Designers: Ádám Vesztergom, Barnabás Láris, Szabolcs Nagy-Miticzky
Location: Wien, Austria
The challenges of the period; new answers.
The modern man spends more than 90% of his time in a closed space. Therefore, he uses approximately double interior space, than in the 1950s. Easy-to-reach, a family of 4 used 110 m3 heated interior space in 1955. Nowadays a same size family has the need for interior 230 m3. The increase is due to the alteration of the way of life.
The other notable information is the evolution of the price of a barrel of crude oil, which is a good indication of the price break of any other energy source (natural gas, coal). One barrel of crude oil costed 2,5 $ in 1969. It costs 109 $ now. This represents a 4360% price increase. If we take notice of the inflation of the indicated time period this is about a 22-times increase.
So parallel to useing doubled heated interior space our costs have grown dramatically. What kind of answers can we give in the case of the construction of new buildings?
According to our vision in the houses of the future there will be living the people of the future. People who change the way of building in order to ensure sustainable development.
The new aspects are:
– The residential building satiates all needs of the users, it is comfortable, functional and uncomplicated. Not exuberant but not scant so it insures competent size of living space
– The form of the building is compact, the elevations are slashed-free. This enables it to have tight exterior corners.
– The main elevation faces to south, maximalizing the absorption heat gain.
– It has good thermal insulation at the terminal structures, in point of such the walls as the glass surfaces.
– It has good gas-tight, this enables it to have low heat loss.
– It has heat recovery ventilation, so the building has minimal heat loss at the ventillation in winter.
– It has exterior spaces created by the exterior steel structures, which do not require heating and ease the building interior spaces, so the useable and livable ground can be doubled in summer.
– Between the virtual and the real facade there is a water surface, which helps the cooling of the building as a passive system in summer.
– There are active solar systems, solar panels, collectors – connecting to the exterior steel structure – helping the building in the point of energy.
– If the owners require, there could be installed plants as screening to the exterior steel structures. These green surfaces (for example: grape) are the parts of the garden, but help in the screening of the building as well and can be expedience by the owners.
– The residue from the roof of the building can be used by this plants. The spared rain water is going into a water tank and used for irrigation.
– The grey water springed from the building is used at the toillets. The sewage will go to a home waste water biological treatment, and the purified water gets dripped to the plants on the exterior steel structures.
Consequently the building designed by us minimizes the energy consumption, optimizes the size of the interior space, the opened but intimated exterior spaces increase the living space in summer, maximizes the energy gains with the active and passive solar and ecological systems, as well as the green facades become the parts of the garden, so according to our vision the building will serve excellently the people in the future.