The Existing Building Sustainable Retrofit in China-A Review and Case Study

Abstract

With China’s urbanization rate researches 56.1% in 2015, the limitation of the city scale and retrofitting the existing building became the social consensus. According to incomplete survey, there are 400~600 billion m2 existing buildings in China and only less than 10% can be rated as the energy efficiency building, with considerable interest and activity in green retrofit design and construction. We review briefly the context of existing building retrofit design and construction in China. Next we look at a specific project as an example of a high performance, sustainable retrofit design, the Green E-Park, in the typical old downtown area of Shanghai China. Based on the climate condition, cultural characteristics and old industrial features, the retrofit of Green E-Park improves the quality of the indoor environment, building performance and utilization of the renewable energy source. And most importantly, the retrofit of the Green E-Park is not only limited in the building, but also takes the community retrofit into the consideration which includes a series of community sustainable retrofit planning technology. We also comment on the unique planning and design process, which incorporated passive strategies throughout the building, and has led to high occupant satisfaction and remarkably low retrofit cost. Lastly we present thoughts on how the retrofit philosophy of the Green E-Park can be a guide for sustainable retrofit in different climate regions throughout China and elsewhere