Scarcity creates creativity

Building is one of the most environmentally unfriendly human activities. Buildings require large amounts of materials and moreover they use scarce space. And still not widely known -also amongst architects- is that buildings are responsible for around fifty percent of the total energy consumption. Measures are being taken to limit the environmental load of buildings.
The Netherlands is leading together with other Western countries. She has her measures captured under the denominator 'Durable Building'. An unfortunate name, certainly for the very pragmatic package of measures. The core of the measures is formed by the Energie Prestatie Coëfficiënt (EPC) (Energy Performance Coefficient (EPC). The outcome of the calculation, in which, among others, the degree of insulation, the orientation, the typology and the efficiency of the installations are introduced, gives an indication about the future use of energy of a building. Slowly but surely the government is lowering the norm. Was an EPC of 1.4 still sufficient at the introduction for homes, next year it will drop top 1.0 and there are already people in favour of quickly introducing an EPC of 0.8. Another important foundation of the policy is to reduce the usage of 'unwanted' materials. For this purpose many Dutch municipalities keep long lists with materials that can, preferably not, or can not be used at all.

Scarcity creates...

However a city can not just be implemented in such a light way. The buildings that are meant to be permanent should be built in such a way that they are more or less permanent. The sustainable measures of the government aren't really aiming at the prolonging of the functional life span of buildings. Consequently no points of contacts can be found there for a longer life expectancy. In his book 'Duurzaamheid loont' (Sustainability pays) P. Bijdendijk primarily advocates oversized homes. Together with enough constructive strength and a fascinating expression of the building larger and higher rooms make it possible to transform homes, as soon as they are superfluous, to for example offices. It is hard to determine what an interesting expression is, but the other demands seem easy to implement.

Contrary to his valid analysis and the fact that the average Dutchman keeps getting taller, most of the homes receive minimal measurements. Besides that, particularly in the Vinex-estates, homes are built according to a cliché view of the Dutch family: father, mother, two children and a dog. This standard family however is becoming more and more uncommon. That is why these single-family homes won't provide in a need within several decades, no matter how durable the homes are, according to the regulations.

To make offices literally more durable flexibility (easily to be adapted to new needs) seems to be a requirement. At least as important is however that the offices are experienced as pleasant. The inner climate plays an important role here. The office inhabitant must have contact with outside and must above anything be able to influence the inner climate. He must be able to open the window himself, lower the sunshade or turn on the heating. Too intelligent buildings, where computer controlled installations determine the temperature within one-tenth of a degree accuracy, are on the other hand experienced as very unpleasant.

The building itself is increasingly used to (partially) manage the climate. By using the mass of the building and by applying buffers (such as double skin façades, atria and conservatories) installations become superfluous in at least an important part of the year. This doesn't only limit the use of energy, it also gives buildings a contrast rich inner climate. This is in my opinion an important criterion for Sustainability. Every day and even every hour there is a slightly different inner climate. This will keep people sharp. Because of this continuous change the working environment will not bore quickly; the zapping is slowed down.

...creativity

The example of a contrast rich building in the Netherlands that is carried out the furthest -event though not an office- is the Minnaert building by Neutelings Riedijk architects in Utrecht. Basically the computers, the students and the lighting heat this building for the Utrecht's University. The legally required heating is only turned on after the winter vacations to quickly heat the building. For the cooling -a much larger problem in modern buildings- the rainwater that is gathered in the pond in the central hall is used. During the day this water is pumped to the cooling ceilings and at night to the cooling tower to release the absorbed heat back to the atmosphere. Not only the temperature, but also acoustics and even smells are used in the building to create different atmospheres. Besides, Neutelings and Riedijk didn't make the building without installations just for ecological reasons. An important part of the budget for the building is used for the installations. More space was created for their architecture by designing a major part of the installations out of the building. This way they could implement a central hall that wasn't requested but in their view was an essential requirement for the functioning of such a building. This enriches the architecture.

There is an increasing group of Dutch architects that deal in a similar, creative way with the current scarcity. Not only scarcity in the meaning of energy and materials, but as Neutelings and Riedijk show also financial scarcity. Sustainable Building made building more expensive by demanding better materials and more efficient installations. That is why Rudy Uytenhaak uses plastically shaped concrete elements as modern brise soleils in the office building of VROM in Haarlem. With these elements he gives the façades a third dimension, and at the same time they absorb an important part of the solar heat. And finally they are designed in such a way that direct entrance of sunlight is prevented in the summer, yet daylight can enter. In the autumn the brise soleils allow the solar heat to enter to contribute to the heating of the building.

Contrary to Neutelings Riedijk and Uytenhaak, that use the mass of the building to absorb the heat, the Delft bureau CEPEZED is creating extremely light steel/glass buildings. Because of their lack of mass they react instantaneously to the outer climate. The bureau places perforated steel sheets in front of their buildings, which creates a microclimate. This converts the wind in very small turbulences right behind the perforations, which creates a zone with less wind around the building, so windows can be opened throughout a large part of the year. An uncontrolled heating of the building is prevented this way.
Dealing creatively with the current environmental problems this way is not stimulated enough by the Dutch regulations. Politics are too focused on continually making the rules stricter. Moreover this makes building much more expensive because increasingly smart and thus increasingly more expensive materials are demanded. This limits the freedom of architects. They are given too little chances to solve the questions, raised by the environmental problems, by using architectonic and city-planning means instead of just with structural improvements. The designs of Post, MVDRV, Neutelings Riedijk, Uytenhaak, CEPEZED and many other Dutch and foreign agencies teach how fascinating and with that really sustainable these pure architectonic solutions can be.

Ed Melet