The Return of Spatial Dimension into Architecture

Abstract:

The aim of the paper is to explore and establish a base for a possible development of a more holistic and spatially-inclusive method for evaluating energy performance of buildings. This is to be achieved by envisioning building envelopes as arrangements of spatial zones, which could improve the overall energy balance of buildings but at the same time reduce the usage of construction materials and thus consumption of production energy and built-up space. The wall deconstructed in spatial zones, as shown e.g. in Antivilla by Brandlhuber-+, opens a series of questions about the future of existing building codes and certification tools. The potentials are discussed based on the aspects of flexibility, responsiveness, adaptability, replaceability and affordability. The analysis outlines the benefits of the inclusion of those paradigms in the definition of sustainable architecture, and at the same time exposes the lack of possibility to reflect their potential by the established certification criteria. The paper aims at opening the discussion about the limits and traps of quantifying architecture and calls for rethinking of established schemes of sustainability in building sector.

• Periodical: Applied Mechanics and Materials (Volume 887)
• Pages: 237-244
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.887.237
• Online since: January 2019
• Authors: Ziga Kresevic, Claudia Volberg
• Keywords: Adaptability, Affordability, Architecture Quality, Energy, Envelope, Flexibility, Inhabited Wall, Quantification, Replaceability, Responsiveness, Space, Sustainability Certification Tools

References

[1] Compare: D. Barber, The Thermoheliodon. Climatic architecture at the end of calculation, A+R+P+A Journal. (0) (2014). Information on http://www.arpajournal.net/thermoheliodon.

[2] See also: https://www.oib.or.at/de/kennzeichnung-und-zulassung-von-bauprodukten/ce-kennzeichnung/bauproduktenverordnung.

[3] https://www.detail.de/artikel/haus-ohne-heizung-buerogebaeude-von-baumschlager-eberle-in-lustenau-11703.

[4] Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, was the title of German contribution at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale under supervision of Muck Petzet.

[5] When designing new and especially when refurbishing existing buildings, the ration between embodied energy (energy used during production, transport, recycling and disposing of construction materials) and operational energy (the expected use of energy used during the in service, period of the a building) need to be monitored precisely. It is of very little use if one succeeds in minimizing operational energy, but causes unrecyclable waste sometime in the future, that required a lot of energy to produce in the first place.

DOI: 10.1201/b19894-20

[6] R. Banham, The Architecture of Well-tempered Environment, second ed., The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, (1984).

[7] Comapere: R. Banham, The new Brutalism, Architectural Design, January (1955).

[8] G. P. Hammond, C. I. Jones, Embodied energy and carbon in construction materials, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Energy 161 (2008), pp.87-98. Information on.

DOI: 10.1680/ener.2008.161.2.87

[9] See: http://www.delo.si/ozadja/arhitekti-anja-planiscek-jurij-sadar-ales-vodopivec-mladi-so-ocitno-pripravljeni-precej-stvari-deliti.html.

[10] The idea of increasing or reducing the size of a space was a part of Kiyunory Kikutake's schemes for the Tower Shaped Community. The proposed housing units were designed to allow for telescopic movement and could shrink at night or extend during the day to accommodate the extended need of a non-sleeping inhabitant. Similarly, a space could shrink also during the day, when the user is spending more than 50% of the day at a place of work. See: P. Senk, Kapsula: Tipologija Druge Arhitekture, Zalozba ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana, 2015, p.129.

[11] As masterfully shown by Frank Lloyd Wright in the Robbie House. See chapter 6 in: R. Banham, The Architecture of Well-tempered Environment, second ed., The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, (1984).

[12] W. D. Kalusche, Technische Lebensdauer von Bauteilen und wirtschaftliche Nutzungsdauer eines Gebäudes, in: Festschrift zum 60. Geburtstag von Prof. Dr. Hans-Ruedi Schalcher, ETH Zürich, Cottbus, 2004, pp.3-9.

[13] E. Wutscher, Demontage und Recycling im Gebäudesektor – Eine Bewertung am Beispiel des Brettsperrholz-Bausystem, PHD Thesis: tutored by Prof. Roger Riewe, TU Graz (2017).

[14] Ibid. pp.76-82.

[15] N. Kuhnert, A. L. Ngo, Die Architektur der Differenziert-Temperierten Umwelt, Arch Plus. 208 (2012). Translation by the authors, Original text: Die Umwelt wieder ernst zu nehmen und miteinkalkulieren, sich selbst als Teil der Umwelt zu verstehen, dies sind die Ansätze eines Neuen Primitivismus, der ein erneuertes Verhältnis zur (urbanen) Umwelt einfordert.

DOI: 10.1515/9783110830965.11

[16] C. Smith, Chasing the Grail: Reconciling Priorities to improve New Housing, submitted to the online publication of AMPS (2015). Information on: http://architecturemps.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Charlie-Smith_A-critique-of-housing-provision-in-cities-and-qualities-that-make-urban-houses-desirable.pdf.

DOI: 10.18411/d-2016-154

[17] Ibid. Figure 1.

[18] Information on http://www.delo.si/ozadja/arhitekti-anja-planiscek-jurij-sadar-ales-vodopivec-mladi-so-ocitno-pripravljeni-precej-stvari-deliti.html.

[19] A. Lacaton, Re Invent Inhabiting, lecture at the Faculty of Architecture, University in Ljubljana, 2016. Transcription by the authors based on the online source. Information on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhFYMsvDby8.

[20] Compare recycling of construction material and management in Austria: ÖNORM 1801 or B 3151; BGBI.II Nr. 181/2015; for criteria certification for example: DGNB. Information on http://www.dgnb-system.de/de/system/kriterien/ or the criteria of LEED© Information on http://www.usgbc.org/articles/good-know-minimum-program-requirements-leed or certification for Switzerland MinErgie © Information on https://www.minergie.ch.

[21] A. Isopp, Gespräch Zahlen dürfen das Denken nicht überflüssig machen, with Hermann Kaufmann und Arno Ritter, Zuschnitt. 65, proHolz Austria (2017) 12 -15.