Advanced building materials and eco-building design

Abstract

Abstract: This chapter is a review of the issues surrounding the design of environmentally responsible buildings. The brief for the environmental conditions (temperature and humidity, light, sound, air quality and their effect on health) inside a building will affect how much energy is required to achieve the conditions and the ease that low energy and passive solutions can work. A building is not isolated and needs to consider the energy, water, food and material sources needed for its construction and operation, and how they sit in wider local, regional and global context. The design of the building envelope and the building fabric will affect the comfort conditions in the building and the ability to achieve these passively. The design of the facade will affect the day-lighting and the potential for natural ventilation. The choice of materials will also affect the management of the internal environment such as the buffering of the temperature and humidity. A successful building project is as much about the successful procurement, construction and operation as it is about design. These matters need to be dealt with carefully. A brief for materials of the future is one of greater extremes in some instances; higher insulation values, better moisture absorption, higher thermal capacity. Another aspect is to make the materials dynamic in their performance such that they can vary their parameters such as insulation, light transmission and permeability according to need. These materials could come from the living world as much as the inorganic, man-made one.