Page 86 - Build 153

The opening of Tuhoe Te Uru Taumatua, one of the rst buildings in New Zealand built to strict LBC criteria.
international Biophilic Cities Register, which means that the city strives to incorporate nature into the built environment by designing the city with urban-nature connectivity in mind.
The biophilic map project hopes to make the concept more tangible to the people of Wellington and visitors to the capital. By highlighting examples of biophilic design in the city, the aim is to inspire similar projects and to share what is happening in Wellington with other cities in New Zealand and internationally.
Although no projects have been built in New Zealand that exclu- sively investigate biomimetic design, Biomimicry Aotearoa and Biomimicry Wellington are also recently formed networks working in the area of living architecture and can be found online.
Notable international buildings and research
Many di erent approaches to living buildings can be found interna- tionally. The works of Zimbabwe architect Mick Pearce, including the Eastgate building in Harare and CH2 in Melbourne, exemplify low-energy biomimetic approaches to architecture.
Eastgate and CH2 work with passive ventilation techniques modelled on how termite mounds work to passively regulate temperature and, in the case of CH2, harness underground aquifers for extra cooling.
CH2 mines sewer water from under Melbourne, cleans it and then, in combination with phase change materials and an innovative chilled beam and external shower tower system, uses it to cool the building. CH2 is estimated to use 85% less energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 87%, and use 70% less water than typical comparable buildings.
On an urban scale, Belgian architect Luc Schuiten inspires with his Vegetal city project, a set of fantastical city theoretical redesigns taking cues from nature. They include a metropolis with buildings fabricated from a transparent silicate concrete that copies the properties of coral and mollusc shells to absorb carbon and become self-healing growing structures.
Although untested in built form, materials and technologies that copy nature are being developed by researchers at Stanford University and at the Sandia National Laboratories in the US.
Research from Sandia investigates how abalone or paua is able to grow a crack-resistant shell approximately 200% harder than human ceramics using only seawater and a series of proteins. This could lead to lightweight, extremely strong, optically clear building materials or to alternatives to concrete. This process of biomineralisation stores carbon much like the growing of forests locks carbon into the structure of the trees and soil until released.
The closest to a built example of this kind of biomineralisation is Biorock, which was developed by marine biologist Thomas Goreau and engineer Wolf Hilbertz in the 1970s.
The original intent of the technology was to develop low-cost struc- tures on land. It is typically used, however, to restore coral reefs. Frames of steel are placed onto ocean oors, and low-voltage current that is not harmful to marine life is passed through the frames.
This encourages minerals dissolved in the seawater to crystallise and begin to build up within a few days. The resulting material has self-repairing characteristics. A Master of Architecture student at Victoria University is currently investigating the idea as a possible tool to adapt to climate change-induced rising sea levels in some Paci c islands.
Quantum shift
Shifting from a built environment that is degenerating ecosystems to one that regenerates capacity for ecosystems and communities to thrive requires a rethink of typical architectural and urban design.
Living building design, in its many forms, reflects a shift from human-only or style-oriented design approaches. It requires a systems approach when designing the built environment where relationships between people and the rest of the living world are understood, harnessed and celebrated in a quanti able way.
Get involved
Join an online network or group.
Visit projects.
Apply the ideas to your own projects or collaborate.
Read up on the Living Building Challenge – see www.living-future. org/lbc.
Seek further training, such as:
· OtagoPolytech’sonlineCreatingLivingBuildings–Aprofessional
practice short course – see www.op.ac.nz.
· VictoriaUniversity’sSchoolofArchitecture–contactDrMaibritt
Pedersen Zari, [email protected]
84 — April/May 2016 — Build 153
PHOTO – ANA DERMER