海角视频

We鈥檝e heard all this before.

Heatwaves, rains that are less frequent but much more intense, high winds, and storms that snarl city infrastructures. Weather is becoming more and more severe, and city-dwellers feel it more than ever.

It gets unbearably hot in the summer, as in 2022 across Europe; there are floods 鈥� in Berlin, for example, it鈥檚 clear when the drains are overflowing; trains are cancelled due to storms, and some street corners are so windy that it鈥檚 impossible to walk or even stand. Many of these effects are amplified by the built environment.

In their recently published book “Klima au脽er Kontrolle”, Susanne G枚tze and Annika Joeres show how ill-prepared German municipalities are for the climate reality. And in a recent article for Tagesspiegel, Ruth Ciesinger notes that the German Ministry of Environment has pledged 60 million euros to fund climate adaptation until 2026, a number that is dwarfed by the billions spent paying for damage following climate-related disasters.

If we know what鈥檚 going on and what causes it, why aren鈥檛 we getting smarter? Why aren鈥檛 we planning and building with the climate in mind, seriously?

With this in mind, here are seven points that are crucial for climate-sensitive building.

1) Generous planting

Everyone knows how important plants are. They lower the ambient temperature, provide a comfortable microclimate, work as important biotopes, retain water, sequester CO2, and much more.

Every architectural rendering now includes large green components, but in practice plantings are often superficial 鈥� the reality does not live up to the promises. There is a lot flexibility when designing with plants. Trees provide shade, green facades and window openings reduce temperatures, and green roofs are viable options for extensive plantings.

2) Reduce sealing

The large-scale sealing of surfaces, usually with asphalt, still seems to be a designer鈥檚 go-to choice and is entrenched in regulations. Everyone who lives in a city knows how awful it is to walk across sprawling asphalt surfaces in summer.

Sealed surfaces retain heat, radiating back into the surrounding area and creating heat islands. The result is an unbearable urban environment. When it rains, water can鈥檛 be absorbed and instead runs off into a sewer system that is often already overloaded. Sometimes, tree grates are only equipped with small drains.

As a remedy, city governments typically pour money into technical infrastructure to mitigate flooding. Instead of reacting after the fact, we should be thinking ahead. We should design porous surfaces that reflect heat and light. This approach has huge advantages for a city鈥檚 microclimate, as demonstrated in 海角视频鈥檚 Spreepark sustainability concept of 2021.

3) Not everything has to be reflective

Many buildings have huge mirrored facades, which reflect sunlight into the surrounding area and heat it up. Especially during heat waves, places around glass-and steel-towers become blinding, boiling landscapes. Remember summer 2013? The glass facade of 20 Fenchurch Street in London melted part of a car parked outside.

Measuring solar glare and assessing glare risk is key to combating its negative effects. On 3 Glass Wharf our specialist lighting designers prepared a glare assessment that helped minimize the impact of glare on train drivers on the adjacent railway.

Additionally, solid facades and facade elements that reduce light penetration help create a comfortable climate, both inside and out. We see this in the approach in the timber-hybrid EDGE Suedkreuz project in Berlin, designed by Tchoban Voss Architekten with structural engineering, building services, and sustainability work by 海角视频. There are so many design opportunities that come through variations in materials.

But also for the interior environment large glass facades can be bad, too. Floor-to-ceiling windows bring a lot of light into the building, which results in the need for energy-intensive cooling. In projects with glass curtain walls, 海角视频 has explored solutions for mitigating the negative effects of this design feature.

For the Tower at PNC Plaza in Pittsburgh, for example, 海角视频 designed a double-skin glass facade that encloses a 75-centimetre cavity to allow for passive cooling and insulation. Blinds between the two layers of the skin reduce glare and heat gain while preserving views to the outside and allowing daylight to enter the interior.

4) Smart planning is low tech

A lot of research is being done into energy-consuming building technology. Buildings can be regulated entirely independently, with no regard for the outdoor climate. This is fundamentally the wrong approach. In order to reduce energy consumption, cities and buildings must be planned in accordance with local climatic conditions.

This opens up a whole lexicon of design elements and materials, such as variation in facades, courtyards, canopies, and arcades. With intelligent planning rather than high-tech infrastructure, a building can create a pleasant indoor and outdoor climate. Much of this work involves recovering the strategies and techniques of past generations, of so-called vernacular architecture.

Technological advances have given us more knowledge and design freedom regarding climatic conditions, but the solutions lie first in the intelligent design of cities and buildings, and then in the targeted and demand-driven application of technologies. We need smart data, not big data.

5) Respect water cycles

Water is a precious resource, and today it is impossible to ignore how scarce it is becoming. Urban planning must take into account precipitation and consumption. Stronger, less frequent rains put severe strain on the sewage system and water reservoirs.

It is therefore essential to work with open spaces and infiltration areas in the city. Water should not only be retained in streets but also be collected on facades and roofs. This so-called gray water can be made usable, lessening the strain on our fresh water stores. Planning according to the idea of the sponge city needs to be taken more seriously.

In addition to creating a pleasant environment for people, water is of course also vital for flora and fauna. In Vienna, for example, the city government has implemented water dispensers that evaporate small amounts of water in the city, providing a cooler microclimate and supporting local plant and animal life.

6) Wind

Winds are getting stronger. Long, straight streets and tall buildings create wind tunnels and downdrafts. These are easy to predict and avoid in planning, but they still recur. Simple wind studies, structural interventions, and even plantings help to reduce wind force and create a pleasant microclimate.

At the same time, specially designed corridors are needed to transport fresh air into the city and take polluted air out. The European court of justice ruled last year that many German cities 鈥� including Berlin, Munich, Cologne, and Stuttgart 鈥� consistently broke EU rules intended to limit air pollution. Intelligent urban planning can help reduce pollution and increase the flow of fresh air.

7) The city must help

Cities need clear goals, and pathways to achieving them. Many cities have already declared climate emergencies, but this is not enough. Detailed roadmaps must be put in place and followed by everyone who is in a position of power in the city authority. This is the way to build better, systematically and consistently.

None of this is possible without support from city governments. The civic administration must promote and mandate climate-conscious initiatives. Design and construction guidelines must encourage and not hinder architects, urban planners, and builders to design in an environmentally friendly way.