Toolkit for designing more sustainable large buildings in peri-urban areas and natural sites

Abstract

The most sustainable action anybody in the building sector could actually take is decide not to erect any new building, in order to maintain the landscape as untouched as possible and preserved for the sake of our future generations. Unfortunately, this is rather impossible in this day and age, as the building decision usually comes from a necessity and an intention to provide appropriate shelter to a certain activity. This is precisely the reason for which the in-depth study of the impact a building has both on its immediate surroundings and on the urban/ rural environment should be a common practice if we are to design and build in a sustainable manner. The impact a building has on its environment varies according to two main criteria: (1) the type of building we are referring to and (2) the environment in which the supposed building is set out to be inserted in. Thus, it is fair to state that a single-family house with a 150 sq. m gross area build on concrete frame with brick filling built in an urban regulated area is going to have a significantly different impact than a 2000 sq. m construction materials storage warehouse built on a steel frame with term insulated panels in a rather rural and untouched area in the periphery of a village. This latter category makes the scope of the present paper. Concerning the 2nd criteria, the urban environment is highly regulated, and the majority of the space is set out to be built in a manner which mirrors the evolution of the last 130 years of urban studies. Most urban settlements in Europe, be it city, town or village have urban regulatory means of stating the way a certain building occupies a plot of land within the urban frame, its recommended height and suggestion to integrate the areas’ specific aesthetics. When referred to the expectancy to have similar regulations for the peri-urban areas, or even the ones outside the built-up area we are often met with a no-man’s-land, a rather empty regulatory area which falls in the jurisdiction of local and regional authorities. The present paper aims at offering a toolkit for the local authorities to use as a negotiation frame between the interest of preserving as much as possible the natural qualities of the natural landscape while balancing with the economic reasons and benefits of a new investment in their area. The ‘tools’ which make up the study concern: volumetric composition of the buildings depending on their function, methods of generating green energy based on the local resources, regulating the percentage of concrete platforms versus greenery in complete harmony with the destination of the investment. Starting from the premise that the building permit conditions for large scale projects due to be erected in natural landscape need a thorough regulation and after having an overview of such projects in Romania, this paper provides a practical tool for making sure the current laws are to be applied in a more practical and hands-on manner.