Sustainable High-Rise Buildings in the Netherlands

Abstract

The concept of vertical living and working has been hailed as a solution to facilitate fast growth and urbanization of cities worldwide (Drew et al. 2014). At the beginning of 2015, the global population was around 7.2 billion people (USCB 2015). In 2050, the human population will be probably more than 9 billion and 10.9 billion by the turn of the next century (United Nations 2013), 75 % of whom will be living in cities (Hargrave 2013). Tall buildings can address many of the environmental issues facing cities by providing high-density, efficient buildings that link to public transportation systems and offer the type of amenities demanded by tenants (Wood 2013). As city living takes center stage, urban building of the future have to foster sustainable qualities, essentially functioning as a living organism and engaging with the users within. Cities throughout the world are growing rapidly, creating unprecedented pressure on material and energy resources. Cities with their financial and administrative centers are a key asset to the countries’ national economy and to the cities itself. The local authorities want to assure the city’s continues dynamism given that its business requires ideal conditions in which to operate (Plank et al. 2002). To do so, the local authorities need to assure that the demand for office space can be met within the center of economical activities. In this context, tall office buildings are becoming increasingly necessary as a result of the efficient use that they make of the limited land available. Besides the focus on offices, more and more focus is also on mixed use of the tall buildings, where the offices are combined hotels, shops, and apartments. Some of the new tall buildings become almost a city on their own. The buildings need to help to optimize city-wide production, storage, and consumption of everything from food and energy to water (Hargrave 2013). As in large cities, almost three quarters of their energy consumption is in buildings; this will be one of the main concerns (Plank et al. 2002). The most intensive use of energy of state-of-the-art high-rise buildings usually results from the cooling (40 %) or heating (30 %) of space, while lifts use about 5 % of a tall building’s energy and lighting and electrical appliance can make up about 25 % (Plank et al. 2002). Careful building services design can minimize the need for heating and cooling throughout the year for example by applying seasonal thermal energy storage.