Green guru: the Scandinavian way
Morten Schmidt outlines the key principles in designing environmentally friendly housing the Scandinavian way
Open spaces
Rooms in Nordic housing have a minimum space of 10 metres square and promote an open-plan style of living, as it is considered to be the most efficient use of space.
This means designing housing without corridors to create large rooms, increasing the amount of usable, flexible, adaptable space, thereby getting the most out of your materials and saving money.
Insulation
Since the 1950s, legislation has meant a high level of insulation has been a requirement in Scandinavian housing, not only in the walls but also in the floors and roofs.
Double glazing has also been a standard since the 1950s. Scandinavian window systems have developed accordingly and are now proving to be very popular in the UK. The technical development of these systems builds upon the principle of an insulated, two layer window frame, utilising the resources and advanced techniques of the local timber industry.
The addition of metal to the composite window has combined the advantages of both materials. The metal coverings to the external frame add strength to the timber and therefore allow a reduction in the frame size to improve sight lines, as well as reducing maintenance of the window frame. Having timber on the internal side of the frame still makes the windows desirable for a domestic interior.
Daylight
Good ecological design should be factored in from the start. The design of our houses maximises the effect of relatively simple but important design features, in particular the orientation of buildings and harnessing the full potential of solar energy and heat from used air temperatures.
Energy use
Instead of using individual heating systems in each building, Scandinavian cities use a less energy-hungry method, consisting of a centralised heating system that creates hot water which is piped around the city directly into people’s homes.
External heat pumps are also commonplace in Scandinavian housing. A series of underground pipes, which lie buried onsite, are used to relay ground heat into the building. These systems would be appropriate to schemes in the UK where land is available.
Morten Schmidt is co-founder of Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects
Lystrup, Denmark
At this development, built between 2005 and 2007 by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, the 130 small houses all adhere to an environmental strategy to reduce energy consumption to as low as 15kW/h per square metre per year, equivalent to Passivhaus standards. Each house maximises the use of daylight, which is controlled by shading devices to ensure the building’s temperature can be regulated naturally.
Internal ventilation is aided by the stack effect of wind towers, complemented by an internal veranda that acts as a thermal buffer zone. The heavy mass of the building envelope is used to store energy and stabilise inner temperature variations.
As with most Scandinavian housing, Lystrup is built from natural materials. Throughout, environmentally labelled products have been sourced, such as sustainable timbers, paper insulation and non-toxic paints.
A highly efficient water saving system is used, incorporating the surrounding natural wetlands as an integral part of the rainwater gathering system. Water collected by the rooftops drains into open channels, adjacent to the paths leading to a lake. The project cost £7 million.
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