Sustainability and Green Buildings

Sustainability (Green Buildings)

• Sustainable development meets present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet theirs.
• This definition was formulated by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in 1987, led by Gro Harlem Brundtland.
• Development applies worldwide, now and in the future, aiming for continuous progress.
• The definition involves meeting needs for an acceptable life standard and environmental capacity limits.
• Basic needs include food, clothing, housing, and employment.
• Individuals should have the opportunity to raise their life standard above an absolute minimum.
• Limits consist of finite resources and declining productivity from overexploitation, reduced water quality, and biodiversity loss.
• All development should fulfill needs without increasing limitations.

Architecture and Sustainable Development

• Architecture designs the built environment and reflects societal culture.
• In 2016, Martha Thorne and Paloma Duran discussed architecture's role in development.
• Designing buildings consistent with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) creates healthier places.
• One challenge for architecture is sustainable city life.
• Urbanization indicates economic growth but has negative environmental and socio-cultural effects.
• Climate change and pollution are major urbanization issues.
• Architecture balances the concerns of urban planning and development.
• Architects shape the quality of life, sustainability, social equity, health, and resilience.
• The architectural community can address collective social responsibility issues holistically.
• Architects are "ambassadors" of Sustainable Development Goals.
• They achieve this through daily work and knowledge transmission.

Introduction to Green Buildings

• Increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy consumption directly impact global temperatures.
• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
• Urgent emissions reduction is needed across all sectors to mitigate climate change effects.
• Buildings use ~36% of global energy and contribute ~40% of total GHG emissions.
• The construction industry is a major driver of climate change.
• The Climate Change Act of 2009 (RA 9729) integrates sustainable development for mitigating climate change.
• The law highlights the need for resilience to extreme weather, environmental shifts, and threats.
• Resilience strategies focus on adapting while protecting people & socio-cultural aspects.
• Green buildings are a crucial solution, balancing environmental, economic, and social considerations to promote sustainability.
• Sustainable building practices incorporate energy efficiency, site sustainability, water conservation, material sustainability, and indoor environmental quality.
• These measures lower GHG emissions, reduce costs, optimize land use, and create healthier indoor environments.
• These measures align with the objectives of RA 9729.
• Urgency for green buildings has increased.
• The Philippine Green Building Initiative (GREEEN) promotes climate resilience and indoor environmental quality.
• Green buildings minimize environmental impact and enhance community well-being.
• Green buildings adapt to external conditions, improving air quality to mitigate COVID-19 effects.
• The Philippine Green Building Code was implemented nationwide in 2016.
• Voluntary green building certifications are being adopted by developers and owners.
• Tenants increasingly recognize the advantages of sustainable, resource-efficient, and resilient buildings.
• These buildings offer operational cost savings, comfort improvements, reliability, and long-term value.

Zero Energy Buildings (ZEB)

• The global push is towards Zero Energy Buildings (ZEB).
• The ambitious target is for all new buildings to achieve ZEB status by 2030.
• New and existing buildings should meet this goal by 2050.
• Buildings must achieve at least 40% energy efficiency before using renewable energy.
• Renewable energy solutions: solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal, and hydropower offset energy consumption.
• A ZEB achieves net-zero energy use or a surplus over 12 months.
• ZEBs provide environmental protection, reduced costs, and enhanced health and comfort.
• Green building certifications: GREEEN and EDGE, guide and recognize sustainable achievements.
• These certifications extend to existing buildings, dwellings, and occupant well-being.
• Addressing climate change is an urgent issue demanding immediate action.
• All stakeholders must work together to drive sustainability in the building sector.
• Adopting green building practices and transitioning to ZEBs leads to energy reductions.
• This provides cost savings, decreased reliance on power plants, and increased investment.
• Investment occurs in research & development for sustainable communities.
• The years 2030 and 2050 are crucial milestones for achieving high-performance green buildings and ZEBs.
• Realizing these goals requires immediate action so that the future of our planet and communities can be secured.

Emerging Trends in Architecture

• Emerging trends focus on design concepts, infrastructure projects, and innovations in architecture education.
• Green infrastructure and energy efficiency are increasingly important.
• Sustainable architecture has become a popular advocacy and is key to an environmentally positive future.
• Sustainable architecture uses design strategies that reduce negative environmental impact.
• Rethinking the Future (RTF) presented "Ten Emerging Trends in Sustainable Architecture in 2020".

Ten Emerging Trends in Sustainable Architecture in 2020

• Green Building and Net Zero Construction: create structures and processes that are environmentally friendly during its life-cycle
• Vernacular Architecture: Specific to a region, it uses local materials and knowledge.
• Public Space Intuitive Design: Parks around built areas reduce carbon footprint and enhance lifestyle.
• Circular Economy for Sustainability: Reduce use of virgin materials and waste outputs.
• Small Scale Construction: Focus on basic necessity and functionality.
• Passive Building Design: Maximize natural sources for heating, cooling, and ventilation.
• Utilizing Native Vegetation: Design organically with the site's vegetation.
• Biophilic Architecture: Connect building occupants to nature.
• Prefabricated Construction: Assemble components at a manufacturing site and transport.
• Adaptive Reuse: Repurpose buildings for new uses.
• The concepts have been applied in construction projects.
• Growing consciousness and realization in the build industry highlight these concepts.
• Simple ideas are becoming special focus of advocacies in architecture and design.
• Energy efficiency considers energy use before, during, and after construction.
• Net-zero energy refers to the annual amount of energy created on-site equaling the energy consumed by the building.
• World Green Building Council aims for total sector decarbonization by 2050.
• This is achieved by developing tools, programs, and resources for net-zero carbon buildings.

Green Building Principles

• Five principles guide future development and design.
• Sustainable Siting: Optimizes land use to reduce adverse impacts and minimize ecological footprint.
• Energy Efficiency: Focuses on performance targets for new construction and renovation projects.
• Water Efficiency: Emphasizes decreasing demands for fresh water and reducing wastewater generation.
• Water Efficiency uses optimized landscaping, rainwater catchments, gray water recycling, and wastewater treatment.
• Building Materials: Uses sustainable construction materials to reduce extraction and transportation.
• Healthy Indoor Environment Quality: Enhances sustainability through ventilation, comfort, lighting, etc.
• The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) initiative in 2000 was created by The United States.
• The United States is a natural leader in green construction.
• With 124,212 LEED-certified buildings, the United States has the highest amount in the world.
• There are about 178 countries, including the Philippines, with LEED-certified buildings.
• LEED is the worldwide criterion for green building certification based on sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials and resources selection, indoor environmental quality, and design innovation.
• Michael Tobias is a member of the US Green Building Council, and specialist in building technology.
• Some strategies are best suited to public buildings and others to small residential units.
• These strategies involve using natural factors, materials that do not plunder resources, and maximizing air quality and recycling.

Examples of Green Buildings in the United States

• Wayne L. Morse US Courthouse (Eugene, Oregon): First new federal courthouse to achieve LEED Gold certification. Built with energy-saving, environmentally positive features
• Banner Bank Building (Boise, Idaho): LEED-certified building recognized for its use of sustainable energy sources such as geothermal energy & water reclamation system
• Willingboro Public Library (Willsboro, New Jersey): Converted from abandoned strip mall; won American Institute of Architects 2007 COTE Award.

Examples of Noteworthy Green Buildings Around the World

• Pixel Building (Melbourne, Australia): Australia's first carbon-neutral office building.
• One Central Park (Sydney, Australia): Vegetation of 250 species covers the building and reduces energy consumption by 25%.
• Bahrain World Trade Center 1 and 2 (Bahrain): Towers use turbines to generate 15% of their electricity.
• Museum of Tomorrow (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil): Features include fin-like solar panels and cold water usage from Guanabara Bay to maintain air conditioning systems.
• Vancouver Convention Centre West (Vancouver, Canada): Has a double LEED Platinum designation & honey bees to pollinate roof plants.
• Shanghai Tower (Shanghai, China): The world's second tallest building has a transparent second skin for natural ventilation and includes 270 wind turbines to power exterior lights.
• CopenHill (Copenhagen, Denmark): Functions as both a power plant and a sports facility.

More Examples of Green Buildings Around the World

• Marco Polo Tower (Hamburg, Germany): Each floor is turned away from the one below in order to recess sun exposure, has a heat exchanger for a cooling system & natural ventilation.
• Bosco Verticale (Milan, Italy): Designed with spaces to accommodate trees & includes greenery to improve air quality.
• Suzlon One Earth (Pune, India): Platinum LEED certified & generates most of its power from wind and solar.
• ACROS Fukuoka Prefectural International Hall (Fukuoka, Japan): Includes 15 garden terraces that reach up to 197 feet.
• Torre Reforma (Mexico City): Tower saves energy and includes windows that can automatically open.
• The Edge (Amsterdam, Netherlands): Contains a large atrium as its nucleus controlled by an app and uses LEDs and solar panels.
• PARKROYAL Collection Pickering (Singapore): Includes sky gardens, waterfalls, and gullies & takes advantage of rainfall.
• Robinson Tower (Singapore): Design meets standards set by Singapore's Landscape Replacement Policy & reduces the need for artificial lighting.
• One Angel Square (Manchester, United Kingdom): Has a flexible design & allows new tenants to easily rearrange & reorganize space.

The Bullitt Center & Eastgate Centre

• Bullitt Center (Seattle, Washington, USA): Gets 100% of its energy on-site from renewable resources with living certified building.
• Eastgate Centre (Harare, Zimbabwe): Has no air conditioning or heating systems; inspired by termite mounds.

Green Buildings in the Philippines

• The National Building Code/Philippine Green Building Code lessens building impacts through resource management.
• Minimum standards reduce greenhouse emissions for applicable buildings.
• Standards must meet efficient energy, resource use, site sustainability, & indoor environmental quality.
• Arya Residences: Use of local vegetation & water-conscious design; awarded LEED Gold certification.
• Citi Plaza: Awarded LEED Platinum certification for green power & optimized lighting.
• Union Bank, Olongapo Branch: Awarded LEED Platinum certification for sustainability & water efficiency; has rainwater & solar roof panels.
• Unilever Bayanihan Project: Platinum certification earned top points for energy savings & sustainability; includes quality views & daylight.
• Zuellig Building: LEED certification achieved for pedestrian-friendly location & innovative facade.
• Texas Instruments Philippines Clark: Gold certification for vegetative roofing & automatic lighting systems.
• Pioneer House CDO: LEED Platinum certified & has energy-saving elevators & fuel-saving generators.
• Bench Tower: LEED Gold certified & features low-E double glass wall; has LED and CFL lighting.
• Wells Fargo Center (Buildings A, B, C): LEED Platinum certified & saves water; uses double glazed glass.

Green Buildings - Future, Survival, & Disadvantages

• Green buildings are the future.
• Climate change survival rests on architectural design innovations effectively implemented.
• Location: Best sun exposure can place buildings opposite other neighborhood homes.
• Availability: Appropriate materials can be hard to find & are costly.
• Cooling: Buildings run on heat to generate power & may not be adaptable.
• Time: Designs take longer to design & build.
• Cost: Construction is relatively more expensive.

Vernacular Architecture

• Vernacular architecture builds outside academic tradition & caters to immediate local needs; reflects local resources, traditions, practices.
• It's given attention by designers & the build industry.
• Vernacular architecture, the simplest form of addressing human needs, is seemingly forgotten in modern architecture.
• These structures have proven to be energy efficient & altogether sustatinable.
• Vernacular architecture uses natural resources around him & provides himself shelter
• It adheres to basic green architectural principles of energy efficiency & utilization.

Vernacular Housing Examples

• Triple-Decker: Much-beloved wooden frame apartment building that is commonly found in New England.
• Yurt: Found in Central Asia, the structure contains a wood or bamboo frame covered in skins.
• Plattenbau: The building contains large concrete slabs; it was common in many countries from the 1960s forward.
• Khrushchevka: Was also made in the 1960's and is the structure known as the Plattenbau's counterpart.
• Railroad Apartment: Found in New York City and San Francisco; it contains thin apartments that mimic the shape of a railroad car.
• Shotgun House: Contained rows that are lined up, and houses never had a hallway.
• Trinity: Houses found mostly in Philadelphia & are colonial-era houses; three floors stacked atop one another.
• Terraced House: Could vary from townhouse or a row house.
• Back-to-Back-House: Found in the United Kingdom & was much like a triple-decker; 3 of the houses four walls are shared.
• Bay-and-Gable: In Toronto narrow lots gave way to the style & the style was easily reproducible.
• Ranch House: Found from the middle of the 20th century & were built to house the burgeoning American middle class.
• Chalet: Word means varied depending on the country & these models had wide leaves.
• Bungalow: Denotes a low-rise house with a small porch and is common in Chicago.
• Thatched Cottage: It's roof is made up of vegetation & can be found in countries such as Japan and England.
• Hanok: The word describes a traditional Korean house, but has regional variations.
• Igloo: This building is built by Inuit population & are made of snow but must follow precision.
• Favela Houses: The building has materials that of low-cost.
• Izba: The building has elements of the traditional Russian countryside and were made with carved wood.
• Sear Houses: American homes where they were built between 1908-1940 where they were ordered from Sears catalogues.
• Mews: Feature two-story houses where the houses open onto a small alley.

More housing styles

• Toothpick Appartment: Housing in Hong Kong, the buildings contain just one apartment to fit one floor.
• Stilt House: Raised structures over bodies of water.
• Radburn Housing: Housing's backs face the street.
• Four Plus One: Housing in Chicago that houses up to 4 floors with a lobby or parking.
• Chattel House: Housing in Barbados that is mobile (Can move houses).

Public Space, Economic, and Sustainability Designs

• Public Space Intuitive Design: Being conscious of open spaces helps bring sustainability to the building.
• Circular Economy for Sustainability: Reduce-Reuse-Recycle in architecture.
• Small Scale Construction: Significance of large mansions decreases over large houses.
• Passive Building Design: Orienting the building helps with aid of wind flow; sun-shading devices are important.
• Utilising Native Vegetation: Designing organically with the vegetation.
• Biophilic Architecture: Utilize the vegatation of the said area.
• Prefabricated Construction: Prefabricated construction helps save time & cost.
• Adaptive Reuse: Modifying old building design can help.

Nine Defining Indexes of Green Buildings

• Green index: Ecology-greening, wall-greening, watering, artificial structure greening, water-draining, and windproof techniques.
• Daily energy-saving index: Building constructions with energy-efficiency, window-opening, shading board, glass openings, heat insulation, air density, material, roof structure, and a wall curtain.
• Water resources index: Saving water, planning water use, reusing rainwater, and having a primary water source.
• Biodiversity index: Green-net system, earth-saving system, ecology lakes/waters/side slope, palisade design, and porous environment.
• Carbon dioxide reduction index: Simple modeling, indoor decoration, reasonable structure, reduced weight, and wood use.
• Waste reduction index: Reused material, soil balance, dry partitions, bathrooms, and air pollution reduction.
• Base water index: Permeable floor, lakes, lots, wells, cubes, and artificial structures.
• Sewage and trash improvement index: Rainwater/sewage diversion, waste collection, wetlands, wastewater treatment, and kitchen waste compost.
• Interior index: Indoor pollution control, air purification equipment, green paint, and material.

Key Trends Influencing Architecture and SDGs

• Ways of Living: Greater Interest in Small Scale Homes
• Inclusive Architecture: First-Rate Design for Diverse Populations
• The Middle-East: Underrepresented Territories in Evidence
• Construction Industry: The Digital Future of Infrastructure
• Gender Equality: A Major, Ongoing Moment of Public Debate
• Transport: Increase in Speed and Comfort of Urban Trajectories
• Urban Design and Resource Management: Greener and More Collective Cities
• Recycling Spaces: The Continuing and Increased Importance of Reuse
• Materials: Focusing on Details and Local Techniques
• The House of the Future: Robotics and Automation for Domestic Life
• Renewable Energy and Environmental Awareness: New energy to face Climate Change

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

• SDGs address social, economic, and environmental challenges.
• SDGs aim to eradicate poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity by 2030.
• There are 17 goals with 169 targets in the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda.
• Adapted by 193 countries, including the Philippines, in 2015.
• Seventeen Goals are: (1) No Poverty, (2) Zero Hunger, (3) Good Health and Well-Being, (4) Quality Education, (5) Gender Equality, (6) Clean Water and Sanitation, (7) Affordable and Clean Energy, (8) Decent Work and Economic Growth, (9) Industry Innovation and Infrastructure, (10) Reduced Inequalities, (11) Sustainable Cities and Communities, (12) Responsible Consumption and Production, (13) Climate Action, (14) Life below Water, (15) Life on Land, (16) Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, and (17) Partnership for the Goals.

Principles of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

• The 5P Principles provide a simple framework to understand the 17 SDGs. -People: Prioritize well-being and quality of life, focusing on poverty eradication, health, education, gender equality, and social inclusion. -Prosperity: Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, decent work, innovation while reducing inequalities, and ensuring access to infrastructure and technology. -Planet: Protect resources, promote sustainable practices, address climate change, conserve biodiversity, and ensure sustainable management of water and land.
• Peace: Recognize the significance of peaceful and inclusive societies.
• Partnership: Emphasize cooperation among governments, civil society, private sector, and other stakeholders.

Goals of Sustainable Development

• BU provides quality education to the youth to attain its Vision, mission, goals, and objectives.
• It teaches the young generation to meet the challenges in learning.
• BU will provide opportunities to achieve sustainability by promoting its institutional culture.
• The university supports research and information dissemination.
• Students should base projects on sectors that the SDGs are taking into consideration.
• Outputs may include the marginalized sector such as persons with disabilities, women, and children.