Clean Construction
Nowadays, buildings can be planned, implemented and operated so that they are climate-positive. The basis of sustainable building is the carefully balanced interaction of three main aspects (see below) in the development of solutions and goals.
Sufficiency: flexibility of usage, reduction of conditioned areas, choice of location, material minimisation in building, intermediate climate zones, efficient shading, utilisation density, solar heat, material cycles, neutrality of usage, reactivation.
Efficiency: land area savings, intelligent water management, intelligent load-bearing structures, optimised facade openings, innovative facades, minimised ventilation losses, lightweight construction, optimised surface-to-volume ratio, minimised transmission losses, greater material efficiency, solar floor plan zoning, higher building density.
Consistency: sustainability as the new normal, solar energy, refurbishment, conversion of building structures, area efficiency, durability, area recycling, renewable materials, material recycling, environmental heat, suitability for other users, rainwater and grey water utilisation, decentralised water management.
Efficiency means better use of available resources; it is linked to technical considerations and, beyond that, to systemic approaches.
Sufficiency aims at adequacy, setting limits to the overconsumption of resources and implement frugality and appropriateness in social consensus.
Consistency refers to the transition to nature-friendly technologies; ecosystems are to be used without being destroyed in the process; it involves thinking and acting in cycles.
Optimisation potential
Every decision and intervention during planning, construction, as well as operation, should be evaluated or designed with efficiency, sufficiency and consistency in mind. The focus lies on two approaches: optimisation during operation and optimisation of the building structure (grey measures). Grey measures focus on reducing the design’s GWP, in addition to considering the question of a reasonable building task and a sustainable and meaningful occupancy.
The optimisation of construction is equivalent to the reduction of the CO2 footprint of the components. The choice of materials and their installation is crucial here. With the help of life-cycle assessment (LCA), the specific grey emissions of the components are calculated over all phases of the entire life-cycle and cumulated to form an overall assessment of the building.
Renewable raw materials have the ability to store carbon and thus reduce their life-cycle assessment score significantly compared to conventional building materials. Timber Computer allows for a comparison of conventional construction methods and constructions with renewable raw materials.