#16 Designing green buildings

Rudi Scheuermann Do plants hold the key to making cities healthier? Could we design buildings that don’t take away green space, but create it? That don’t demand energy, but generate it? Rudi Scheuermann of consultant Arup thinks so. By employing a range of design techniques including cladding structures in living plant walls and engineering bioreactive facades that generate biogas, he says that greener buildings can improve air quality, mitigate noise pollution and create healthier environments. With over 4.2 billion people living in cities, and buildings contributing to 36 per cent of global energy use, curbing their energy intensity and taking a new approach is vital if we are to limit the effects of climate change and meet the growing demands of urbanisation. With a further 2.5 billion people expected to move to cities by 2050 the pressure is on to create better structures that don’t cost the earth. GUEST Rudi Scheuermann, global building envelope design practice leader, Arup and author of “Cities Alive : Green Building Envelope” SPECIAL THANKS TO Arup Transport for London World Economic Forum Environmental Research Group, Kings College LondonThe post #16 Designing green buildings first appeared on Engineering Matters.