The 15th of May 2019 saw Green INSTRUCT partners gather in Barcelona for the workshop entitled “New Materials and Technologies for Energy Efficient Building”. The event – organized by Leitat in month 32 of the Green Instruct project – saw a variety of presentations on the recent advances in building technologies, construction materials and financial strategies.
As a project, Green Instruct focuses on the development of a building block prototype providing acoustic and thermal insulation, integrating green wall technology. Aspects of storm water management, energy and resource efficiency and cost-effective design give the Green Instruct developments a competitive advantage in a rapidly advancing sector.
This considered, the first speaker of the workshop, Mauro Manca from Piarchitects, discussed the importance of design in the formation of a cost-benefit model for sustainable architecture. Manca discussed the root of energy consumption, proposing it as a way the user can achieve a comfort the building is otherwise unable to supply. Overcoming unnecessary consumption therefore requires the consideration of user needs in the very first stages of the design process, alongside environmental influences that may affect levels of user comfort. It is suggested that the quantification of energy usage between rooms would allow construction of a building able to adapt to user comfort requirements.
Globally, ‘comfort’ is linked to ideas of luxury, health and satisfaction and by emphasizing the way in which design can achieve comfort through responding to user needs, the Green Instruct project encourages change within the landscape of sustainable architecture. Quantifying this process allows the construction of a profitable business model and demonstrates the financial savings possible in a user-centered approach. Changing the perception of ‘sustainability’ from simply being ‘environmentally friendly’ to something that achieves higher levels of satisfaction amongst workers, people and clients will highlight the intrinsic value of sustainable buildings, construction and technologies. Through incorporating designs that seek to achieve an equilibrium between people and their environment, buildings that are interesting and of economic benefit will be created, helping to change the way sustainable architecture is framed within the construction industry.
To find out more about the workshop, please watch the video below.
