ZSK

CENTRE OF URBAN ECOLOGY AND CLIMATE ADAPTATION

SP13: Scientific accompanying research: "Climate friendly building - model project"

Starting Point and Research questions

Climate protection plays an important role in today’s construction practice, thanks to the Building Energy Act (GEG). Concepts to mitigate the repercussions of climate change (climate change adaptation) however, hardly contribute to the process of designing and planning.

This project deals with researching the interactions and identifying synergies between the design of measures to improve the urban micro- and macroclimate, of buildings, of green infrastructure (landscape and building design) as well as strategies for the retention and usage of rain and grey water.

Existing research on this topic relates either to the building level or to the citywide level. At the district level, which is the focus here, there is still a need for research, especially on the holistic balancing from the construction to the deconstruction of a housing complex.

By developing viable planning concepts in cooperation with the industry and municipal housing companies, measures for sustainable building and climate adaptation in the sector of affordable or subsidised housing will be established, beginning in early design stages.

Hypothesis:

Investments in climate change adaptation in subsidized housing will pay off.

Aims

This research project is meant to provide a scientific partnership for model projects in respect to urban climate adaptation and climate mitigation. It is thus supposed to provide knowledge about which, if any, investments in climate adaptation for building projects will pay off.

(Long term) cost effectiveness is a crucial aspect of the project.

The research project will result in recommended courses of action.

Methods

The research project starts off at the beginning of the architecture and urban design competitions of the model projects. The research team identifies essential criteria and indicators of climate-friendly construction, which are made available to the awarding authorities as text modules and summarized in a criteria catalog. This means that important parameters of climate adaptation in social housing construction will be defined and taken into consideration from the very beginning of the planning phase.

Based on the winning designs, up to five projects (model projects) are selected to be investigated over the duration of the project. Close coordination with the practice partners takes place in order to identify and utilize potential time windows in the planning. Due to planning phases progressing at different speeds, experience from projects that are progressing more quickly can be transferred to other projects and immediately developed further. The transferability of solution approaches to different framework conditions and contexts in the model projects will be investigated. In close cooperation with the involved partners all results will be investigated for their practical and financial feasibility, integrated into the design process and converted into recommended courses of action.

Special attention is paid to the implementation of the necessary measures for climate adaptation and mitigation in lower cost housing in areas of high density.

The municipal housing projects are being developed and planned by the involved project partners. Through the closely integrated scientifical involvement recommended courses of action will be developed, that in turn can take influence on the planning.

Information on the results and publications of the sub-project can be found here.

Project partners: