Tag: architect

Posted on
by

This blog post is a review of “Hermann Kaufmann IZM: Illwerke Zentrum Montafon” published in April 2015, edited by Marko Sauer.

This is a beautiful book about a beautiful building. The IZM is a new 120m long, five-storey office building in the Montafon valley of the Vorarlberg region in Austria. It brings together, in a central location, both the civil and electrical engineers of the hydropower generation company, Illwerke Vorarlberg.

The Illwerke Zentrum Montafon (IZM) in Rodund is an unparalleled timber structure: with a usable floor area of over 10,000 m2, it was the largest office building made of wood in Central Europe on completion. Assembled in only six weeks, the timber construction above the concrete base is the first application of the LifeCycle Tower (LCT) system on the free market.

The building is an exemplar of integrated architecture. The alpine setting, materials research, modern technology, prefabrication, traditional craftsmanship, low energy / low carbon design, and social contribution all play their part in making the IZM a work of stunning Passivhaus architecture.

“Hermann Kaufmann IZM: Illwerke Zentrum Montafon” is an elegantly restrained monograph of essays, beautiful photographs and clear drawings. It is, in a sense, reflective of the building itself. It maintains the very high standard of presentation and technical detail that can be found in all Detail magazines and books.

Passivhaus architecture is integrated architecture. This book details an exceptionally beautiful work of integrated architecture.

031 Exceptional Integrated Architecture

Continue reading →

Posted on
by

Bjarke Ingels is a “Starchitect,” an international superstar architect. He is also a great storyteller and perhaps this is why he has risen to such prominence in recent years. People love stories.

Arguably, it is the narrative that people give to buildings that elevate them to “Architecture.” The trouble I have with most “Starchitecture” is that the narrative often appears to be whimsical, egocentric and divorced from environmental context.

Bjarke Ingels is a different kind of “Starchitect.” He offers a narrative where architecture embraces environmental context. His term for this is “Vernacular 2.0.”

Vernacular architecture arises out of a direct response to the climate it inhabits and the resources available locally. And this is exactly what the Passivhaus Standard aims to ensure in a contemporary context.

So what would happen if the two were combined? Can you imagine an architecture where the “Hedonistic Sustainability” of the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) delivered the radical energy efficiency and exceptional comfort of the Passivhaus Standard?*

I can.

The combination of Bjarke Ingels + Passivhaus, to my mind, truly would be a “Vernacular 2.0.”

025 Bjarke Ingels Passivhaus Vernacular
Continue reading →

Posted on
by

Architectural design is typically carried out with little or no environmental consideration integral to the process. Once the design has reached a certain stage environmental considerations – whether material toxicity, water conservation, carbon emissions or energy conservation or something else – are then assessed. At this point decisions are made to revise and iterate the design for better environmental outcomes or to add ‘environmental features’. We know the results of this disjointed design process and we know this has to change if buildings are going to be better for people and the planet!

Unfortunately many environmental standards reinforce this process in two ways. Firstly by being separate from the design process, often as an assessment procedure. Secondly by requiring ‘environmental features’ be added in order to score points or increase the rating of the design.

The Passivhaus Standard is different. Unlike most environmental standards for architecture, design is central to the Passivhaus Standard. And the Passivhaus Standard is central to the design process.

Design is a reason to Love Passivhaus!

017 Love Passivhaus Design
Continue reading →

Posted on
by

This blog post is a review of “PHPP Illustrated: A Designer’s Companion to the Passive House Planning Package” published in October 2014. Sarah Lewis, architect and Certified European Passivhaus Designer wrote this delightful and chunky volume.

The Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) can seem like a monster spreadsheet at 30+ worksheets (tabs). And the last thing most architects would consider a ‘design tool’. However, once architects understand passivhaus and start to design passivhaus buildings, they quickly realise that the passivhaus spreadsheet PHPP is an essential element of the design process. For without the PHPP there would be no passivhaus buildings as Dr Wolfgang Feist writes in the foreword:

Behind the success of the [Passivhaus] Standard lies the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP), the Passive House energy balance and design tool. A tool of proven accuracy and demonstrated reliability in predicting building energy consumption…

The next step up is to gain enough understanding and fluency with the PHPP to fully integrate it as a passivhaus design tool. And that is where the strength of this book lies for passivhaus architects.

Sarah guides the reader towards fluency with the passivhaus spreadsheet PHPP using three key tools throughout the book:

  • Common mistakes
  • Drawings and annotated screenshots
  • “The Flow Chart” (as seen on the cover)

Camden Passivhaus, the first certified passivhaus building in London UK, is used throughout the book to give real-world context each step of the way. It is also a seminal bere:architects passivhaus project and one that Sarah worked on previously while as a Director of the practice.

An unfamiliar tool can appear as an obstacle to design. Once understood and put into practice it can powerfully inform and support design decision making.

015 Passivhaus Spreadsheet PHPP Design Tool
Continue reading →

Posted on
by

This blog post is a review of “Passive Houses: Energy Efficient Homes” published in March 2012. Chris van Uffelen, who compiled this monograph, is a prolific author with over 50 architecture and design related titles to his name. The book surveys 56 single-family energy efficient homes from around the world that collectively

showcase the great variety of exciting and at the same time sustainable architectural solutions.

I first heard of this book when Murray Durbin mentioned it during his interview on the Home Style Green podcast. Murray and Lee Ann Durbin had found this book to be a particular inspiration when setting out to design their own residential Passive House in Auckland, New Zealand. They have written extensively about the process and you can see pictures of the completed residential Passive House on their blog.

It is a well-deserved recommendation. This book covers an enormous geographic and climatic range, and it showcases a wide variety of architectural styles and approaches to energy efficient homes.

013 Residential Passive House Design

“Passive Houses: Energy Efficient Homes” includes houses from the USA, Canada, England, Wales, Germany (as you would expect!), Austria, Switzerland, several Scandinavian countries, Australia, China, Japan and more. The author didn’t limit the choice to only certified residential Passive Houses, but instead selected inspirational energy efficient homes demonstrating a whole range of standards, all employing ‘passive’ techniques of one sort or another.

Out of the 56 homes showcased, at least 18 are certified to the European Passive House Standard and 6 to the Swiss Minergie Standard, which is very similar. Many examples meet a different standard such as the Califorina Green Building Standards Code, KfW40 (a German low energy standard), Energy Star and the UK’s Code for Sustainable Homes Code 6. There are also some certified to multiple complimentary standards. For example the Prescott Passive House in Kansas City, USA, is Passive House certified and also LEED Platinum.

Continue reading →