Resilient design against climate change

DESCRIPTION:

A building design strategy allowing for the integration of housing with the environment and historical background of the neighbourhood.

VALUE

This 35-unit social housing building in Palma de Mallorca proposes a spatial layout which, combined with a constructive proposal, achieves a very low energy consumption, a quality living experience and a great integration in an environment of high architectural value. By using local low carbon materials for its construction such as local stone and Posidonia, a marine plant from the Mediterranean Sea, the carbon footprint is considerably reduced while promoting the local economy and traditonal crafts and trades.
35 protected dwellings. Illustration: DataAE
35 protected dwellings. Illustration: DataAE

APPLICATION

The strategy is being applied in a 35-dwelling public housing building in Palma (Spain). The building is made up of two cores and is accessed via a walkway through the interior courtyard. In this way, all the homes have vital cross ventilation that, together with the captivating use of the double thermal intermediate spaces acting as greenhouses (front and back), solar control and thermal inertia, significantly reduces energy demand whilst maintaining a very high level of comfort. The ground floor is raised above street level in order to improve the relationship between the houses on the ground floor and the pedestrians on the street while also allowing natural ventilation into the car park. The homes are distributed continuously along the access walkway, meaning that all the homes have two bays facing the walkway; the entrance and a room. Additionally, the proportions of the vertical solar protection elements help to properly protect the garden façade from the sun. A low-technology construction is proposed, based on load-bearing walls, which helps to drastically reduce the environmental impact of the construction and improve the thermal inertia of the homes, while simultaneously establishing a tectonic dialogue with the surrounding buildings. Almost all of the load-bearing walls are oriented from east to west and are perpendicular with the longest side of the building take advantage of solar gains throughout almost the entire building.

POTENTIAL IMPACT

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