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Stirling Work The passive social housing scheme that won British architecture’s top award
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Early in October, Norwich City Council’s Goldsmith Street development become both the first passive house and the first social housing project to win the Stirling Prize, British architecture’s most coveted award, with the judges calling it “high-quality architecture in its purest, most environmentally and socially conscious form”. Leading building energy expert Dr Peter Rickaby visited the scheme for Passive House Plus to see this ground-breaking project for himself.
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Flat Pack Hijack
Flat-pack furniture has become a fixture of modern living, but what happens when the same concept is applied to housing – and when the client is an architect seeking to build to passive house and nearly zero energy building levels?
Mies En Scéne Iconic Dublin offices get deep green treatment
The deep and comprehensive refurbishment of the Miesian Plaza complex on Dublin’s Baggot Street provides a radical blueprint for how to transform mid20th century city office buildings into comfortable, healthy and super low energy spaces that support sustainable transport and working patterns.
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INSIGHT Doctor’s Orders The complex relationship between energy retrofits & human health
There is no shortage of anecdotal evidence that home energy retrofits, done well, can improve the health of those who receive them — and equally there are horror stories about shoddy upgrades causing damp, mould and illness. But what does the evidence say about how energy upgrades effect occupant health, and what lessons can be learned for the future of how we renovate our homes? Kate de Selincourt reports.
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MARKETPLACE Keep up with the latest developments from some of the leading companies in sustainable building, including new product innovations, project updates and more.
In Praise of Impermanence
We hear a lot about the importance of designing our buildings to have a long lifespan, but might there come a time when it actually makes to more sense to design buildings to have relatively short lives — and to be easily taken apart and re-purposed in response to a changing climate and society? Toby Cambray, cofounder of Greengauge Building Energy Consultants, ponders the idea of impermanence in construction.
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