Matthew Wells on Wolfgang Rid’s article: Environmentally Sustainable Housing: Standards and Innovation.

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Environmentally Sustainable Housing: Standards and Innovation Holger Wolpensinger, Wolfgang Rid

The article is in two halves: an introduction to projects that have developed the principles of sustainable housing and a discussion of wider issues of urbanism, social behaviour and energy use. 

The subject is of such a broad sweep that general surveys such as this might benefit by stating subject areas and boundaries at the outset. Many questions are raised about the inter-relation of initiatives and the scales of intervention required.

Stadthaus is mentioned as the tallest building of its type to date but what the appropriate size of a timber housing block might be is not touched on. Why this need for height? Is there an ecological tipping point? The Hoxton tower must prove that technical limitations no longer prevent all housing being built economically in wood.

There is a reference to an inverse correlation between ecological economy and amenity. To live honestly might mean accepting a loss of prosperity. Are there compensations and could these decisions be quantified?

The discussion on occupancy of the ground plane, foundations and the control of surface water is instructive. As building engineers this is a critical area for us to control and understand. The treatment here must be extended to consider the nature of brownfield sites in northern Europe.

The importance of the construction phase in sustainable building is often overlooked and finds no place here. Adaptation and reuse of structures, ‘just adequate’ and demountable joints seem fundamental ingredients to us builders.

An important insight is about implementation. If only 5% of German buildings stem from architects how do ideas disseminate themselves? This is the proportioning of the fashion industry. Perhaps there are underlying structural similarities between the two discourses.