INTRODUCTION OF GREEN ARCHITECTURE

Sustainable architecture is a general term that describes environmentally

conscious design techniques in the field of architecture. Sustainable architecture is
framed by the larger discussion of sustainability and the pressing economic and
political issues of our world. In the broad context, sustainable architecture seeks to
minimize the negative environmental impact of buildings by enhancing efficiency
and moderation in the use of materials, energy, and development space. Most
simply, the idea of sustainability, or ecological design, is to ensure that our actions
and decisions today do not inhibit the opportunities of future generations. This term
can be used to describe an energy and ecologically conscious approach to the
design of the built environment.

Sustainable building materials

1.BRICKS
History

The use of bricks in the Modern period stems from a revival of brick making in the late 13th – early 14th centuries in
response to a combination of a shortage of local stone and the influence of Europe where brick was used extensively.
By the middle of the 16th century, brick making had become a distinct industry competing with stone as a structural
material.

As the industry grew, bricks became cheaper – leading to its travelling downwards through the social spectrum. With
the introduction of the railways in the 19th century, significant consignments of brick could for the first time be
transported from the brickfields, such as those in Bedfordshire, to the conurbations of London, the Midlands and the
industrial North where they were used to build terraces for housing a rapidly expanding working class.

In the 20th century, mechanisation largely replaced making bricks by hand and this with other innovations helped fuel
the building booms of the inter-war years and again in the 1960s and 70s following the rise in post war population.
Brick is a traditional building material. Heed is still paid to its almost unique quality of conveying a ‘genius locii’ upon
any building built from local clay. Brick construction itself continues to be regarded and taught as one of the
fundamental construction types of contemporary building, and the industry itself continues to flourish.

If the last few decades have brought opportunities through technological development, so too have they brought a
new scrutiny in which fired clay bricks are examined against their environmental impact. Within the current debate
concerning sustainable materials, brick is lined-up against a range of traditional and new materials. The brick industry
will be hoping to match its strong credentials of durability with tradition against alternative forms of construction
offering, particularly, reduced embodied energy.

Types of brick
Reclaimed bricks

With an estimated 2.5bn bricks1 resulting from demolition each year, it is not surprising that there is a healthy market
in reclaimed bricks. More of a surprise might be in the knowledge that only 5% of the 2.5bn are actually reclaimed –
50% are crushed and used in hardcore and fill.

The Demolition Protocol states that bricks have a recovery potential of 10% - rising to 100% in some buildings.

But what restricts the current recovery of usable bricks is complicated, though two factors are salient: the
uncompetitive pricing of reclaimed bricks compared with new units but also the (diminishing) quantity of bricks
available from pre-1940s buildings which include lime rather than the harder modern cement mortars which are more
difficult to remove from the brick.

However, there continues to be high levels of availability, with even large builders’ merchants now listed alongside
the traditional specialist suppliers.

The quality of new bricks is governed by BS EN 771-1 applied to the manufacturing process, but this, as might be
expected, is a standard unavailable to reclaimed bricks. Samples from a batch of reclaimed bricks can be tested, but
the results cannot be extended to establish the overall quality of the consignment. However, suppliers can go far in
providing assurances and this combined with modest assumptions about the likely performance of the bricks can
result in successful use.

Reuseable
Durable
Negligible embodied energy if sourced locally
No toxic emissions from a manufacturing process
Diverts demolition waste from landfill
Issues concerning quality assurance

Clay facing and common bricks

Clay facing and common bricks represent by far the greater output from manufacturers. Clay bricks can come in a
variety of forms, but one notable difference is that between perforated and solid where the former is both lighter and
slightly more resource efficient.

Manufacturing
The manufacturing process can be loosely divided into 4 stages.

Extraction (or Clay ‘Winning’)

Clay is removed from quarries and transported to the factory (though traditionally factories were usually adjacent to
the quarries). Once it has reached the factory the clay is ground down using rollers into fine powder before being
mixed with water.

Forming
Bricks can be formed by one of two basic processes:

Extrusion – Clay is forced through an extruder and out through a die into a continuous brick-shaped column. The
column is cut into single bricks ready for the dryers. Extruded bricks are generally perforated but cannot be frogged.

Soft mud moulding –Clay is ‘thrown’ into a mould which has been pre-lined with a releasing agent such as sand, oil
or water. The excess clay is removed from the top and the brick released from the mould. Prior to mechanisation, this
was all undertaken by hand – but the labour-intensive nature of the process and its consequential expense means
that in modern time ‘hand made’ bricks tend to be reserved for niche applications and ‘specials’.

Drying
To prevent moisture from causing bricks to explode in the kilns, they are first dried before being fired. Drying takes
place in conditions of between 80-120ºC, lasts for between 18 – 40 hours and can cause shrinkage of up to 10% on
each dimension.

Firing
The dried clay is fired to fuse clay particles and impurities (‘vitrification’) to produce the hard brick in its completed
form and livery. Bricks can be fired in either small batches in ‘Intermittant’ kilns or the more energy – efficient and
larger capacity ‘Continuous kilns’. On completion of firing the bricks are selected and packaged – a process that can
be either manual or automated.

Reusable if used with lime mortar

 Downcyclable into low-grade fill / aggregate
Durable
Large reserves
Un-reclaimable if used with Portland cement mortar
High embodied energy
High output of CO2
The firing of bricks can produce a bag of pollutants including fluorides, chlorides and oxides of nitrogen and
sulphur. Strict limits are placed on emissions in the UK.
Clay extraction has a long-term environmental impact on the landscape
Transportation can add considerably to the embodied energy

Thermal conductivity2

- Density 1200 kgm3: 0.36 W/mK (Protected); 0.36 W/mK (Unprotected);

- Density 1600 kgm3: 0.52 W/mK (Protected); 0.71 W/mK (Unprotected);
- Density 2000 kgm3: 0.70 W/mK (Protected); 0.96 W/mK (Unprotected);

Embodied energy
(3)
- General bricks: 3 (+/-1) MJ / kg or 2.67 MJ / kg (excluding transport to site) (7)
- Facing bricks: 8.2 MJ / kg (‘very small sample size’)(3)

Calcium Silicate bricks

Despite the method of using steam under pressure to cure sand and lime being patented in England in 1886, much of
the subsequent development and eventual use of calcium silicate bricks has prospered more in Europe than the UK.
Notable uses of the brick in London include Battersea Power Station and the RIBA building in Portland Place.

Calcium silicate (‘sandlime’ or ‘flintlime’) bricks are made by mixing quicklime or hydrated lime with silica sand
together with enough water to allow the mixture to be moulded. The mixture is left until the lime is completely
hydrated when it is pressed into moulds and cured in a high-pressure autoclave for two to three hours. In this process
the lime reacts with silica to form hydrated calcium silicates, producing a durable strong brick. The finished bricks are
very accurate and uniform, although the sharp arrises need careful handling to avoid damage to brick.
Through use of less energy and without the air pollutants associated with firing clay, calcium silicate bricks are
considered to render significantly less impact on the environment than clay bricks.

Reusable if used with lime mortar

Old bricks can be crushed and recycled into new bricks without loss of quality
Durable
Large reserves
Extraction of sand can cause landscape degradation
Transportation can add considerably to the embodied energy

Thermal conductivity2:

- Density 1700 kgm3: 1.04 W/mK (Protected); 1.12 W/mK (Unprotected);

- Density 2000 kgm3: 1.16 W/mK (Protected); 1.58 W/mK (Unprotected);

- Density 2200 kgm3: 1.51 W/mK (Protected); 2.06 W/mK (Unprotected)

Embodied energy3:

8.2 MJ / kg

Unfired Clay bricks (generally non-load bearing)

Unfired clay is one of civilisation’s oldest form of building material with origins located as far back as 14000 BC
around the Lower Nile.

Following in the wake of the widespread use of unfired clay in, particularly, Germany, UK architects are increasingly
attracted to the use of unfired clay in construction because of its perceived benefits to indoor air quality as well as its
very low environmental impact.
Commercially available unfired clay bricks are commonly made of an extruded mixture of clay, sand and water with
sawdust added as a binder, which is then air-dried.

Reusable and recyclable

Very low embodied energy
Very low waste
Large reserves
No emissions during manufacture
Can help to regulate humidity
Generally non load-bearing
Will degrade with prolonged exposure to water
Transportation can add considerably to the embodied energy
Can place restrictions on internal decoration

NOTE: WE MUST PUT ONLY MAN POINT ON POWER

POINT
2.RAMMED EARTH

Rammed Earth

• Rammed earth walls (aka pise) are constructed by the compacting (ramming) of moistened subsoil into place
between temporary formwork panels. When dried, the result is a dense, hard monolithic wall.

• Rammed earth is an ancient form of construction, usually associated with arid areas. There remain plentiful
examples of the form around the world – evidence that rammed earth is a successful and durable way of building. A
few historical rammed earth buildings are to be found in the UK.

• In recent years, rammed earth has become popular amongst environmentally-conscious architects as well as those
seeking an element of exoticism. Contemporary examples include:
- The Eden Project visitors’ centre in Cornwall
- The AtEIC building at CAT in Powys
- The Genesis Project in Somerset
- Rivergreen Centre at Aykley Heads in Durham
- Pines Calyx conference centre

• Though there is a growing number of buildings including rammed earth in the UK, its prospects of entering
mainstream construction as a structural material are limited due to formwork and labour costs involved together with
a climate that has relatively high humidity and moderate external temperatures.

• The likely future for the application of rammed earth is as:

- Thermal mass.
- Internal load-bearing unstabilised walls.
- External load-bearing stabilised walls.

Distinct appearance

Natural and readily available

Low embodied energy (a level similar to brick veneer construction)

Unstablised earth is reuseable post-demolition

High moisture mass, hygroscopic - helps regulate humidity

Use of local soils supports sustainability practices.

High thermal mass (though work is still underway to quantify its extent)

Airtight construction achievable

Traditional form of construction

Modern methods are widely tried and tested overseas eg Australia

Concerns over durability – requires careful detailing

Poor thermal resistance – external walls require additional insulation

Not all soil types are appropriate

High levels of construction quality control are required

Longer than average construction period

Few modern examples exist in the UK – relatively untested in UK climate.

High clay content can cause moisture movement. Structures may need to accommodate this.

No UK codes of practice

Adding cement stabilisation can compromise environmental credentials

Rammed Earth (RE) and Stabilised Rammed Earth (SRE)
Many of the shortcomings associated with the durability of rammed earth (primarily external surface protection, water
resistance, shrinkage and strength) can be averted by the addition of a stabiliser. This has become general practice
in Australia where it perceived to reduce uncertainty and risk. Though other forms have been used, the most common
stabiliser is cement, which when added typically makes up between 6 or 7% (by volume) of the mix.

The addition of cement (high embodied energy), however, is seen by many to compromise the environmental
credentials of rammed earth – though this might be balanced out when additional protection and maintenance of non-
stabilised rammed earth is built into the equation.

Building Regulations
For walls constructed from stabilised rammed earth (SRE):

Part A – Structure
• Rammed earth has proved to be suitable for loadbearing and non-loadbearing construction.
• Compressive strength is a maximum of 1MPa for unstabilised rammed earth and approximately 10MPa for
stabilised rammed earth.

Part B – Fire Safety

• Rammed earth can be classed as non-combustible material (Table A6).
• A 300mm wall is capable of providing fire resistance of at least 90 minutes.

Part C – Resistance of moisture

• Rising damp is prevented by DPCs.
• Penetrating moisture is limited through absorption and subsequent evaporation.
• Weather erosion is reduced / prevented through appropriate detailing eg extended eaves, raised plinths,
rainscreens etc.

Part E – Resistance to the passage of sound

• Rammed earth walls provide effective acoustic separation
• Where floors are supported by separating (party) rammed earth walls, design detailing should follow the norm for
other solid masonry walls, but with the additional requirement to accommodate moisture movement.

Part L – Conservation of fuel and power

• U-value of 300mm rammed earth wall "H 1.5 – 3 W/m2K, therefore insulation needs adding in external wall
applications.

Regulation 7 – Materials and Workmanship

• Fitness of rammed earth materials determined by sampling, lab testing of materials or precedence. (see below
SREregcompliance.pdf)
• Adequacy of quality is measured against provision of the specification, test panels and previous works.

• For more information on Building Regs compliance, refer to 'Stabilised Rammed Earth - Physical Properties and
Compliance with UK Building Regulations' published by Chesterfield Borough Council. The main source of reference
is Hall & Djerbib's 2004 study 'Rammed Earth Sample Production: Context, Recommendations and Consistency'.

Design issues

1 Insulation
• There are few examples of rammed earth walls combining insulation in the UK. Most contemporary walls remain
un-clad. The following suggested solutions have yet to be thoroughly tested.

• Because of rammed earth’s poor thermal performance, extra insulation will be required.

• Rammed earth is hygroscopic. Wherever walls are clad externally, cladding systems and finishes must be vapour-
permeable to allow evaporation. This is important for unstabilised walls, but less-so for stabilised walls where the
stabilising agent will impair breathing. Non-the-less, it might be wise to consider vapour permeable solutions for both
instances to reduce the chance of condensation build-up on the inside face of insulation.

• Vapour permeability is less of a concern when specifiying internally applied insulation - when moisture is
encouraged to evaporate externally. Internally, insulation specification is a lot more flexible, though its application
directly to the face of the wall should be avoided.

The strategic decision to be made is where to locate it - inside or outside - both have advantages and disadvantages:

External insulation

Wall is protected from weathering

 Exposed thermal mass internally

Loss of characteristic appearance externally

• Insulating render

Materials: hempLime, proprietary renders, mineral-based renders and hygroscopic insulation (see also: • Insulation
materials compared)

• Insulation board and render

Insulation materials: breathing insulation: cellulose slab, composite wood wool board (not cement-based), wood fibre
board, cork, hemp, hemp-lime . (see also: • Insulation products and • Insulation materials compared)
Render: limecrete, mineral render, glaster, proprietary permeable renders

• Rainscreen cladding
Insulation materials: breathing insulation: cellulose slab, composite wood wool board (not cement-based), wood
fibre board, cork, sheep's wool, hemp, hemp-lime (see also: • Insulation products and • Insulation materials
compared)
Cladding: wood, tiles, slate, board and polymer-based render, proprietary cladding systems

Internal insulation

External appearance maintained

Loss of available thermal mass

Free-standing studwork with infill insulation

asdf

Insulation materials: Cellular glass, Mineral wool slab, Expanded polystyrene, Phenolic foarm, Polyisocyanurate
(PIR), Polyurethane (PUR). (see also: • Insulation products and • Insulation materials compared)
2 Weather protection
• All water should drained away from the walls
• Walls should be constructed upon raised footings
• Avoid sites that are liable to flood
• Protect the wall where possible from rain using adjoining elements such as projecting roofs
• Allow excess moisture means to evaporate from walls
• On exposed sites, consider rainscreen cladding or render
• Water sealant protective coatings are not recommended

Protection given by the roof

• The eaves provide protection from rain. An emerging rule-of-thumb states that the overhang should be equivalent to
a third of the overall wall height. (source: Peter Walker)

Footings and base

• The DPC should be finished flush with the wall suface to avoid splash.
• Blue engineering brick might be considered as an alteranative to the DPC membrane.
• A filter drain will also reduce the height of splash by means of radom splash effect.
• As with all solid walls, ensure careful detailing to avoid cold-bridging.

Cork

Cork material is harvested from the cork oak (querbus?) tree, but instead of needing to
cut down the tree to source the benefit of the raw material, the bark (or outer skin) of the
tree is peeled off, and the tree is left to regenerate. Cork, as a raw material, is mainly
small microscopic pockets of air encapsulated by the cork fiber lignin. This cellular
structure gives cork products tremendous thermal and acoustic properties, as the air is
acts as “insulation”.
Cork
Cork comes from the Cork Oak Tree, found mainly near
the Mediterranean. Cork is made from the tree's bark but
does not kill the tree. It is naturally insect and fire resistant,
enjoys superior acoustic qualities, and is a great thermal
insulator. And when applied as flooring, does not look like
a "memo board" at all, but has sleek lines with a strong
durability. A perfect alternative for heavily used areas like
playrooms and work areas.

Cork Attributes/ Benefits:

Thermal Insulation – cork historically was used in refrigeration applications, such as in
the walls of freezers
Impermeability – Since the inter-connected pockets of air are truly so tiny and
microscopic, cork is also impermeable, and thus has excelled in its’ use for wine
bottling, and this use dates back to _______.
Softness – the pockets of air compress and then expand again, never collapsing within
the product core, giving the cork a resilience and memory. It has excelled for use as
flooring due to the softness under foot, as it is often recommended for people with back
pain who stand on a floor for an extended amount of time.
Design Flexibility – the beauty of the cork raw material is that it can be cut in
numerous ways that enable veneers of differing aesthetics to be made into highly
decorative surfaces. Cork conglomerate is a recycled cork material is also readily
available, and often used in conjunction with veneers.
Buoyancy – Cork floats, and has been used as buoys, floating decoys, and as runners
for pontoons and other water craft.
Slip resistance – cork, due to the softness and bounce-back, is very slip resistant, and
has been used extensively on the deck of naval ships.

Engineered lumber
A product created from small-diameter, fast-growing trees rather than old-growth timber,
engineered lumber offers a practical substitute for solid wood framing. It turns small
pieces of wood, combined with adhesives under heat and pressure, into strong, light,
straight structural materials that typically achieve better structural characteristics than
solid dimensional lumber.
The floor joists and structural beams and headers in this house are made fromTrus
Joist engineered lumber. This manufactured wood product is made of fibers from
second- and third-growth timber and from nontraditional tree species such as aspen and
poplar. The adhesive used to bind the wood fibers together is MDI (methyl diisocyanate)
polyurethane. It contains no formaldehyde, so there should be no off-gassing after
installation. It is highly toxic during the manufacturing process, however, so special
pollution-control and health safeguards are required. For worker safety, the pressing
process used to shape the wood product is remotely controlled, and the manufacturing
plants meet strin There's no need to use whole trees, large trees, or old trees to produce
engineered lumber products, so those resources can be conserved. In fact, engineered
lumber is made with about half the wood fiber of solid-sawn wood. And because
engineered wood is so strong, it's not necessary for a builder to combine multiple,
standard-size lengths to create a beam that stretches across a tall wall, a wide ceiling,
or the floor of a huge room. Instead, the builder can order a board cut to a precise
length—even if it's very long—which means less cutting on site and less waste heading
to landfills.

And, manufacturers like to point out, engineered wood, while a composite of different
kinds of wood fibers, still starts as trees, which are renewable and remove carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere.

Some manufacturers are taking the additional step of incorporating wood from
sustainably managed forests that are certified by programs such as the Forest
Stewardship Council, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, the Canadian Standards
Association, and the American Tree Farm System. Manufacturers of engineered wood
can earn certifications at different levels if they buy a substantial portion of their wood
from sustainable forests and keep tabs on the chain of custody of the product

gent environmental standards.

Medium-Density Fiberboard (MDF)

One of the concerns associated with particleboard and fiberboard in the past has been
urea formaldehyde offgassing. A new generation of board is now available that is made
with phenolic resins that do not offgas formaldehyde, yet are stronger than their
predecessors. Agricultural fiberboards often use MDI binders, which do not contain
formaldehyde, and may be preferable for indoor air quality.

Flooring
Bamboo was used for the flooring in the main rooms of the house. Bamboo is a rapidly
renewable resource. Unlike hardwood trees that require 40 or more years to mature,
bamboo is a grass that matures in less than six years and is harvested over and over
again from the same plant. It makes a highly durable floor covering, harder than oak
and more dimensionally stable than maple.
Bamboo
Quick Fact: Bamboo is not wood, but rather a type of a
grass. As it can grow up to 12" a day, it is very
environmentally friendly and quickly renewable. In fact, it
can be harvested in as little as 5 years. Bamboo is very
strong and stable, more so than many hardwoods. Yet it is
less likely to swell or shrink. It is easy to install, reasonably
priced, and the finished product holds a beautiful grain.

1.
2. The Palmyra House is a vacation home in the south of Mumbai that resonates
not just for its clean modern look but also for its rich selection of local sustainable
materials. Situated on the coast of the Indian Ocean, this handcrafted home was
sensitively placed in a coconut grove and much of its structure is made from the
materials harvested on site or nearby. The Palmyra House was recently honored
as one of 19 shortlisted entries in the 2010 Aga Khan Awards for Architecture —
read on to learn how modernism and materials meet to create this enlightened
retreat.
3.
4. According to Studio Mumbai Architects the superstructure is made
from ain wood, a local hardwood, and was constructed using traditional
interlocking joinery. They then wrapped the buildings with handmade
louvers made of palmyra palm trunk — also a hardy and local tree. The stone
foundation, as well as the sand for the plaster was also locally-sourced. Through
the amalgamation of appropriate materials the façade is in utter agreement with
its surroundings.
5. With help from the palms overhead and a ocean breeze, the home uses the
ancient technique of having an open skin to shed latent heat. An aqueduct
weaves though the grounds and ends at a pool between the two offset
structures. The interior is austere and refined to provide a calming sense of
order.