Mid-semester break : Basic principles of green building design

(Source: Google image, 2016)

Building is a development behavior of human beings to change and adapt to the surrounding environment. Building behavior contains the consumption, change and transformation of natural resources. It is clear that these acts have an impact on the environment in all aspects and it will also affect the sustainable development of human. ‘Green’ is a symbol of nature, ecology, life and vitality. It is a symbol of the harmonious coexistence between human and nature, and it is appropriate to express the concept and connotation of sustainable development. The development of green building is the result of considering green concept in the construction field. It will also become the dominant trend of the future architecture.

Compared with the traditional building, green building should follow the following basic principles: 

1.     Pay attention to life cycle analysis of the building

The initial planning, design period of the construction, operation and the final demolition form the life cycle of a building. Taking into account the building materials, this cycle should also be included in the mining, transportation and processing of raw materials, construction waste, garbage disposal and the whole process. Attention to life cycle analysis of the building not only means considering and use environmental factors in design stage, but also ensure to minimize the effect on the environment in construction process and provide people with healthy, comfortable space .

2. Adapt to natural conditions and protect the natural environment

The architectural design should make full use of the natural conditions around the site, preserve and utilize the topography, landform, vegetation and natural water system to maintain the continuity of historical culture and landscape. Give full consideration to the ecological environment of the local climate characteristics, architectural style, size and surrounding environment to maintain coordination; Minimize the negative impact on the natural environment, such as reducing harmful gas, the discharge of wastes, reduce the damage to the ecological environment.  

3. Create a healthy and comfortable environment.

Green building should consider the needs of users, and strive to create a beautiful and harmonious environment; Improve the indoor comfort, and the indoor environment quality; Ensure safety, reduce environmental pollution and create conditions for people to improve work efficiency.  

4. Resource saving and comprehensive utilization

Green building should be optimized design and management, selection of applicable technologies, materials and products; The rational use and optimize the allocation of resources and reduce the possession and consumption of resources; Maximize the use efficiency of resources, energy and raw materials, and actively promote resource comprehensive utilization; extend the service life of the whole building and enhance the performance and adaptability. 

Reference List:

Scott, A. (2006). Design Strategies for Green Practice. Journal of Green Building, 1(4), pp.11-27.

Wenku.baidu.com. (2014). The design principles and main points of green building. [online] Available at: http://wenku.baidu.com/view/5055254014791711cc791798.html?from=search [Accessed 29 Mar. 2016].

Week 4 Reading reflection (2)

•         Economic dimension

Economic growth was closely accompanied by social development in the process of rapid urbanization especially in developing countries. Economic dimension may have effect on finance, incentives and industrial sectors. Several cases were used to analysis how to balance economic activities and ecological preservation.

•         Governance dimension

Governance was one of the dimension, authors chose 7 indicators to evaluate the performance of sample cities. But actually indicators of governance dimension were not included as a specific section in their plans (Shen et al., 2011). They suggested that good governance is necessary to create equality of access to resources along with social participation and judicial means of redress are all part of the institutional framework necessary to support sustainable development (Bentivegna et al., 2015). Because the special background in China, authors mentioned that the development of sustainable urban development were accomplished with different policies started from Opening-up policy in 1978. Several concepts of sustainable development such as Green City, Eco-city or Low-carbon Eco-city occurred in China; government policy played a role as guidance to lead these concepts. And many city concepts have been adapted and used by central and local governments in different periods in China (Liu et al., 2014).

Sustainable city means economic growth and social justice. It is an eco-friendly city in which allows citizens to obtain the high quality of life. Also sustainable city is the target of city development which emphasis more about development direction instead of final state. In the whole process, natural resources should be used effectively and efficiently. At the same time, exploring new technologies to improve socio-economic levels as well satisfy the peoples’ needs and take responsibility for the future generation.

Week 4 Reference List:

•         Bentivegna, V., Curwell, S., Deakin, M.,et al. (2015). A vision and methodology for integrated sustainable urban development : BEQUEST A vision and methodology for integrated sustainable urban development, 3218(December).

•         Liu, H., Zhou, G., Wennersten, R., & Frostell, B. (2014). Analysis of sustainable urban development approaches in China. Habitat International, 41, 24–32.

•         Shen, L., Ochoa, J. J., Shah, M. N., & Zhang, X. (2011). The application of urban sustainability indicators e A comparison between various practices. Habitat International, 35(1), 17–29.

Week 4 Reading reflection (1)

Urban areas are facing greater challenges, because of population growth and city expansion. The authors identified some dimensions and chose several indicators in these three articles. The common points are environmental, economic, social and governance aspects.

•        Environmental dimension

The rapid urbanization is often at the expense of the loss of valuable ecosystems and lands for satisfying the urban demands. Authors used 10 indicators to measure the performance of 9 sample cities with respect to environmental dimension (Shen et al., 2011). Similarly, environmental stressed include depletion of natural resources, pollution, excessive land use with consequent loss of biodiversity (Bentivegna et al., 2015). At the same time, China is facing enormous challenges to keep balance sustainable use of resources and environmental protection (Liu et al., 2014).

•         Social dimension

Urban population has been increasing and it is estimated to reach 70% of total world population by 2025. Social sustainability was considered as one of the indispensable dimensions for measuring urban sustainability (Shen et al., 2011). In order to promote social sustainability, equitable distribution of opportunities and resources was one of the vital aspects. The authors mentioned that social stress is often associated with poor sense of community (Bentivegna et al., 2015). While in paper they suggested that people’s lifestyle has to be taken into account (Liu et al., 2014).

Week 3 China and Hong Kong's green building rating system

China’s green building rating system

In 2007, ‘Green Building Evaluation Standard’ was recognized as the design and evaluation standard in China. After assessing by experts of the minister of construction and passing, ‘green building rating logo’ was granted, which divided into three levels from low to high. Simultaneously, ministry of construction also underwent “ Green Building Innovation Award “ and “ low-energy and green building double hundred demonstration project” and other policies to promote the vigorous development of China’s green building industry.

Hong Kong’s green building rating system—HK-BEAM

HK-BEAM mainly base on the framework of BREEAM of the UK. The evaluation of constructions mainly includes the new and old office and residential buildings. The rating system focuses on the overall environmental performance of buildings. The evaluation of building environmental performance includes base, energy, materials, indoor environment, water, innovation and improvement.


Reference List

Zhu, R., Wang, Q. and Li, N. 2014, ‘A Study on the Weight of Indicators of Foreign Typical Green Assessment Systems for Existing Building’, CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY, 43(10).