years' majorconstruction activity in Berlin has only beenpossible by pumping tonnes of groundwaterout of the city. So although it is common senseelsewhere to let rainwater seep into thegroundwater, it is nonsense in Berlin.

Traditional buildings are often designed interms of a specific place and inspiration of thedevelopment of sustainable construction canoften be found in historic construction.Previously, economic resources were scarce,the buildings were badly insulated, and domes-tic heating often involved hard work by the resi-dents. Consequently the use of energy waswisely minimised and many efforts were madeto retain heat. Building location (with anemphasis on shelter and protection, ratherthan panoramic views and visibility), woodedareas (creating shelter and related to theprevalent winds), interior (with porch, centrallylocated chimney / fireplace, north-facingpantries etc.) are examples of traditional hous-


Figure 3:Semi-detached house in Pullachnear Munich. (Architect: ThomasHerzog). Photographer: Bech-Danielsen.


ing qualities that are now reinterpreted in sus-tainable construction.

One of the most inventive Danish sustainablehousing projects was designed a few years ago,as a result of a prize competition at the designschools and architecture schools in Denmark.The students were asked to develop the futurehousing - with emphasis on sustainability(Bech-Danielsen 2001). The winning project,Boase, aims to establish wooded areas on thecontaminated sites in the cities, integratingnature in the city, while the plants purify thepolluted soil.7 The housing area is constructedon pillars to ensure that the tree roots canclean the soil under the buildings, and walk-ways connecting the dwellings are establishedat a level with the tree crowns. This way theenvironmental efforts are related to interestingexperiences and new ideals of urban life.

The private residences in Boase are clusteredaround a flexible common room, and while pri-vate residences appear in a tight, cubic design,the common space is enclosed by a tent-likestructure. The structure consists of a textilethat accumulates energy in small fibres of pho-tovoltaic woven into the material. Thus thedevelopment of photovoltaic is a good exampleof how the different types of environmentalefforts can interact in fortunate ways. The pro-duction of the photovoltaic has become so

sophisticated that they can be incorporated intobuilding materials - the technical developmentmade it possible to integrate the technicalsolution into the architectural design.

PostscriptActually, architects have been working on howto solve environmental problems for almost acentury. When the modernism concept ofarchitecture and planning was developed in theearly 20th century, the starting point was pollu-tion in the rapidly growing industrial cities.8 Atthe building level the modernist found thesolution in a light and airy architecture withwhite walls and large windows that accommo-dates hygienic issues at the time. At the settle-ment level they opposed the traditional urbanstructure in the development of park settle-ments that were oriented towards the daylight.And at the city level the ideal of zoning wasdeveloped in order to move housing away fromnoisy and polluting industries, and suburbandevelopment in the urban periphery also grewfrom a desire to get out in to the 'light and air'- away from the noisy and polluted inner cities.

Thus the urban planners of the 20th centurysolved urban problems of the time by estab-lishing a distance. Residential areas weremoved away from polluting industries andurban development was created at a distance


Figure 4:Boase – the architectural conceptis based on solving an environ-mental problem in urban areas:Contaminated sites.


from the dense and crowded inner cities. Thisstrategy also characterises the environmentalwork of the post-war period: With the renova-tion systems, sewerage and tall chimneys,waste and other pollution were exported stillfurther into the surroundings.

Towards the end of the 20th century, environ-mental problems, however, reached a globalscale, and they were not to be solved by build-ing chimneys even higher or by sending wastesubstances even further out into the surround-ings. Today, even the farthest corner of theworld is affected by environmental pollution –neither the atmosphere, the sea nor the land-scapes can hold more - and we are forced todeal with them in a more preventive manner.

This is actually happening in projects likeBoase. Boase is based on a fundamental urban

and environmental problem – the contaminatedsites of the industrial period. The project com-bines a solution to the environmental problemwith development of new urban and architec-tural qualities. Technical, cultural and architec-tural developments are linked to the formula-tion of new ideas about living in green sur-roundings in an inner city area.

Architectural design always starts with the for-mulation of a problem, and architectural quali-ty occurs when an architectural conceptaddresses the problem in a convincing way. Ata time when environmental problems are fun-damental, it is crucial to the ability of thearchitects, that the environmental problemsare part of the formulated problem. Solving theproblem then become an important architec-tural task.


AUTHOR

Claus Bech-DanielsenProfessor PhD Danish Building Research Institute, Aalborg University, [email protected]

1 To give an example: In Albertslund (a Copenhagensuburb) the heating of 100 m2 detached housingleads to 0,86 tons/year of CO2 in average. In the ren-tal blocks it leads to 1,28 tons/year (AlbertslundKommune 2009).

2 Consumption of heat was reduced from 5255kwh/person/year to 4813 kwh/person/year, consump-tion of water was reduced from 135 l/person/day to121 l/person/day. Consumption of electricity wasreduced by ap. 10%. (Jensen 2000).

3 Each Dane has 52 m2 of dwelling on average - andhere is not counted the approx. 200,000 Danishsecond homes such as weekend cottages etc.

4 In Denmark 10% of the total use of energy is produ-ced by renewable energy sources – mainly wind[Source: www.energistyrelsen.dk].

5 Building's overall need for additional energy forheating, ventilation, cooling and hot water per. m²heated floor-space must not exceed 70 kWh /m² per.year conferred 2200 kWh. years divided by the heatedsurface area.

6 This was stated as one of the main reason, whenthe Danish Environmental Ministry launched 'TheGreen Fund' in the late 1990s (see following descrip-tion).

7 For more information: www.boase.dk

8 At this time the pollution was a local problem -related to health of the local population. Later in thecentury the environmental problems became global,and related to the basic existence of human beings.

NOTES



ALBERTSLUND KOMMUNE (2009). Grønt regnskab 2008 / Boliger og erhverv. Albertslund, Albertslund Kommune.

BECH-DANIELSEN, C. (1998). Byøkologi og æstetik – et koblingsunivers mellemsted og rum. Hørsholm, Statens Byggeforskningsinstitut.

BECH-DANIELSEN, C. (2005). Ecological Reflections in Architecture.Architectural Design of the Place, the Space andthe Interface. Copenhagen, The Danish Architectural Press.

BECH-DANIELSEN, C. (2004). Moderne arkitektur – hva’ er meningen?Århus, Forlaget Systime.

BECH-DANIELSEN, C.(RED); JENSEN,O.M.(red.); Kiib, H.(red.); Marling, G.(red.)(2004).Urban Lifescape. Byrum, livs-stil, forbrug /Space, lifestyle, consumption. Ålborg, Aalborg Universitetsforlag.

BECH-DANIELSEN, HANSEN AND JENSEN(1997).Økologisk byggeri i de nordiske lande. København, Nordisk Ministerråd, TemaNord,1997:575.

DINESEN, KROGH AND TRABERG-BORUP(1997).Livscyklusbaseret bygningsprojekteringOpgørelse af bygningers energiforbrug og ener-girelaterede miljøpåvirkningerHørsholm, Statens Byggeforskningsinstitut.

GRAM-HANSSEN, KIRSTEN (1998). Evaluering af Den Grønne Fond. Hørsholm, Statens Byggeforskningsinstitut.

LE CORBUSIER (1985).Athen-erklæringenDansk Byplanlaboratoriums ByplanhistoriskeNoter, nr. 3.

København, Dansk Byplanlaboratorium,.(Oprindelig udgave: La Charte d'Athènes (bear-bejdet udgave af:Constatations de IV Congrès (Charted'Athènes)) 1942).

WITTCHEN OG AGGERHOLM (1999).Det højisolerede Glashus. SBI-rapport 317. Hørsholm, Statens Byggeforskningsinstitut.

JENSEN, OLE MICHAEL (1994): Ecological Building - or just environmentallysound planning. Arkitektur 7/1994.

JENSEN, OLE MICHAEL (2000). Grønt regnskab for byfornyelsesområderHørsholm, SBi-meddelelse 132.

JENSEN, O.M. AND OLSEN, S. (2003). Tema atlas. GIS-kort baseret på registerdata ombygninger, befolkning og forbrug.Hørsholm, By og Byg Resultater 023, StatensByggeforskningsinstitut.

SVENSSON, O. AND WITTCHEN, K. B. (2003). Facaderenovering med glas: Et forsøgsbyggeri iældre etageboligbyggeri. København: Økonomi- og Erhvervsministeriet,Erhvervs- og Boligstyrelsen.

WITTCHEN, KIM B. (2004):Vurdering af potentialet for varmebesparelser ieksisterende boliger / Hørsholm, Statens Byggeforskningsinstitut.

WORLD COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENT ANDDEVELOPMENT (1987): Our Common Future. Oxford, New York, Oxford University Press.

ØSTERGAARD, J. (red.) (1992).Miljøpåvirkning fra byggeri. SBI-meddelelse 93. Hørsholm, Statens Byggeforskningsinstitut.

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