Research Project: Sustainable Design
Principal Researcher: Eva Scheffler Architekt AKH / ARB AA Dipl RIBA II
Research Period: 2005 -
Research Status: ongoing
Result: Various aspects of this research have been implemented in practice

Expert Advisors and Collaborators:
Environment Prof. Hausladen, IB Hausladen / Technical University Munich
Passivhaus Institute Darmstadt

Buildings are amongst the greatest consumers of energy. With dramatic changes to the world’s climate, global warming and an increasingly problematic political battle over energy resources one of the great challenges for architects is the design of a sustainable build environment.

The aim of this research is to investigate strategies and tactics for sustainable design in architectural practice. Due to a growing importance of sustainable approaches in architectural design which results from both the increasing environmental pressure and rising demands for low energy projects the search for alternative strategies seems to be highly relevant. The construction of low energy or self sustainable buildings has been possible for a long time and the related expertise and knowledge has been established for quite a while. However within current building codes achieving a sustainable design and meeting the multifaceted, and quite often outdated, building regulations are two different matters. Thus this research, which draws from daily experience in the construction of low energy buildings, investigates alternative energy cycles, the use of waste energy, low conductivity material arrangements and building skins. Criteria for sustainability are considered in a coherent built up and strategy from the first design phases including orientation and volume to the final planning stages including PHPP calculations and on site tightness pressure testing.