Jón Kristinsson is both architect and inventor. He has international patents for new building materials and alternative energy concepts in his name. Several of these inventions date from the 1960's such as ingenious solar collectors and solar cavity homes. Other inventions such as seasonally bound heat storage in the ground and cooling by using the relatively cold underground have been applied in some recently completed projects (fire station in Soest).
In
Jón Kristinsson's vision architects should not limit themselves
to designing buildings. The final goal is achieving an ecological balance
between our constructed environment. This can only be achieved by using
the (building) physics as a starting point in the designing process. In
his designing method -Integral designing - the environment is divided
into four components:
- The physical component (light, air, heat, moisture, sound, radiation,
etc.)
- The technical component (everything man-made)
- The biotic component (everything living)
- The a-biotic component ('the bald landscape', raw materials,
fossil fuels, water).
The analysis of these four components forms the start for each design.
Jón Kristinsson is his own advisor. "The 'fees' for
electro-technical mechanical engineering advisors is determined by the
size of the installation. Actually they should be paid for the amount
of installation that they can calculate away. New concepts can only be
completed this way. Not only at the building level, but also at the town-planning
level such as, for example, the use of the remaining heat from power plants
to heat the homes."
Jón Kristinsson observes that the newest building regulations make
it almost impossible to use natural ventilation. Plus a life span of 30
years is assumed. If we really want sustainable construction then we should
make homes 15% larger than the generally accepted norms and with natural
ventilation because that makes them last longer. He refers to the houses
from the 1930's that seem to be extremely popular at this time. These
are naturally ventilated and are very spacious so they can be flexibly
arranged.
Jón Kristinsson's dream is realising a design that he made during
his study (1961). A home for himself and his family in his native country
Iceland (Reykjavik, 1936). The design consists of shelled roofs from enforced
concrete inspired by old sod huts. The sculpture-like home conforms to
the landscape. This is typical for Kristinsson who tries to improve traditional
architecture with the newest techniques and inventions.
mvd/jv