Abstract

During recent milestone events at the UN Climate Change conference in Paris, 195 countries signed a framework agreement committing to drastically reduce energy consumption and limit a rise in global carbon emissions. The urgent need for more sustainable integrated building approaches and an enhanced performance have impacted various research and design agendas in the building industry. These trends have lead designers to the question: How can an environmentally responsive performance not only lead to energy savings and a limitation of CO2 emissions, but also impact established design typologies? A transfer of design principles between different disciplines can help to find innovative solutions and solve problems that require urgent attention. This approach challenges engineering and science, scrutinizes limitations, and trusts that innovative solutions can be achieved through a multi-disciplinary approach to the impending challenge. At this juncture design quality can drastically increase client and user acceptance. The seminar will discuss the prototypical approach towards building and component integration, coordination and optimization supported by emerging new methods that are pushing boundaries of traditional practices between architects, system engineers and project managers.

The presentation will include developments that are spanning from new tools—the ‘Virtual Design Studio’, a digital design platform developed for the US Department of Energy, to innovative building designs – the ‘Turbine House’, a novel energy plus concept based on the patented efficiency principle for the enhanced use of vertical axis wind turbines in product and building applications (Patent Reg. Nr. US 8 .282.236B2), to built work – the ‘P+ Demonstration Building’ situated in China’s first government accredited Green Building EXPO and Industry Development Zone.