Green Architecture

Kenjay Reyes / BS Arch 3-2 / Design 6 Report

INTRODUCTION

Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) expands

and complements the building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, and
comfort. A Green Building is one which uses less water, optimizes energy efficiency,
conserves natural resources, generates less waste and provides healthier space for
occupants as compared to conventional buildings.

OBJECTIVES OF GREEN BUILDING

• Green Buildings are designed to reduce the overall impact on human health and
the natural environment by the following ways:

• Using energy, water and other resources efficiently.

• By reducing waste, pollution, and environmental degradation.

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES

• Structure design efficiency

• Energy Efficiency
• Water efficiency
• Materials efficiency
 • Waste and toxic reduction

STRUCTURE EFFICIENCY:
It is the concept of sustainable building and has largest impact on cost and
performance. It aims to minimize the environment impact associated with all life-
cycles.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY:
The layout of the construction can be strategized so that natural light pours for
additional warmth. Shading the roof with trees offers an eco-friendly alternative to air
conditioning.

WATER EFFICIENCY
To minimize water consumption, one should aim to use the water which has been
collected, used, purified and reused.

MATERIAL EFFICIENCY
Materials should be use that can be recycled and can generate surplus amount of
energy. An example of this are solar power panels, not only they provide lightening
but they are also a useful energy source.

WASTE AND REDUCTION

It is probable to reuse resources. What may be waste to us may have another benefit
to something else.

Sustainable Materials

1. Straw Bales

Rather than relying on new research and technology, straw bale building hearkens
back to the days when homes were built from natural, locally-occurring materials.
Straw bales are used to create a home’s walls inside of a frame, replacing other
building materials such as concrete, wood, gypsum, plaster, fiberglass, or stone. When
properly sealed, straw bales naturally provide very high levels of insulation for a hot or
cold climate, and are not only affordable but sustainable as straw is a rapidly
renewable resource.

2. Grasscrete

As its name might indicate, grasscrete is a method of laying concrete flooring,

walkways, sidewalks, and driveways in such a manner that there are open patterns
allowing grass or other flora to grow. While this provides the benefit of reducing
concrete usage overall, there’s also another important perk — improved stormwater
absorption and drainage.
3. Rammed Earth

What’s more natural than the dirt under your feet? In fact, walls that have a similar
feel to concrete can actually be created with nothing more than dirt tamped down
very tightly in wooden forms. Rammed earth is a technology that has been used by
human civilization for thousands of years, and can last a very long time. Modern
rammed earth buildings can be made safer by use of rebar or bamboo, and
mechanical tampers reduce the amount of labor required to create sturdy walls.

4. HempCrete

HempCrete is just what it sounds like – a concrete like material created from the
woody inner fibers of the hemp plant. The hemp fibers are bound with lime to create
concrete-like shapes that are strong and light. HempCreteblocks are super-
lightweight, which can also dramatically reduce the energy used to transport the
blocks, and hemp itself is a fast-growing, renewable resource.

5. Bamboo

Bamboo might seem trendy, but it has actually been a locally-sourced building
material in some regions of the world for millennia. What makes bamboo such a
promising building material for modern buildings is its combination of tensile strength,
light weight, and fast-growing renewable nature. Used for framing buildings and
shelters, bamboo can replace expensive and heavy imported materials and provide
an alternative to concrete and rebar construction, especially in difficult-to reach
areas, post-disaster rebuilding, and low-income areas with access to natural locally-
sourced bamboo.

6. Recycled Plastic

Instead of mining, extracting, and milling new components, researchers are creating
concrete that includes ground up recycled plastics and trash, which not only reduces
greenhouse gas emissions, but reduces weight and provides a new use for landfill-
clogging plastic waste.

7. Wood

Plain old wood still retains many advantages over more industrial building
materials like concrete or steel. Not only do trees absorb CO2 as they grow, they
require much less energy-intensive methods to process into construction products.
Properly managed forests are also renewable and can ensure a biodiverse habitat.

8. Mycelium

Mycelium is a crazy futuristic building material that’s actually totally natural – it

comprises the root structure of fungi and mushrooms. Mycelium can be encouraged
to grow around a composite of other natural materials, like ground up straw, in molds
or forms, then air-dried to create lightweight and strong bricks or other shapes.

9. Ferrock

Ferrock is a new material being researched that uses recycled materials including
steel dust from the steel industry to create a concrete-like building material that is
even stronger than concrete. What’s more, this unique material actually absorbs and
traps carbon dioxide as part of its drying and hardening process – making it not only
less CO2 intensive than traditional concrete, but actually carbon neutral.

10. AshCrete

AshCrete is a concrete alternative that uses fly ash instead of traditional cement. By
using fly ash, a by-product of burning coal, 97 percent of traditional components in
concrete can be replaced with recycled material.

What does “green” really mean?

“Going Green” seems to be the new and popular thing to do. It is an easy statement
to make, but gives very little detail of how one will address such a global issue.

There are currently over fifty regional and national green labelling programs
throughout the United States. Each of these have similar yet quite different versions of
rating systems and qualifying characteristics that they look for in a green building.
Some focus on only the end results and completely overlook what happens during
the gathering and manufacturing of materials. Others look more heavily at issues of
economics and energy savings while deeming other issues like the distance a material
travels or the toxins it could emit into the air as much less important.

As long as a material has at least one positive impact on the environment, it could be
defined as green. However, when analysed more carefully, this same material could
actually be harming the environment more than it is helping. Therefore, it is extremely
important to know who is labelling a material as green. Many labelling organizations
are sponsored by material industries and will consequently be lenient in granting those
materials green status. This complicates the process of determining exactly how green
specific materials are.

Renewable Energy Generation

Solar panels
Active solar devices such as photovoltaic solar panels help to provide sustainable
electricity for any use. Electrical output of a solar panel is dependent on orientation,
efficiency, latitude, and climate—solar gain varies even at the same latitude.
Wind turbines
The use of undersized wind turbines in energy production in sustainable structures
requires the consideration of many factors. In considering costs, small wind systems
are generally more expensive than larger wind turbines relative to the amount of
energy they produce. For small wind turbines, maintenance costs can be a deciding
factor at sites with marginal wind-harnessing capabilities. At low-wind sites,
maintenance can consume much of a small wind turbine's revenue.
Rainwater harvesting

It is the accumulation and storage of rainwater for reuse on-site, rather than allowing
it to run-off. Rainwater can be collected from rivers or roofs, and in many places, the
water collected is redirected to a deep pit (well, shaft, or borehole), a reservoir with
percolation, or collected from dew or fog with nets or other tools. Its uses include
water for gardens, livestock, irrigation, domestic use with proper treatment, indoor
heating for houses, etc. The harvested water can also be used as drinking water,
longer-term storage, and for other purposes such as groundwater recharge.

LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design)

LEED Definition

• an internationally recognized green building certification system

• provides third-party verification that a community or building was designed and built
using strategies aimed at improving performances in energy savings, water efficiency,
CO2 emissions/ reductions, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship
of resources and sensitivity to their impact Developed by the U.S. Green Building
Council, LEED provides a framework for implementing measurable green building
design, construction, operations, and maintenance solutions. It works throughout the
building lifecycle. Certification is achieved through the third-party independent
Green Building Certification Institute.

Rating System and Criteria Sustainable Sites

• discourages development on previously undeveloped land

• minimizes a building’s impact on ecosystems and waterways

• encourages regionally appropriate landscaping

• controls storm water runoff

• rewards smart transportation choices

• reduces erosion, light pollution, heat island effect and construction-related pollution

Water Efficiency

• goal is to encourage smarter use of water inside and out

• water reduction, which is typically achieved through more efficient appliances,

fixtures and fittings inside and water-wise landscaping outside

Energy and Atmosphere

• commissioning
• energy use monitoring

• efficient design and construction

• efficient appliances, systems, and lighting

• use of renewable and clean sources of energy, generated onsite or off-site

Materials and Resources

• encourages the selection of sustainably grown, harvested, produced, and

transported products and materials

• promotes reduction of waste as well as reuse and recycling

• takes into account reduction of waste at a product’s source

Indoor Environment Quality

• promotes strategies that can improve indoor air as well as providing access to
daylight and views and improving acoustics

Locations and Linkages

• encourages homes being built away from environmentally sensitive areas

• instead, being built in infill, previously developed, and other sites

• rewards homes built near already-existing infrastructure, community resources and

transit

• encourages access to open space for walking and physical activity and time spent
outdoors

Awareness and Education

• encourages homeowners and real estate professionals to provide homeowners,

tenants, and building managers with

• education tools they need to understand what makes their home green

Innovation in Design

• provides bonus points for projects that use new and innovative technologies and
strategies to improve a building’s performance beyond what is required by LEED
credits or green building considerations that are not specifically elsewhere in LEED

• rewards projects using a LEED Accredited Professional to ensure a holistic, integrated

approach to the design and construction phase

Regional Priority

• USGBC’s regional councils, chapters and affiliates have identified the environmental
concerns that are locally most important for every region of the country, and six LEED
credits that address those local priorities were selected for each region
 • a project that earns a regional priority credit will earn one bonus point in addition to
any points awarded for that credit LEED Rating Systems

2009 Minimum Program Requirements

1. Must comply with environmental laws

2. Must be a complete, permanent building or space

3. Must use a reasonable site boundary

4. Must comply with minimum floor area requirements

5. Must comply with minimum occupancy rates

6. Must commit to sharing whole-building energy and water usage data

7. Must comply with a minimum building area to site area ratio

GREEN BUILDING EXAMPLES

Zuellig Building (local)

The most striking feature of the 33-story Zuellig Building is its all-glass facade, though its
purpose exceeds mere aesthetics. The glass panels have low-emissivity (low-E)
coating that minimizes solar heat and energy loss while maximizing natural light. This
along with a perfect Water Efficiency grade and near perfect marks for Sustainable
Sites and Indoor Environmental Quality are what led to the building’s grade of 45 out
of 62.

Makati Avenue corner Paseo de Roxas, Makati

This was one of the first buildings in the Philippines to obtain a LEED certification – first
at Gold level in 2009, then at Platinum level in 2013. Some of the building’s green
features are:

• Pedestrian-friendly location and amenities

• Innovative all-glass façade using low emissivity coating, which minimizes heat while
maximizing sunlight
• Storm water collection
• Innovative wastewater systems
• Use of regional materials

The Edge (international)

The Edge is a 40,000m² office building in the Zuidas business district in Amsterdam. It
was designed for the global financial firm and main tenant, Deloitte. The project
aimed to consolidate Deloitte’s employees from multiple buildings throughout the city
into a single environment, and to create a ‘smart building’ to act as a catalyst for
Deloitte’s transition into the digital age.

The Edge creates a radically new working environment that is enabled by sustainable
technologies. With the world’s highest BREEAM rating awarded to an office building,
it integrates numerous smart technologies to create adaptable and intelligent work
spaces. The building demonstrates that the pursuit of a vibrant and collaborative
working environment can be combined successfully with achieving the highest levels
of sustainability.

The Edge underwent BREEAM certification as a way of measuring the most innovative
aspects of its design and realisation. The overall concept of the building was always
to be exemplary, to stand out from the crowd as a futureproof office that raises
standards in the Netherlands and internationally. But no rating can fully convey the
success of the project on a social level: happy, comfortable and healthy workers who
are more productive because of the environment they work in.

KEY ENVIRONMENTAL FEATURES

Orientation

The building’s orientation is based on the path of the sun. The atrium bathes the
building in northern daylight while the solar panels on the southern facade shield the
workspaces from the sun.

Façades

Each facade is uniquely detailed according to its orientation and purpose:

Load bearing walls to the south, east and west have smaller openings to provide
thermal mass and shading, and solid openable panels for ventilation.

Louvers on the south facades are designed according to sun angles and provide
additional shading for the office spaces, reducing solar heat gain.

Solar panels on the south facade provide enough sustainable electricity to power all
smartphones, laptops and electric cars.

The North facades are highly transparent and use thicker glass to dampen noise from
the motorway.

The Atrium façade is totally transparent, allowing views out over the dyke, and steady
north light in.

Smart lighting

The building’s Ethernet-powered LED lighting system is integrated with 30,000 sensors
to continuously measure occupancy, movement, lighting levels, humidity and
temperature, allowing it to automatically adjust energy use.

Solar panel roof

65.000 sq ft of solar panels are located on the facades and roof, and remotely on the
roofs of buildings of the University of Amsterdam – thereby making use of
neighbourhood level energy sourcing.
Energy reuse

The atrium acts as a buffer between the workspace and the external environment.
Excess ventilation air from the offices is used again to air condition the atrium space.
The air is then ventilated back out through the top of the atrium where it passes
through a heat exchanger to make use of any warmth.

Rain water reuse

Rain water is collected on the roof and used to flush toilets, and irrigate the green
terraces in the atrium and other garden areas surrounding the building.

Thermal energy storage

Two 129m deep wells reach down to an aquifer, allowing thermal energy differentials
to be stored deep underground.

Light over Ethernet

In “The Edge”, a new LED-lighting system has been co-developed with Philips. The
Light over Ethernet (LoE) LED system is powered by Ethernet and 100% IP based. This
makes the system (i.e. each luminaire individually) computer controllable, so that
changes can be implemented quickly and easily without opening suspended ceilings.
The luminaires are furthermore equipped with Philips’ ‘coded-light’ system allowing for
a highly precise localisation via smartphone down to 20cm accuracy, much more
precise than known WiFi or beacon systems.

Ecological corridor

The greenspace that separates the building from the nearby motorway acts as an
ecological corridor, allowing animals and insects cross the site safely.

10 Features of a Green Building

1. Air tightness and vapor barrier in building walls and surfaces

Walls that are able to keep out moisture and humidity from outside will make the
building naturally cooler. Because of this, air-conditioning systems will not have to work
so hard to cool down the building. This lowers electricity costs.

2. Low solar heat gain coefficient of glass (SHGC)

Solar heat gain coefficient is the amount of solar radiation that enters through glass
and is released as heat inside a building. The lower the SHGC, the less solar heat it
transmits, the cooler the building. This also lowers electricity cost because air-
conditioning systems don't have to do all the work.
3. Enthalpy recovery of exhaust air

A device called an enthalpy wheel recovers cooled air from the inside and uses the
coolness of this "spent" air to cool fresh air from outside. The process also dehumidifies
the air from outside. This is a cost-efficient way to improve indoor air quality and lessen
energy consumed by air conditioning systems.

4. Daylight-controlled lighting systems

This type of lighting system has sensors that can detect daylight. During the day, the
sensor switches off the lights since there is enough light from the sun. When the sun
sets, the system will switch the lights on.

This way, the use of artificial lighting during the daytime is reduced. It prevents cases
when occupants are too lazy or forget to turn off the lights when they aren't needed.

5. Occupancy sensors

This lighting system only turns on when it senses people in the room. This technology
can also be found in escalators that activate only when there are people to ride on
them.

6. Water-efficient fittings

The latest faucets and flush mechanisms use less water to do the same thing.

7. Rain-water harvesting

A structure catches rainwater and then stores it in big containers. The water can then
be used to water plants, flush toilets, or supply cooling towers.

8. Materials recovery facility (MRF)

An MRF is where the building's garbage is segregated into biodegradable, recyclable,

non-recyclable, and special or hazardous waste.

Biodegradable waste can be composted and used as fertilizer for the building's
plants.

9. Vegetation

A significant portion of the building's unpaved area should be devoted to vegetation.

This helps reduce the heat urban island effect – when concrete surfaces so common
in urban areas absorbs heat from the sun and radiates it to the surroundings.
Plants also help absorb some rainwater which would otherwise go to sewers and
drainage, later on contributing to flooding.

Mandaluyong's ordinance requires that at least 50% of a building's unpaved area be

planted with indigenous flora.

10. Site sustainability

The building's design, construction. and operation practices should have minimum
impact on ecosystems and water resources.

Green Vs Sustainable

A green building is one that helps reduce the impact it leaves on the environment
from construction and use, so typically includes energy efficiency measures, including
taking a ‘Fabric First’ approach to the building by maximising the performance of the
building fabric to not use energy in the first place plus the additional use of renewable
energy sources such as wind, water or solar.

A sustainable building is one that looks to reduce the impact it leaves on the
environment through its total lifecycle, so after construction and use, it looks at the
whole life of the building including demolition or ‘deconstruction’. A sustainable
building also looks to ensure that the resources used have low embodied energy, that
they have been sustainably sourced, and can be used in another way or recycled at
the end of their useful life as part of the building.

SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE
Sustainable architecture is architecture that seeks to minimize the negative
environmental impact of buildings by efficiency and moderation in the use of
materials, energy, and development space. Sustainable architecture uses a
conscious approach to energy and ecological conservation in the design of the built
environment Sustainability - Meeting the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN
Reduces the negative impact on the environment and human health, thus
improving the performance during a building’s life cycle. Careful consideration is
given to water, energy, building materials, and solid waste.

GREEN BUILDING
Green building is the practice of increasing the efficiency of buildings and their
use of energy, water, and materials, and reducing building impacts on human health
and the environment, through better sitting, design, construction, operation,
maintenance, and removal — taking into account every aspect of the complete
building life cycle. Sustainable development and sustainability are integral to green
building.
Conclusion

Green building materials encompass a vast area of topics and materials. The
application and use of these materials further complicates the subject. When
researching and learning about all things green, there are some things to be aware
of and watch out for. First, always check the sponsors for the respective certifying
organization. You need to be aware of organizations motives because they are not
always as transparent as bringing the best green materials to the national stage. Some
are more sinister. Asking the question, “Who is profiting?” can give a strong indicator
of a product or practice’s true level of green value. Green building materials not only
need to benefit the environment, but with the best possible effort manufacturers can
put forward. Settling for less undermines the green effort.