Contemporary Design in Detail: Sustainable Environments

100 Sustainable Environments

Conservation of Resources

“Conservation of Resources” examines dwellings whose architecture signifi cantly

reduces both the consumption of natural resources and the production of waste or

pollutants. Two targets of conservation—energy and water—form logical divisions for

this section. Energy use faces the dual threat that the planet will run out of fossil fuels

before renewable sources completely replace them and that the greenhouse gases pro-

duced from their consumption will cause irreparable damage. An additional consider-

ation is the destructive process of extracting fossil fuels. A similar problem confronts

water usage: there is a need both to conserve this natural and cyclical resource and to

prevent its contamination.

Nearly all the projects in “Alternative Energy Sources” rely on solar technologies

to generate electricity and heat for hot water. For the high-density housing communi-

ties of BedZED and the Solarsiedlung, centralized plants devoted to energy and water

storage or sewage treatment can sustain the entire development of housing, offi ces,

and services. Housing at BedZED consists of zero-energy buildings, a term that refers

to the zero net energy consumption in a single year. Energy produced onsite through

BedZED’s photovoltaic system and from tree-waste fuel yields a balanced equation

with energy consumed. Housing at the Solarsiedlung consists of plus-energy buildings.

 at is, the system produces more energy than the complex can use and so is fed back

to the local utility grid—exceeding the minimal impact of most sustainable homes.  e

overall consideration of this section is not active technologies themselves, but the ideal

of a self-sustaining home.  us, the Port Perry House appears here, even though it

does not generate renewable energy. Unlike houses such as the Eastern Sierra Resi-

dence, which achieves self-suffi ciency through a combination of active and passive

methods, Port Perry is remarkable because its integration of multiple passive strategies

results in near independence in a cold climate without recourse to fossil fuels.

In incorporating renewable energy into a home, designers face a challenge in the

amount of equipment that they must add to the structure.  e engineering technolo-

gies of most renewable systems tend to determine the architectural appearance, con-

struction, and detailing of the building envelope. At the Solar Umbrella Residence, the

photovoltaic panels are indeed an additional layer to the building envelope; however,

the architects seamlessly worked the panels into the design as a roof canopy. Adhered

to the standing seam metal roof of the Eastern Sierra Residence, photovoltaic lami-

nates—strips of polymer containing thin-fi lm amorphous silicon solar cells—eliminate

brackets and panels and require simpler electrical connections.  e solar cells lami-

nated between glazing panels at BedZED are especially building-integrated: the solar

panels form part of the wall and roof fenestration and appear from the interior as a

light-fi ltering screen. To counter the perception of sustainable systems as an optional

and costly add-on, designers are focusing on ways to integrate technologies into the

building material. Some products, like solar shingles, are currently available and some,

like solar cell sprays or infrared-sensitive fi lms, are in development.  e idea is that,