By designing smartly we can create buildings with an optimal living- and working environment, that use much less energy. There are three ways to achieve this; technically, ecologically and by reprogramming.

authors: Piet Vollaard and Jacques Vink

The technical approach is primarily focused on improving the facade and came with the introduction of the climate facade.

In the ecological approach however the building as a whole is considered. The building is a system which exchanges energy with its environment eliminating the need for fossil fuels.

The most fundamental approach is by thinking about a more efficient use of our buildings before the actual designing takes place. By new combinations of functions, double use and condensation we can remain comfortable without using polluting energy sources.

A better (energy) performance
Already there are prototypes of self-providing buildings such as the null-energy flat, the autarkic office and the plus-home. When these buildings demonstrate that a good conditioned home/work environment can be created without using polluting energy sources then similar buildings will be generally accepted.
The design -task to come to self-providing buildings is defined in several ways. The multitude of proposals and designs for energy-efficient buildings becomes clear when several starting points are recognised.

• The building as a machine that can run more efficiently (the building and the climate installation are one).
• The building as a system that can be organised more efficiently. Not closed but as an open system in interaction with its environment.
• The building as a container of activities of which the logistics can be improved. In other words, there can be a much more efficient use of the hardware (the building), if we write the software (the functions that it must fulfil) better.

technical: the machine.... High-tech has become Eco-tech.
This mainly English architecture trend is currently using new technologies to achieve a better energy performance of buildings. Because of social inspiration but certainly also for self-preservation. The large glass surface, traditionally an essential part of the High-tech vocabulary, is as good as outlawed by the new environmental demands. The conventional glass facade is very unfavourable for the energy housekeeping. In the summer a lot of heat is collected, creating a heavy cooling burden. Assisted by engineers the climate facade was developed as an answer (see A+B document Klimaatgevels (climate facades), 12-1995; author Piet Vollaard). Eco-tech has a pioneering roll in the development of new facade systems and climate concepts. 

While many architects rather hide the climate installations in the darkest inside of pipe shafts and behind lowered ceilings, the Eco-tech marks itself by a far-reaching integration of building and climate conditioning system.

ecological: life systems
A step further is to not only interpret the facade but the whole building as a system. A system with an input and an output. The weather conditions outside the building and the energy that is created by the activities in the building can be utilised for optimising the inner climate. The facade is then a filter between inside and outside that actively regulates instead of passively protects. Buildings should be able to get energy from their direct environment instead of obtaining it from a distance. Preferably totally self-providing by interacting with the outside climate and the users as an open system. Originally the idea behind the autarkic building was anarchistic. In the 1970's the hippies retreated to the Colorado countryside in order to avoid participating in the polluting and in their eyes hypocritical capitalistic society. The idea of self-sufficient buildings and social groups (communes) has received new strength because of the environment and the need for larger energy efficiency.
The trace of duffel architecture has marked this ecological architecture for a long time. In the meantime this approach is adopted by the white shirts and black suits architecture..

Buildings should be able to get energy from their direct environment instead of obtaining it from a distance

These buildings are not static products and know many shapes dependent on conditions and seasons. For the storage of energy, for example, systems exist that can store energy per 24 hour period to even a period of a year. Usually invisible, but sometimes also as part of the architecture, such as in a home designed by Robin Spence, where energy is stored in water basins under the building.

Reprogramming
Surprising new concepts can arise by thinking about the organisation of the activities in the future building before the actual designing. Double use for example creates the opportunity to use energy that is released by certain processes for a second function. In Ireland they are working on a design for a combined ice-skate and swim paradise by the design of Ian Ritchie. The energy that is released in cooling the ice can be used for heating the water. The project City Fruitful near Dordrecht is also an example of double use. In this project it was proposed to combine housing- and greenhouse building. The energy required to heat the greenhouses could be used to head the houses.

These kinds of projects are really successful when the advantages are no only energy technical but also create extra qualities in using them. Like City Fruitful where in a pleasant, green living environment the grapes are growing till in front of the door.

Condensation
The programmatic condensation, the idea behind for example the compact city, provides logistic advantages because the commutes are shorter. Moreover when using the right cocktail of functions an energy-exchanging synergy between parts of the city can come into existence. The atria of the ministry of VROM in The Hague for example are meant as noise buffers with as energetic advantage that the offices can be build with windows that can opened. These atria moreover also have an important function as the informal hallways that improve the integration between the several services of VROM.

Building as third skin
A far reaching example of acting on programmatic level is confronting the users themselves with their actions. When in the pre-design of the new building of IBN-DLO in Wageningen it was proposed to request the users to dress according to the season and conditions of their working area the initial response was positive. The laboratory workers in the well-conditioned laboratory facing north could that way be distinguished from their colleagues in the offices facing south. Only at a later stage this was met with resistance of a part of the co-workers, that would travel a lot in the building or would have to go to representative or casual outdoor meetings. At the Smart Materials workshop (Design Institute (Vormgevingsinstituut) March 1998, Amsterdam), it was proposed to design intelligent working clothes in which the individual demands are cared for by a second skin. The building as third skin takes care of the right basic conditions while the clothing takes care of the 'fine-tuning'..

Smart designs
Since the beginning of this century one experimented vehemently with heating and climate conditioning systems. We continually increased our demands on the optimal layout of the modern workspace and living environment and to sufficiently condition these, our buildings are equipped with energy eating installations. Energy was cheap and there seemed to be more than enough. If the newest system didn't work then more machinery and energy was put into the building under the motto "if it doesn't work then we don't use enough of it". In the meantime it is clear that burning of fossil fuels pollutes our environment, with climate changes as a result. We therefore must migrate to buildings that house a as optimal as possible living- and working environment with as little energy as possible. In short, migrate to buildings with a better energy-achievement.

The energy that is required to condition the inner climate can be radically reduced by the introduction of new techniques and materials.

The Dutch building practice is pragmatic and conservative, which hinders the introduction of new materials and techniques. That is why in the Netherlands we can gain the most by reprogramming. By new combinations of functions, double use and condensation we can remain more comfortable without polluting energy sources.

photos by Richard Bryant and Fas Geuzenkamp

Information provided by: http://www.smartarch.nl