In 'The technology of Ecological Building' en 'Low-tech Light-tech High-tech'
Klaus Daniels (chairman of HL-Technik AG and professor in Building Technology
at ETH Zürich) gives his vision on the changes that our buildings
and cities will undergo. He does not sketch future developments with colourful
pictures, but for a change they are drawn out with the precision of a
6H pencil. Then again Daniels isn't an architect but an engineer. As founder
of HL-Technik AG, he worked as advisor together with Norman Foster, Richard
Rogers, Thomas Herzong and many more.
In his publications he goes into the question how the good intentions
of environmentally friendly construction can be translated in ecological
starting points, how to convert these starting points into technical requirements,
and finally how to translate these requirements into architecture. He
therefor analyses current trends, future scenario's, durable energy sources
and solutions from the past. With the concept Eco-tech he summarises what
the building technique of the future will look like.
Eco-tech has three components: Low-Tech, Light-Tech and High Tech.
-Low-Tech, by precise technical analyses we can make buildings
with much less technique. Climate installations can be saved this way.
-Light-Tech, with the newest building techniques we can build much
lighter and more flexible. Building materials and the transporting of
them can be saved this way.
-High-Tech, if we are going to use technique, we should use the
newest 'high-tech' because it is much more efficient and interactive than
the existing techniques.
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An important characteristic of Eco-tech is that heating, cooling, energy- and water provision, natural ventilation and lighting must be integrated in one system. From his years long experience he provides insight in the complex teamwork which is needed to come to such a level of integration. From the sketch there is a close involvement of fitter, constructor, architect and certainly not least, by the customer. In short Eco-tech calls for a holistic approach.
Lets take the example of the towers of Heyderabad
As the towers of Heyderabad demonstrate, wind around the building can be easily used to ventilate the building. In the hot steppe-climate of Heyderabad, Pakistan, the cool afternoon wind always comes from the same direction. That's why the buildings are fitted wind catchers placed perpendicular to the wind (malqaf). These malqafs lead the airflows deep into the interior of the homes. This system is an example of the most energy-efficient method of ventilating but only works with big differences in temperature.
A good example of the use of wind as an energy source for buildings in the modern city is proposed by Rogers in Tomigaya, Japan.
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