energy-efficient home design learning from the past.ppt... · “energy‐efficient house...

SPIRU HARET UNIVERSITY

GREEN ARCHITECTUREEnergy-Efficient: Learning from the Past

„SMART CITIES”CONFERENCE

5th edition

Andra Jacob Larionescu & Michael Montanari

SPIRU HARET UNIVERSITYEnergy‐Efficient: Learning from the Past

„SMART CITIES” CONFERENCE

5th edition

Green Architecture is a key component ofthe 21st century building design. Newstructures are already designed on thebasis of this new philosophy.

Today more than 7 billion people in theworld are affecting the Earth’s naturalresources. Our paper is focusing on“energy‐efficient house design” or how topromote a sustainable management ofnatural resources.

Traditional‐vernacular architecture canhelp to develop “green architecture”concept. Local materials, house form andorientation are a key to energy‐efficienthome design.

Vertical Forest by Stefano BoeriMilan, Italy, 2014


Green Architecture origins.After World War II, the suburban sprawlwas on the rise in the United States. Thisevent caused a strong increase in carbondioxide emissions (CO2) into theatmosphere, known as “GreenhouseEffects”.

1960s: birth of firsts eco‐activists, whodecided to move in rural communes inorder to live in less polluted localities.They built different types of houses suchas tent‐like structures and geodesic domesto low the impact on the environment.

1970s: Pioneers such as Lewis Mumford,Ian McHarg and James Lovelock developedthe first environmental concepts.Earth Day on April 22, 1973.



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Geodesic Dome Home by Buckminster FullerCarbondale, Illinois, USA, 1960


1973s: “OPEC” Oil crisis caused asignificant increase in oil prices in the U.S.As a consequence, the Americangovernment was looking for alternativesolutions and new energy sources andconsequently began to invest in solar,water, wind and geothermal energy assources of power.



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1993s: the U.S. Green Building Council(USGBC) formulated the Leadership inEnergy and Environmental Design (LEED).

These standards include specificparameters, providing additional guidanceto designers and builders to achievesustainable structures.

In 1990, the Building ResearchEstablishment (BRE) of England publishedBREEAM (Building Research EstablishmentEnvironment Assessment Method).Others certifications were published later,such as ITACA in Italy and CASBEE in Japan.


According to the newest version (v4), themain points of LEED cover the followingareas:Integrative thinkingEnergyWaterWasteMaterialsLocation & transportationSustainable sitesHealth and human experienceRegional impactsInnovationGlobal, regional, local.

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Green Architecture Goals

Not a style, but a philosophy.Building into respect of the Environment.Preservation of Earth's health.Conservation of Energy.Reuse and safety of building materials.Concept of Sustainability.

What is necessary to consider beforereaching these targets?



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Global Temperature' s change since 1884.

Climate: the main issue for the environment.Climate is a key factor when designing a green house, as architecture and climate arestrongly linked, the second influencing the size and configuration of the house, thebuilding materials, the site.




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Climate Classification System.

A) Tropical Climate 18°C or higher withsignificant precipitation.

B) Dry Climate Little precipitation withTemperature between 0°C and 18°C.

C) Temperate Climate Temperature cansink until below 10°C.

D) Continental Climate Annual averagetemperature between 0°C and 10°C.

E) Polar Climate Average temperaturebelow 10°C constantly.


SPIRU HARET UNIVERSITY „SMART CITIES” CONFERENCE

5th editionEnergy‐Efficient: Learning from the Past


Traditional‐vernacular architecture Learning from the past

Every culture had to adopt variousbuilding systems in order to protect thepopulation from cold winters or warmsummers.

Depending on the building site, one candiscover different types of vernacularbuildings. These structures represent afundamental part of our history sincecountries' past populations did not usethe innovative materials and thetechnology we have today.

Old houses Village MuseumBucharest,Romania

SPIRU HARET UNIVERSITY „SMART CITIES” CONFERENCE

5th editionEnergy‐Efficient: Learning from the Past


Modern insulation materials, air‐conditioners or just reinforced glass forwindows were unknown in the past,therefore households had to build theirown dwellings with natural localmaterials.

This aspect is central to our approach, asit tries to articulate the past experienceand innovative “green” technology.

Although there are a lot of new devicesthat help us reduce the energyconsumption in a house, we should takeadvantage of “old‐fashioned” methodsand techniques of our predecessors.

TrulliAlberobello, Apullia, Italy


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Different examples of vernaculararchitecture in Italy and Romania havebeen identified to serve as a base forfuture energy‐efficient home design.

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1.Village of Marginea__(Suceava County)

2.Dammuso of Pantelleria Island__(Sicily)3.The Cuiles__(Sardinia)4.The Walser House__(Piedmont)

5.Trulli of Alberobello__(Apullia)6.Sassi of Matera__(Basilicata)

Italy

Romania



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1.Village in Marginea.Suceava CountyIn Marginea, a village in Bukovina, theorientation of the dwelling and theprotection against the prevailing windswas very important: the main facade withthe entrance faced southwards, avoidingthe north‐east winds, particularly strongduring the winter.

The peasant house comprised anentrance hall, a representative room onthe eastern façade, a family room on thewestern façade and a storage room tothe north, in the back of the house. Thehouse relation to the street was lessimportant and we may find differentRomanian houses that turn their back onthe street if the latter faces thegeographical north.

The main facade with the entrance(Author personal photo_Andra Jacob Larionescu)

Also, the northern slope of the roof goesdown unto the ground (or near theground), the north facade having nowindows. The house had also a porch onone or three facades to protect themagainst the rain.



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Another feature of the peasant house inthe village of Marginea was the selectiveheating of the rooms, depending on theseasons, due to the scarcity of financialresources. Thus, the house had one ortwo rooms without a source of heat(stove), these rooms were either notused or used during the summer.

Sometimes, a single stove was used toheat two rooms: "The heat of the fire onwhich food is cooked [on a metal plate inthe kitchen] passes into the next roomwhere a blind stove is located, crosses itand comes out in the kitchen, then gointo the attic” (Stahl, 1978: 117).

The northern slope of the roof goes down unto the groundMultifunctional room: kitchen with stove

(Author personal photo_Andra Jacob Larionescu)



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This “debrouillard” way of life is alsoevident in the household layout: theyused two kitchens, a winter kitchen,inside the main house (functioning bothas sleeping and eating area) and asummer kitchen situated in theoutbuildings. In the winter kitchen, thelarge stove with its iron hob was usedonly during the winter, while during thesummer the food was cooked andprepared in a separate summer kitchen,on a gas cooker, or even in the yard, on asmall tin hob.

The wooden facades were plastered withnatural materials, a mixture of clay andstraw. This layer was applied on a latticesupport, and then coated with lime.

Exits on the southern slope of the roof.(Author personal photo_Andra Jacob Larionescu)

In some cases, the peasants chose toreuse the well preserved logs of oldhouses or even purchase an entire housethat was dismantled and then assembledon its new site. In still other situations,old brick, wood or iron was reused tobuild walls, roof structures, doors or evenentire houses (weekend houses).Nowadays some migrants reuse (orrestore) the furniture items or appliancesthat Italians no longer need.



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2.Dammuso of Pantelleria. Sicily Created in the 10th century A.D. anddeveloped up until the 17th century.

There were two different constructionmethods, one using the local volcanicstone, while the other building acharacteristic vaulted roof. In this way avery solid living space is built, making itdurable, fire resistant and well adapted tothe island's climate. The particular shapeof the curved roofs has been conceivedabove all for the drainage and collectionof rain water. The water is stored into thecisterns situated in close proximity to the“Dammuso”. The thick walls of thesehouses isolate them, keeping the roomscool in the summer and warm in thewinter.



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3.The Cuiles. SardiniaThe Cuiles are wood and stone structureswith about 4 m in height. They were builtwith cone‐shaped juniper trunks, a localresistant wood that ensures nopermeability within the structure,supported by a circular calcareous‐stonewall.

A “hat”, called “su cugumale”, is placedon the top of the hut in order to protectthe indoor space from rain and snow.Within there was just enough space tohost the shelter and the fire, which worksin order to heat both the interiorenvironment and keep hot the dairycheese. Branches of Frasche Trees wereused as covering for the small shelterkeeping the warmth inside.



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4.Walser House. PiedmontLate 16th to mid 19th centuries.

Their main characteristics are: a wooden wall bearing system with

a regular grid in plan and in section; dry‐stone walls for the ground floor

that support the upper floors; a wooden pitched roof.

The main façade faced south in order toobtain the maximum solar radiation andthese houses were all clustered to betteruse the terrain.These constructions usually present asquare plan on three storeys, the groundfloor housing the stable and a commonroom.



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The bedrooms were on the first floor, sothat the below warmth could heat them;while the top floor was used to store thebeech leaves.

The stone walls are thick (around 60centimetres) in order to keep the heatinside the house and to support theupper wooden structure. The soapstoneoven, on the ground floor, heated theinterior space where humans and animalslived together (separated by a lowpartition wall). There wasn't any chimneyto expel the smoke. The smoke wasremoved through natural ventilationusing the windows and the main door,which was divided in two parts.

The highest part was open to remove thefumes from the room, while the lowestone was closed in order to keep thehouse warm.The external wooden walls and beechtrunks were joined by dried moss thatworked as a thermic insulation.



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5.Trulli of Alberobello. ApulliaThe Trulli are cone‐roofed houses ofAlberobello, one of the 53 UNESCO WorldHeritage Sites in Italy.

This type of shelter has a circular,limestone masonry base, grafted onto theunderlying natural rock, made of thesame substance. The roof is composed ofa pseudo‐dome made of horizontallimestone slabs, positioned in series ofdiminishing, concentric circles.

The keystone is an important structuralelement that supports a large protrudingframe which transfers rainwater from theroof into the cisterns situated in thebasement. This cistern also collaboratesin the refrigeration of the house.



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The interior space is organised around acentral room showing the modularity ofTrulli. Speaking in terms ofsustainability there are three basicpoint:

Low energy cost, both in its"production" and in transportation.

Durability, the natural stone is "theeternal material", with a very lowdegradation of its capacity whenexposed to the elements.

Residues, the destruction of a Trullomeans a simple stone mound. In fact,its construction is so quick and cheap,that an old Trullo is often destroyed toraise the new one.

The wall stonework allows a greatthermal inertia and a good stabilization ofthe internal temperature. As for theaction of the wind, thanks to that circularshape it also facilitates the nocturnal re‐cooling by finding fewer obstacles. Thisalmost circular cone‐shaped plant allowsto transfer the accumulated heat in theupper part to the lower environments inthe winter, and vice versa.



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6.Sassi of Matera. BasilicataThis type of dwelling is perhaps the oldesttype of vernacular architecture in Italyand a good example of environmentalbuilding. Sassi of Matera dwellings wereobjects to a continuous shift for over ninemillennia to meet the changing humanneeds and living practices of the time.They passed from simple natural caves toreal dwellings.

These mutations express a typical humanadaptation to the natural environment.Indeed, on one hand the inhabitantsskilfully exploited the local climate andland's temperature in order to keep thefresh air inside the shelters, and on theother hand they built new structuresusing the same stone, pulled out of therocky ground.These small and narrow shelters ofmaximum 30 square meters housed largehouseholds. The light came from up, likein the north African shelters, and theinterior temperature is constant (around15° C) due to the thermic mass of the tuffrock.

Matera will become European Capital ofCulture in 2019.


ModernSeaweedHouseson LæsøVandkunstenArchitects


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Læsø is a small island in Denmark witharound two billion residents.

Here we find a small summer house thatinterprets the old traditional seaweedhouse. This modern house is covered with“eelgrass” that works like thermalinsulation for the roof and facade. Thehouse is a combination between GreenArchitecture and environmental building.

In fact during the Middle Ages there wasa complete lack of wood due to the hugeamount of furnaces built for the saltproduction. Therefore the inhabitantslearnt to use available, local materials,such as seaweed and driftwood.

Insulation like mineral woolModern Seaweed Houses on Læsø

Vandkunsten Architects



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This modern, Danish Architect's projectcombine the past experience with themodern techniques of GreenArchitecture. Eelgrass is fireproof, nontoxic and having a lifetime of over 150years. Moreover, the modest size of theproject reduced the cost of constructionmaterials.

“Life cycle analysis shows that the ModernSeaweed House bind CO2 in the ordercorresponding to CO2 emissions by tenyears of use. This is a noticeable reductionin the collected energy use compared tomost traditional buildings. The question is,what happens if the building is torn downand the materials incinerated – will thenthe entire CO2 deposit be exposed out intothe atmosphere? Yes, but in that case theCO2 binding materials will replace otherkinds of fuel and maintain a positive effecton the climate.”

Traditional Seaweed HouseLæsø, Denmark

Vandkunsten Architects


EarthshipMike Reynolds


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Earth‐ship is a type of passive solar housebuilt with recycled materials and earth.This ultra‐sustainable home wasdeveloped for the first time in NewMexico by Mike Reynolds Architect. Aftergraduating in 1969, he began working onthis project in order to achieve anextremely energy efficient house. Thestructure is composed of recycled tires,aluminium cans and bottles packed withdirt, then plastered over with mud. Earth‐ship house faces the South in order toadsorb the maximum sunlight.

The house is partially buried into theground to keep it cool in summer and thewarm in winter.



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The curved tin roof allows the rainwaterto drain and the snow to melt and then tocollect the water inside the house. Thewater comes filtered and is used inbathroom, then recycled to water thegarden. Earth‐ships structures have anatural ventilation system based onconvection. Photovoltaic panels andwind‐turbines generate DC electricity thatis stored in deep‐cycle batteries.

“Inspiration, imagination and intuition aresquashed in our world... We have thepotential to enhance the planet. Treesenhance the planet. People could gofurther. We could make the Earth sing.”

Mike ReynoldsGreen Building Africa

SPIRU HARET UNIVERSITY

GREEN ARCHITECTUREEnergy-Efficient: Learning from the Past

„SMART CITIES”CONFERENCE

5th edition


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energy-efficient home design learning from the past.ppt... · “energy‐efficient house...

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