Autumn 2008//energy efficient complex buildings// page 1//zwolle page//the nest page//design project page. Spring 2009//exchange at faculdade de arquitetura e urbanismo universidade de são paulo//urbanism in são paulo design project//page 15//public school in perus design project //page 30. Autumn 2009//architect in a foreign culture//page 56//chimundo//design project

portfolio prediploma birgitte juliussen haug 2010

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Initially in the course my class was invited to participate in the building of an Earthship tea house with teacher Michael Reynold & crew in Zwolle, Holland. I worked there for two weeks. An Earthship is made, when possible, with 100% reused materials, often materials classified as garbage. This is Reynolds life project. The tea house was or-dered by a company that celebrated its 100 anniversary by giving it to the community, set in a public park.

The tea house was constructed as a C, with the opening towards the South, exploiting the heat and light from the sun. We soon learned though that the main source of energy during the construction came from human labor. The structural wall was made of used tires that were filled to the rim with dirt soil, giving it very good thermal qualities. The tires were stacked, packed with dirt and leveled. The gaps created between the tires where filled with a couple of cans or bottles. The inside-walls were coverd with mud, as a final coating; a mixture of sand and dirt with water, and straw to function as a structural binder.

Every building has to adapt to the situation, and this can lead to discoveries of new solutions and new materials. One would always deal with the question of what is best; recycling or reusing of materials. In Zwolle we used bottles and tin-cans. Now, both have a high prosentage of recycling-value, but using these materials, meant that we could cut down to 1/3 of the concrete. Bottles has several other advantages. They where used as windows, letting light in to the building in an amazing play of light.

The trusses sloped to the back of the building, where the rainwater was to be collected into to big underground tanks. The roof also had two skylights, as part of a ventila-tion system. The trusses also become part of the frontface, wich was a semi climatic greenhouse. This is where the important greywater plant were situated. The building also had a system for treating its own blackwater, that would make even the dirtiest water clean enough to supply the nearby vegetation. Being a totally self sufficiant build-ing it had to produce energy, here using a combination of Solar PV`s and Solar heater collectors. They where put on top of the roof, on the frontface, towards south.

building in zwolle, holland

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The students focus was in this semester divided between the refurbishing of the BAS-building, led by teacher Harald Røstvik, and the building of a shelter on the BAS top floor, the cathedral, led by teacher Michael Reynolds.

The cathedral is a huge open indoor space, with outdoor temperature. We found as natural resources of this place; Bergen, - cartbord blocks, that were structurally strong and were good insulators, similar to that of strawbales. We reused wood for trusses, flooring and window frames. The front facade facing a window in the cathedral was cov-ered by double layer reused old windows and bottle bricks inbetween.

The entire project was built from salvaged, donated, recycled and only little new material. Design decisions were modified weekly in response to availiable materials and tools. Many choices of materials and methods were compromises. While this may be a frustrating way to build, it does bring out creativity and cause debate, which is the key stone in such an educational setting. The nest is far from perfect, but a start that must be viewed as research and as an experience in deveopment of good sustainable solu-tions.

the nest in the cathedral

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bas - potentially Space as something you envolve your self in, put on and dress up in

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I. Defining what the BAS volumes contain. The model shows used volumes (white) and unused volumes (black). With a total of 38.000 m3 available, more than half of it 21.000 m3 was not in use.

II. Adding. My natural conclusion was to fill these empty spaces with new programs. Densify-ing can be a sustainable tactic.

III. Sustainability. I saw the BAS building po-tentially being a self contained organism. A closed eco system providing itself clean air, food, energy etc.

IV. What do we have then? The sketch shows the primary ideas put together. The tower filled with plants and the large silo packed with new programs. But when you create new indoor spaces that have to be heated you will waste more energy than not creating them. The question is then if you need these new spaces?

V. One step back. I needed to change my per-spective, since my discourse during months did not give me anything new. A philosophical ap-proach to the concept of a school of architecture was needed. An architecture school should show different spaces that offers different censory ex-periences. Really discuss space. To be generous about the spaces it offers.

Green roofs, parks, gather water, water filter

New program: student housing, galleries

Air shaft for daylight in floors below

Opening facades to the south to maximise passive solar gain

Passage from street to sea

A quick walk-through of the process

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Concept drawing for void space

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New BAS nocturnal landscape

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Workshops

WhiteBox

S.O.S sleepPark area light and shadows

Pier for the floating BAS-satelite

BAS gallery

Aud. A

Admin.

Enteran

ce 2

Enterance 1 (secret)

Garden

a

a

b

b

Plan 1:250 ground floor 10

Room for draw-ing

Mezzanine workshop

Workshop

a

a

b

b

(Void)

Masterstudios

Social gar-den spaces

Masterstudios

a

a

b

b

Studios3rd year

Aud. B

a

a

b

b

Plans 1:500

1st floor

2nd floor

3rd floor

DAV diffuse/clearGlassed wall between void and gardens is a large ikon mozaic of diffuse and clear elements. Some temporary, some permanent.

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4th floor Studios2nd year

One-man suicidal cage

a

a

b

b

FilterWater goes inside

Outside

Filter

Overflow controlling

Store water

Sea

Washing dirty BAS

5th floor

6th floor

ab

Plans 1:500

SOBAS

Rooftop cantinaRooftop garden with allotments for the community(and the best view in town!)

Community library

Arch sec-tion library + temp ex-hibit

Compost/dirt toilet

a

b

Camera ob-

Studios1st year

Secret opening(teaser for the neighbours)

Water feeding system for vertical gardens

a

a

b

b

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Heatexchange

Sections 1:250

Section a-a

How can BAS become more sustainable? Improving insulation in walls and eliminating cold bridges//triple glazed windows (or more!)//intelligent plan program//collect water and treat it on site//grow our own food (instead of buying bananas from Panama)//display and control use of electricity//get electricity from a clean source, locally//composting, recycling.

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Section b-b

Conclusion of calculationsHeated area reduced from 1250 to 1150//Energy consumption reduced from about 300 kwh/m2 to 87 kwh/m2//Most of the energy consumed is collected on site.

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