Design Strategies

Edeltraud Haselsteiner

Climate and location-optimised building form

“You cannot implement things after the fact that were not factored in at the beginning. So if the climate is not already part of the early design phase, its influences on factors like form and typology are not taken into account and must be compensated for later with technological measures in or on the building.” [1] If technology is to be used in a meaningful way, therefore, climate is the critical design factor. The morphological configuration of the building is an especially dominant variable.

Bioclimatic building on Tenerife

In the south of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, a total of 25 bioclimatic houses were built that test the various options to address the climatic conditions of the location (Fig. 1). All the buildings are rented out on a temporary basis as holiday homes. The bioclimatic house is protected from the strong Tenerife winds by high, circular walls of volcanic stone. At the same time, air chambers and air circulation allow these double-skin stone walls to regulate the indoor climate. The building has neither heating nor air-conditioning. Green flat roofs, rainwater recovery, electricity from the neighbouring wind farm and building materials from the excavated ground combine with additional design solutions to yield this sustainable overall concept.

Cultural and Tourism Centre in Terrasson

The creation of the Culture and Tourism Centre in Terrasson in the Dordogne marks the first time in architectural history that gabion walls have been used for their energy-absorbing mass. The unworked stone placed within the wire mesh comes from a nearby rock quarry. The building concept itself is based on the principle of a greenhouse. In winter, direct insolation heats the natural stone wall and a portion of the ground slab; in summer, water from the natural stone wall and from surrounding trees supplies evaporative cooling (Fig. 2). Openings between the walls and the glass

1 a–c

Bioclimatic building, ITER Park holiday house, Granadilla, Tenerife (ES) 2000, Ruiz Larrea & Asociados

Low tech: Building form and surface optimised to the microclimate of the location, use of regional materials and excavated ground substance, natural regulation of the indoor climate

2 Cultural and tourism centre, Terrasson (FR) 1994, Ian Ritchie

Architects

Low tech: Large thermal storage mass, optimised solar gains, natural ventilation, cooling via water evaporation

3 a–b

Grüne Erde-Welt commercial building, Pettenbach (AT) 2018, architekturbüro arkade with terrain: integral designs

Low tech: Recycling of the previous building, natural lighting and ventilation via green atria, optimised and site-adapted structure

Grüne Erde-Welt follows the central theme of the business, which is to live and operate in connection with nature and people (Fig. 3). The sales and workshop building stands on the site of a former building so as not to burden additional green spaces. All the concrete from the demolition was recycled and reused in the new building. The structure is optimised in many details in order to keep the ecological footprint as small as possible. Natural materials such as timber and sheep’s wool determine the building concept. The structure is nestled within a 5-ha garden complex of native plants and trees. Indoors, thirteen organically connected green atria generate an agreeable interior climate and provide natural lighting and ventilation.

4 Single-family house STONE TERRACE, Hiroshima (JP) 2008, Kazuhide Doi Architects

Low tech: Climateand site-adapted architecture, use of available materials (stone masonry) and traditional building technology, natural ventilation, cooling and heating