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For architects and building professionals.
At the recent World Steel and Construction Council meeting in Paris, Llewelyn Van Wyk, International Union of Architects' Director of the Sustainability Task Force (Africa), addressed the meeting to talk about sustainability, the role that steel can play and what makes a ‘green' city.
Living Steel interviewed Van Wyk after the meeting and asked him:
What do you believe makes a sustainable construction?
The key is replacement, not displacement.
As a city expands, it displaces everything that came before it, whether it's agriculture, forests or the coastal fringe like sand dunes. Dams are a classic example of displacement. The construction of the dam displaces the valley, the farms, villages - and ultimately, the natural habitat.
As the population grows and cities evolve, this constant, unabated expansion also results in a loss of biodiversity. Species get pushed further and further from their original habitat until they find themselves in a different ecosystem where they simply can't survive.
Rather than the image of a city radiating out from a centre displacing everything in its wake, the picture I hope to see is of interlocking fingers of the natural and built environments. The fingers of the city are built on areas of least ecological impact and you bring areas of rich ecological diversity into the city.
The challenge is to replace, where possible, the ecosystem that was there before to ensure there is balance. This is what's called ‘ecological design' - the idea that two ecologies coexist and support each other. In nature it's called symbiosis.
What are the current trends in residential sustainable construction?
Energy is dominating the debate but it‘s leaving behind an abundance of equally important issues.
The up-side is that the emphasis on climate change, global warming and non-renewable energy consumption has encouraged us to focus more heavily on construction. The challenge as an industry is to respond to these issues, but we can also respond to others.
We also have to use resources that are renewable or reusable. Steel is 100% recyclable. Few other construction materials can claim that mantle.
Another aspect to sustainable construction is the social dimension. Building generates employment which in turn empowers people and helps to improve skill levels and education. Building is also a way of sustaining the economy of the built environment. A simple example is that everything we have done at the WSCC meeting was supported by the built environment.
How can steel contribute to sustainable construction?
Steel is 100% recyclable so the lifecycle is potentially limitless. Already a large portion of the steel used in construction today has been recycled.
Steel is also a clear winner when you're looking to use the minimum amount of material to achieve the maximum benefit. It's much more versatile than brick or cement and its mechanical properties mean a great deal of strength can be achieved with a limited amount of material.
By prefabricating steel elements in a factory, waste is reduced and as an architect you have a product which can manufactured quickly, with a consistent quality.
In very hot and very cold climates, steel is also used in the design of thermal breaks and to stop leaks. With conventional construction it's very difficult to get an airtight bubble but the detailing you can get with steel allows you to much more effectively prevent leaks. This markedly reduces the energy required to regulate temperature in the building.
Can you think of an example of a building that stands out as an example of sustainable design?
The Parliament in Berlin by Foster & Partners (Reichstag) a state-of-the-art building that has ecological balance. Historically it used oil fired heaters but they took out the old generators and refitted the building with a generator burning rapeseed. The rapeseed is grown and harvested close to Berlin so the energy used to transport it is minimal. The amount of CO2 emitted by burning the rapeseed is almost the same as the amount that the rapeseed absorbs when it's growing. It's a near perfect solution.
The building also takes advantage of body heat to create convection current. Cool air is brought in under the floor through a very loose weave carpet and into the chamber where it picks up the ambient body heat and rises to the top of the room. A cone at the top of the chamber extracts the heat. Since politicians create lots of hot air it works wonderfully! The heat is then stored in an aquifer, and in winter it's reused to heat the building.
What are your thoughts on Living Steel and the architectural competitions?
The Living Steel competitions are fantastic for architects. As an architect, I love them because they provide an incentive to use steel in sustainable residential construction.
However, we can't forget the owners of the houses. The real driver for successful green buildings will come about when clients and owners are demanding a green building from architects and suppliers.
For steel to achieve this demand it also needs to be associated with asset formation so that people want to buy it. Steel can do this in a way that other materials can't because it has a very good image. It looks new, young, dynamic, future-oriented, and energetic. If people aspire to have steel in their homes then buyers and developers will ask architects to include steel in the design.
Steel also has a genuine case for being a sustainable construction material and Living Steel has an important role in making that association stronger.
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