Dr Robert Vale | |
---|---|
Spouse | Brenda Vale |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Architecture |
Sub-discipline | ecological foot-printing,sustainable building design,zero energy housing,sustainable transport |
Institutions | Victoria University of Wellington |
Professor Brenda Vale and Doctor Robert Vale are architects, writers, researchers, and experts in the field of sustainable housing.
After studying architecture together at the University of Cambridge, in 1975 the Vales published "The Autonomous House", [2] a technical guide for developing housing solutions that are energy-self-sufficient, environmentally friendly, relatively easy to maintain, and have a traditional appearance. The book has been translated into five languages and is widely recognised as a basic text in the field of green building.
Through the 1980s the Vales designed a number of commercial buildings in England, notably the thick-walled, super-insulated Woodhouse Medical Centre in Sheffield.
In the 1990s the Vales completed two important green building projects in Nottinghamshire: the first in 1993, the first autonomous building in the United Kingdom, a four-bedroom house for themselves in the historic town of Southwell. Their book "The New Autonomous House" [3] documents the design and construction of this house, which is warmed and powered by the sun, produces its drinking water from rain, composts its effluent, and is consistent with its historic context. The house is completely off-grid except for the telephone line and a connection to the electrical supply. The latter supplies power from the grid when the occupants are using more electricity than is being produced by the solar panels mounted behind the house, and exports at times of surplus generation.
The other is the Hockerton Housing Project, five one-story residential units using the same design tactic of thick walls, thermal mass, and superinsulation.
In 1996, the Vales emigrated to New Zealand, where they held professorships at the School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington. [4] In previous years both worked at The University of Auckland, mainly as Doctoral research projects supervision. Brenda Vale supervised the master's research of Min Hall.
Commissioned by the Australian government, they have developed a unique building rating system called NABERS which measures the ongoing environmental impact of existing buildings. According to Brenda, this is their most important work.
Their controversial 2009 book, Time to Eat the Dog? The Real Guide to Sustainable Living, looks at the environmental impact and "carbon paw prints" (pet-generated carbon footprints) of household pets. [5] Among their research claims is that a medium-sized pet dog has twice the carbon footprint of SUV driven 10,000 kilometres (6,000 miles) per year, based on the estimated energy impact of food production and waste generation. [5] [6] In addition to carbon footprints, they analyse several popular types of pets with respect to their impacts on wildlife populations, spread of disease, and pollution. [7] The title is intended to shock. [6] Mathematical error claims have been made suggesting that the Vales' findings are out by a factor of 20, making the dog less emissions-creating than the car. [8] The authors suggest sharing pets, or raising "edible pets" such as chickens, rabbits or pigs, as a way of reducing or offsetting their environmental impacts. [6] Their 2008 proposal to Wellington City Council ban traditional pets in favour of edible pets was deemed unacceptable to councillors. [6]
The Vales are construction toy collectors, and advocates of instruction-free play for teaching concepts of structure, a foundation of architecture. [9] Their 2013 book, Architecture on the Carpet: The Curious Tale of Construction Toys, examines the thesis that the toys teach children architectural concepts that can later influence an adult architect's style of design. [10] The book looks at vintage sets of Lego, Meccano, Lincoln Logs, and more obscure products in the context of teaching concepts such as modularity and load-bearing construction. [9]
Arcology, a portmanteau of "architecture" and "ecology", is a field of creating architectural design principles for very densely populated and ecologically low-impact human habitats.
An autonomous building is a building designed to be operated independently from infrastructural support services such as the electric power grid, gas grid, municipal water systems, sewage treatment systems, storm drains, communication services, and in some cases, public roads.
A building or edifice is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, and have been adapted throughout history for numerous factors, from building materials available, to weather conditions, land prices, ground conditions, specific uses, prestige, and aesthetic reasons. To better understand the concept, see Nonbuilding structure for contrast.
The year 1954 in architecture involved some significant events.
Green building refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from planning to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition. This requires close cooperation of the contractor, the architects, the engineers, and the client at all project stages. The Green Building practice expands and complements the classical building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, and comfort. Green building also refers to saving resources to the maximum extent, including energy saving, land saving, water saving, material saving, etc., during the whole life cycle of the building, protecting the environment and reducing pollution, providing people with healthy, comfortable and efficient use of space, and being in harmony with nature Buildings that live in harmony. Green building technology focuses on low consumption, high efficiency, economy, environmental protection, integration and optimization.’
A low-energy house is characterized by an energy-efficient design and technical features which enable it to provide high living standards and comfort with low energy consumption and carbon emissions. Traditional heating and active cooling systems are absent, or their use is secondary. Low-energy buildings may be viewed as examples of sustainable architecture. Low-energy houses often have active and passive solar building design and components, which reduce the house's energy consumption and minimally impact the resident's lifestyle. Throughout the world, companies and non-profit organizations provide guidelines and issue certifications to guarantee the energy performance of buildings and their processes and materials. Certifications include passive house, BBC—Bâtiment Basse Consommation—Effinergie (France), zero-carbon house (UK), and Minergie (Switzerland).
Sustainable architecture is architecture that seeks to minimize the negative environmental impact of buildings through improved efficiency and moderation in the use of materials, energy, development space and the ecosystem at large. Sustainable architecture uses a conscious approach to energy and ecological conservation in the design of the built environment.
A Zero-Energy Building (ZEB), also known as a Net Zero-Energy (NZE) building, is a building with net zero energy consumption, meaning the total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is equal to the amount of renewable energy created on the site or in other definitions by renewable energy sources offsite, using technology such as heat pumps, high efficiency windows and insulation, and solar panels.
The sustainable city, eco-city, or green city is a city designed with consideration for social, economic, environmental impact, and resilient habitat for existing populations, without compromising the ability of future generations to experience the same. The UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 defines sustainable cities as those that are dedicated to achieving green sustainability, social sustainability and economic sustainability. They are committed to doing so by enabling opportunities for all through a design focused on inclusivity as well as maintaining a sustainable economic growth. The focus will also includes minimizing required inputs of energy, water, and food, and drastically reducing waste, output of heat, air pollution – CO2, methane, and water pollution. Richard Register, a visual artist, first coined the term ecocity in his 1987 book Ecocity Berkeley: Building Cities for a Healthy Future, where he offers innovative city planning solutions that would work anywhere. Other leading figures who envisioned sustainable cities are architect Paul F Downton, who later founded the company Ecopolis Pty Ltd, as well as authors Timothy Beatley and Steffen Lehmann, who have written extensively on the subject. The field of industrial ecology is sometimes used in planning these cities.
A prefabricated building, informally a prefab, is a building that is manufactured and constructed using prefabrication. It consists of factory-made components or units that are transported and assembled on-site to form the complete building. Various materials were combined to create a part of the installation process.
Hockerton is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire. It is 2 miles from the town of Southwell on the A617 between Newark and Mansfield. Fewer than 60 houses are situated around the church, the Spread Eagle pub and village hall. The population at the 2011 Census was 146. The local properties range from the carbon neutral housing of the Hockerton Housing Project to converted barns, 1960s and 1970s housing together with much older houses and a 19th-century Rectory. The parish church of St Nicholas is Norman with an aisleless nave and a 14th-century chancel.
Sustainable flooring is produced from sustainable materials that reduces demands on ecosystems during its life-cycle. This includes harvest, production, use and disposal. It is thought that sustainable flooring creates safer and healthier buildings and guarantees a future for traditional producers of renewable resources that many communities depend on. Several initiatives have led the charge to bring awareness of sustainable flooring as well as healthy buildings. Below are examples of available, though sometimes less well-known, eco-friendly flooring options. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America recommends those with allergies to dust or other particulates choose flooring with smooth surfaces – such as hardwood, vinyl, linoleum tile or slate.
The Hockerton Housing Project is a small community of five earth sheltered homes on the outskirts of Hockerton, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Green buildings in Australia are assessed and rated by a variety of government and independent ratings systems.
Environmentally sustainable design is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of ecological sustainability and also aimed at improving the health and comfort of occupants in a building. Sustainable design seeks to reduce negative impacts on the environment, the health and well-being of building occupants, thereby improving building performance. The basic objectives of sustainability are to reduce the consumption of non-renewable resources, minimize waste, and create healthy, productive environments.
Sustainable refurbishment describes working on existing buildings to improve their environmental performance using sustainable methods and materials. A refurbishment or retrofit is defined as: "any work to a building over and above maintenance to change its capacity, function or performance' in other words, any intervention to adjust, reuse, or upgrade a building to suit new conditions or requirements". Refurbishment can be done to a part of a building, an entire building, or a campus. Sustainable refurbishment takes this a step further to modify the existing building to perform better in terms of its environmental impact and its occupants' environment.
Sarah Wigglesworth MBE RDI is a British award-winning architect and was a Professor of Architecture at the University of Sheffield until 2016.
Low-impact development (LID) has been defined as "development which through its low negative environmental impact either enhances or does not significantly diminish environmental quality".
Street Farm was a London-based collective active in the early 1970s, with its origins in the Architectural Association (AA). Its core members were AA students Peter Crump, Bruce Haggart and Graham Caine.
Min Hall is a New Zealand architect and academic. She was the first female graduate in architecture at Victoria University of Wellington, in 1979. After practising in Nelson, she moved to lecturing at Unitec Institute of Technology in Auckland. She specialises in sustainable building materials such as earth and straw bales, and environmental issues in architecture. Hall is a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Architects.