Fabric First

Level_HowLevel_DetailedFoundation_MitigationTopic_Passive designTopic_Carbon design
Written By Ioannis Lykouras

PASSIVE RESILIENCE

Recorded by Sofie Pelsmakers, images by Essi Nisonen and Veera Saastamoinen

KEY READINGS

  • Szokolay, Steven. Introduction to Architectural Science: The Basis of Sustainable Design. London: Routledge

  • Christina J. Hopfe, and Robert S. McLeod. The Passivhaus Designer’s Manual: A Technical Guide to Low and Zero Energy Buildings. Taylor and Francis

  • Cotterell, Dadeby, The Passivhaus Handbook: A practical guide to constructing and retrofitting buildings for ultra-low energy performance, Green Books

  • Pelsmakers, S., Donovan, E., Hoggard, A., Kozminska, U., Designing for the climate emergency, a Guide for Architecture Students, RIBA

  • Pelsmakers, S., The Environmental Design Pocketbook, RIBA

  • Bere, An Introduction to Passive House, RIBA

  • Kimpian, J., Hartman, H., Pelsmakers, S.  Energy, People Buildings: Making Sustainable Architecture Work, RIBA

  • Stevenson, F. Housing Fit For Purpose: Performance, Feedback and Learning, RIBA

  • Mumovic, D. A Handbook of Sustainable Building Design and Engineering: An Integrated Approach to Energy, Health and Operational Performance, Routledge  

INSPIRATIONAL BUILT EXAMPLES

  • Mole Architects – Cavendish House, Cambridge, United Kingdom 

  • Architype Architects – The Enterprise Centre, Norwich, UK 

  • Milena Karanesheva and Mischa Witzmann, Passive House, Bessancourt, France

  • Allmann Sattler Wappner and Transsolar engineers, Passivhäuser Piusplatz, Munich, Germany

  • Studio Bark, Box House, UK

  • Bere Architects, Mayville Community Centre retrofit, UK

FABRIC FIRST

‘Fabric first’ principles are the foundation of zero energy / zero carbon and other low energy / low carbon building designs (such as e.g. Passivhaus). Fabric first principles include:

• Optimising building form and building orientation (and orientation of spaces)

• Capturing heat gains (from people, equipment, the sun) with careful design of windows and solar shading.

• Super-insulation of the fabric, avoiding thermal bridges and appropriate use of thermal mass

• Good airtightness

• Appropriate ventilation (e.g. MVHR year-round and purge-ventilation in warm periods)

But it is also important to implement measures at the meso-and macro-scale that affect the building-scale (e.g. increasing green and blue infrastructures, use of shelterbelts, working with prevailing wind patterns etc.).

Ioannis Lykouras
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