Sustainable Architecture
1. BACKGROUND 1.1 What is Sustainable Development?
1.2 Various Viewpoints
1.3 Three Dimensions
1.4 Further Reading		  
2. CONCEPTS 2.1 Sustainable Construction
2.2 Environmental Architecture
2.3 Ecological Building
2.4 Green Building
2.5 Further Reading		  
3. ISSUES 3.1 Site
3.2 Energy
3.3 Water
3.4 Materials
3.5 Waste
3.6 Community
3.7 Indoor Environment
4. STRATEGIES 4.1 Design Guides (downloadable)
4.2 Processes
4.3 Assessment
5. REFERENCES 5.1 Reference Books & Materials
5.2 Web Links
5.3 Case Studies		  

Home of BEER
| Created: Dec 1996 | Updated: 10 Aug 2002 | By Sam C M Hui (cmhui@hku.hk) |

1.  BACKGROUND

[The current world population]

1.1 What is Sustainable Development?

"Sustainable development is development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs." -- World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future, pp. 4, Oxford University Press, New York, 1987. This definition has been formulated by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), led by the norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, in 1987.

The word development in this definition implicates two important aspects of the concept: It is omnidisciplinary, it cannot be limited to a number of disciplines or areas, but it is applicable to the whole world and everyone and everything on it, now and in the future. Secondly, there is no set aim, but the continuation of development is the aim of the development. The definition is based on two concepts:

The needs consist firstly of basic needs such as food, clothing, housing and employment. Secondly, every individual, in every part of the world should have the opportunity to try and raise his or her life standard above this absolute minimum. The limits consist of natural limitations like finite resources, but also of declining productivity caused by overexploitation of resources, declining quality of water and shrinking of biodiversity. For our common future, it would therefore be best if needs are best fulfilled while limits are not increased, but preferably decreased. This would lead to the quite simple conclusion that all political, technical and social developments can easily be evaluated in the light of sustainable development by these two arguments. Any development should help fulfill needs and should not increase limitations.

1.2 Various Viewpoints

Many other definitions of sustainable development have also been offered, some general and some more precise. The followings illustrate the variety of foci evident in discussions of sustainable development.

"Future generation is the most important" --- Confucius.
"Treat the Earth well.  It was not given to you by your parents.  It was loaned to you by your children." --- Kenyan Proverb.
"Sustainability is living on the interest rather than the principle." -- economics educators.
Sustainability (Nachhaltigkeit) as postulated in Germany "requires the inextricable linkage of ecology, economy and social security. Sustainable development requires that improvements in economic and social living conditions accord with the long-term process of securing the natural foundations of life (G1)".
A sustainable system delivers services without exhausting resources. It uses all resources efficiently both in an environmental and economic sense.

1.3 Three Dimensions

Economic dimensions of sustainability:
  • Creation of new markets and opportunities for sales growth
  • Cost reduction through efficiency improvements and reduced energy and raw material inputs
  • Creation of additional added value
    		•  Environmental dimensions of sustainability
  • Reduced waste, effluent generation, emissions to environment
  • Reduced impact on human health
  • Use of renewable raw materials
  • Elimination of toxic substances
    		•  Social dimensions of sustainability
  • Worker health and safety
  • Impacts on local communities, quality of life
  • Benefits to disadvantaged groups e.g. disabled
    		•

    Environmental Sustainability

    The idea of environmental sustainability is to leave the Earth in as good or better shape for future generations than we found it for ourselves.  By a definition, human activity is only environmentally sustainable when it can be performed or maintained indefinitely without depleting natural resources or degrading the natural environment.

    1.4 Further Reading

    2.  CONCEPTS

    "Architecture presents a unique challenge in the field of sustainability. Construction projects typically consume large amounts of materials, produce tons of waste, and often involve weighing the preservation of buildings that have historical significance against the desire for the development of newer, more modern designs." -- The Earth Pledge (www.earthpledge.org)

    2.1 Sustainable Construction

    Sustainable construction is defined as "the creation and responsible management of a healthy built environment based on resource efficient and ecological principles". Sustainably designed buildings aim to lessen their impact on our environment through energy and resource efficiency. It includes the following principles: Accordning to an OECD Project, "Sustainable building" can be defined as those buildings that have minimum adverse impacts on the built and natural environment, in terms of the buildings themselves, their immediate surroundings and the broader regional and global setting. "Sustainable building" may be defined as building practices, which strive for integral quality (including economic, social and environmental performance) in a very broad way. Thus, the rational use of natural resources and appropriate management of the building stock will contribute to saving scarce resources, reducing energy consumption (energy conservation), and improving environmental quality.

    Sustainable building involves considering the entire life cycle of buildings, taking environmental quality, functional quality and future values into account. In the past, attention has been primarily focused on the size of the building stock in many countries. Quality issues have hardly played a significant role. However, in strict quantity terms, the building and housing market is now saturated in most countries, and the demand for quality is growing in importance. Accordingly, policies that contribute to the sustainability of building practices should be implemented, with recognition of the importance of existing market conditions. Both the environmental initiatives of the construction sector and the demands of users are key factors in the market. Governments will be able to give a considerable impulse to sustainable buildings by encouraging these developments. The OECD project has identified five objectives for sustainable buildings:

    Theme Environmental Economic Social
    Sub-theme - Global
    - Local and site
    - Internal    		 - Construction
    - Materials
    - Infrastructure    		 - Equity
    - Community
    Issues - Climate change
    - Resources
    - Internal environment
    - External environment
    - Wildlife    		 - Profitability
    - Employment
    - Productivity
    - Transport and utilities
    - Building stock value    		 - Poverty
    - Minorities
    - Inner cities
    - Transport
    - Communications

    Green Code for Architecture
    [From: Greening Government: Towards More Sustainable Construction: Green Guide for Managers on the Government Estate, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, UK]

    Based on the objectives of the Building Research Establishment's Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) The principles are:

    2.2 Environmental Architecture

    Five principles of an environmental architecture (Thomas A. Fisher, AIA, November, 1992): Architect William McDonough defined the breadth of what Green Building is:
    Living buildings will:
    • Harvest all their own water and energy needs on site.
    • Be adapted specifically to site and climate and evolve as conditions change.
    • Operate pollution-free and generate no wastes that aren't useful for some other process in the building or immediate environment.
    • Promote the health and well-being of all inhabitants, as a healthy ecosystem does.
    • Be comprise of integrated systems that maximize efficiency and comfort.
    • Improve the health and diversity of the local ecosystem rather than degrade it.
    • Be beautiful and inspire us to dream.
    -- Jason F. McLennan, BNIM Architects

    2.3 Ecological Building

    Ecology
    1. the science of the relationship and interaction of living organisms with their inanimate (e.g. climate, soil) and their animate environment, as well as the study of resource and energy management in the biosphere and its sub-categories.
    2. the study of the detrimental effects of modern civilization on the environment, with a view toward prevention or reversal through conservation.
    Economy
    1. careful, thrifty management of resources, such as money, materials, or labor.
    2. an orderly, functional arrangement of parts; on organized system.
    3. efficient, sparing, or conservative use.
    		Ecological Building
    A movement in contemporary architecture. This movement aims to create environmentally friendly, energy-efficient buildings and developments by effectively managing natural resources. This entails passively and actively harnessing solar energy and using materials which, in their manufacture, application, and disposal, do the least possible damage to the so-called 'free resources' water, ground, and air.

    Major Areas:
     

    Environment

    Air
      Free air
        - Natural ventilation
        - Wind force
        - Energy content
      Stack effect
        - Solar energy, diffuse radiation
        - Solar energy, direct radiation

    Soil
      Aquifer
        - Heat storage
        - Cool storage
      Groundwater
        - Cold energy
        - Heat energy
      Earth/rock
        - Geothermal cooling
        - Heat energy

    Water surfaces
      Lake
        - Pump water or greywater
        - Heat energy
        - Cold energy
      River
        - Pump water or greywater
        - Heat energy
        - Cold energy
      Sea
        - Pump water or greywater
        - Heat energy
        - Cold energy

    Building Fabric

    Facade and roof
      Transparent insulating material
      Photovoltaics
      Absorber surface
      Storage masses
      Planted surfaces
      Rainwater
      Dayligth elements
      Collectors

    Construction
      Storage masses
      Passive solar absorber
      Heat exchanger elements
      Night cooling by outside air

    Atria
      Green zones
      Evaporative cooling
      Passive solar energy
      Heat buffer

    Building Technology

    Cooling energy
      Direct
        - Electrically driven chiller
        - Absorption chiller
        - Gas-motor driven chiller
        - Cooling towers
        - Tandem systems
      Indirect
        - Cold storage in building
        - Cold storage in terrain
        - Bore holes

    Heat energy
      Direct
        - District heating
        - Boiler (gas, oil, coal, biogas, condensing)
        - Electric boiler (with storage)
      Indirect
        - Solar thermal system
        - Combined heat and power (CHP)
        - Heat pumps
        - Flue gas heat exchanger

    Electrical energy
      Mains supply
        - Commercial power supply utilities
      Self supply
        - Combined heat and power (CHP)
        - Emergency generator
        - Photovoltaics
        - Tandem system
        - Wind energy generator

    Water
      Pure water
        - Public supply (drinking, cooking)
      Greywater
        - Waste water (condenser water, flushing, cleaning)
      Rainwater
        - Flushing, cleaning, cooling

    2.4 Green Building

    "It's not easy being green." -- Kermit the Frog, 1972.

    A green approach to the built environment involves a holistic approach to the design of buildings. All the resources that go into a building, be they materials, fuels or the contribution of the users need to be considered if a sustainable architecture is to be produced. Producing green buildings involves resolving many conflicting issues and requirements. Each design decision has environmental implications. Measures for green buildings can be divided into four areas:

    What Makes a Building Green?

    A "green" building places a high priority on health, environmental and resource conservation performance over its life-cycle. These new priorities expand and complement the classical building design concerns: economy, utility, durability, and delight. Green design emphasizes a number of new environmental, resource and occupant health concerns:

    Most green buildings are high-quality buildings; they last longer, cost less to operate and maintain, and provide greater occupant satisfaction than standard developments. Sophisticated buyers and lessors prefer them, and are often willing to pay a premium for their advantages. What surprises many people unfamiliar with this design movement is that good green buildings often cost little or no more to build than conventional designs. Commitment to better performance, close teamwork throughout the design process, openness to new approaches, and information on how these are best applied are more important than a large construction budget.

    Sustainable Design
    Sustainable design is the thoughtful integration of architecture with electrical, mechanical, and structural engineering. In addition to concern for the traditional
    aesthetics of massing, proportion, scale, texture, shadow, and light, the facility design team needs to be concerned with long term costs: environmental, economic, and human.

    The Rocky Mountain Institute outlines five elements for sustainable design:

    Principles of Sustainable Design
  • Understanding Place - Sustainable design begins with an intimate understanding of place. If we are sensitive to the nuances of place, we can inhabit without destroying it. Understanding place helps determine design practices such as solar orientation of a building on the site, preservation of the natural environment, and access to public transportation.
  • Connecting with Nature - Whether the design site is a building in the inner city or in a more natural setting, connecting with nature brings the designed environment back to life. Effective design helps inform us of our place within nature.
  • Understanding Natural Processes - In nature there is not waste. The byproduct of one organism becomes the food for another. In other words, natural systems are made of closed loops. 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 processes visible brings the designed environment back to life.
  • Understanding Environmental Impact - Sustainable design attempts to have an understanding of the environmental impact of the design by evaluating the site, the embodied energy and toxicity of the materials, and the energy efficiency of design,materials and construction techniques. Negative environmental impact can be mitigated through use of sustainably harvested building materials and finishes, materials with low toxicity in manufacturing and installation, and recycling building materials while on the job site.
  • Embracing Co-creative Design Processes - Sustainable designers are finding it is important to listen to every voice. Collaboration with systems consultants, engineers and other experts happens early in the design process, instead of an afterthought. Designers are also listening to the voices of local communities. Design charettes for the end user (neighbourhood residents or office employers) are becoming a standard practice.
  • Understanding People - Sustainable design must take into consideration the wide range of cultures, races, religions and habits of the people who are going to be using and inhabiting the built environment. This requires sensitivity and empathy on the needs of the people and the community.
    • "Sustainable architecture involves a combination of values: aesthetic, environmental, social, political, and moral. It's about using one's imagination and technical knowledge to engage in a central aspect of the practice -- designing and building in harmony with our environment. The smart architect thinks rationally about a combination of issues including sustainability, durability, longevity, appropriate materials, and sense of place. The challenge is finding the balance between environmental considerations and econmic constraints. Consideration must be given to the needs of our communities and the ecosystem that supports them." -- Sanuel Mockbee, Auburn University

    2.5 Further Reading

    3.  ISSUES

    SITE ENERGY WATER
    MATERIALS
    WASTE
    COMMUNITY

    3.1 Site

    Sustainable Urban Design
  • What is Sustainable Urban Development? [University of Salford]
  • Sustainable Urban Design and Climate [Bureau of Meteorology Australia]
  • Principles of sustainable urban design [Barton, H., 1996. Going green by design, Urban Design Quarterly, January 1996, available at http://www2.rudi.net/ej/udq/57/ggd.html]:
    • Landform/Microclimate
    • Topography 
    • Light-colored surfacing
    • Vegetative cooling
    • Wind buffering/channeling
    • Evaporative cooling
    		 Site Design
    • Solar orientation 
    • Pedestrian orientation
    • Transit orientation
    • Micro climatic building/siting
    		 Infrastructure Efficiency
    • Water supply and use
    • Wastewater collection
    • Storm drainage
    • Street lighting
    • Traffic signalization
    • Recycling facilities
    Land-Use
    • Use density 
    • Use mix 
    • Activity concentration
    		 Transportation 
    • Integrated, mulimodal street network
    • Pedestrian
    • Bicycle
    • Transit
    • High-occupancy vehicles
    • Pavement minimization
    • Parking minimization/siting
    		 On-Site Energy Resources
    • Geothermal/groundwater
    • Surface water
    • Wind
    • Solar
    • District heating /cooling
    • Cogeneration
    • Thermal storage
    • Fuel cell power

    Sustainable Transportation

    Integrating land-use, transport and environmental planning is important to minimise the need for travel and to promote efficient and effective mode of transport, including walking. There are four principal ways to influence transport system efficiency and energy consumption:

    Pedestrianisation is to restrict vehicle access to a street or area for the exclusive use of pedestrians. It provides a pleasant and safe environment for pedestrians, and are ideal venues for shopping, social and cultural activities such as street markets and fairs. Sustainable Cities and Green Development

    3.2 Energy

    Energy Efficiency

    The benefits from the energy-efficient siting and design of buildings are economic (saving money), social (reducing fuel poverty); and ecological (reducing resource exploitation and emissions). Every new development ideally should have an explicit energy strategy, setting out how these
    benefits are to be achieved.

    Computer energy simulations can be used to assess energy conservation measures early and throughout the design process. The expanded design team collaborates early in conceptual design to generate many alternative concepts for building form, envelope and landscaping, focusing on minimizing peak energy loads, demand and consumption. Computer energy simulation is used to assess their effectiveness in energy conservation, and their construction costs. Typically, heating and cooling load reductions from better glazing, insulation, efficient lighting, daylighting and other measures allows smaller and less expensive HVAC equipment and systems, resulting in little or no increase in construction cost compared to conventional designs. Simulations are used to refine designs and ensure that energy-conservation and capital cost goals are met; and to demonstrate compliance with regulatory requirements.

    Renewable Energy
     

    3.3 Water

    [Under Construction]

    Water conservation methods:


    3.4 Materials

    Embodied Energy
    The quantity of energy required by all the activities associated with a production process, including the relative proportions consumed in all activities upstream to the acquisition of natural resources and the share of energy used in making equipment and other supporting functions. i.e. direct plus indirect energy.

    The energy input required to quarry, transport and manufacture building materials, plus the energy used in the construction
    process, can amount to a quarter of the 'lifetime' energy requirement of a very energy-efficient building. To reduce embodied
    energy, without compromising longevity or efficiency:

    Prefabrication

    3.5 Waste

    "Waste - a resource in the wrong place" -- An old Chinese proverb.

    Waste Management Strategies

    Waste hierarchy:
    waste v. waste n.
    1. to use, consume, spend, or expend thoughtlessly or carelessly 1. a place, region, or land that is uninhabited or uncultivated
    2. to cause to lose energy, strength, or vigor; exhaust, tire, or enfeeble 2. a devasted or destroyed region, town, or building; a ruin
    3. to fail to take advantage of or use for profit 3. a useless or worthless by-product, as from a manufacturing process
    4. to destroy completely 4. garbage; trash

    Humans are the only species on Earth that produce waste which is not a raw material or nutrient for another species. We are the only species to produce wastes that can be broadly toxic and build up for long periods of time. As William McDonough, Dean of the University of Virginia School of Architecture, has said, a sustainable society would eliminate the concept of waste. Waste is not simply an unwanted and sometimes harmful by-product of life; it is a raw material out of place. Waste and pollution demonstrate gross inefficiency in the economic system since they represent resources that are no longer available for use and/or create harm in humans and other species.

    3.6 Community

    Sustainable Communities

    3.7 Indoor Environment


    4.  Strategies

    4.1 Design Guides (online or downloadable)

    4.2 Processes

    Planning Process

    Design Process Operation & Maintenance

    4.3 Assessment

    Environmental Assessment Assessment Methodologies Assessment Principles Biodiversity Criteria

    Preservation of:

    Three forms of biodiversity: Natural environment to protect: Impact of urban development Impact mitigation

    5.  References

    5.1 Reference Books & Materials

    5.2  Web Links

    5.3 Case Studies