Sustainability

Innovative and sustainable thinking is central to us. As a result, we have experience in building energy-positive homes or buildings. When developing an energy-positive concept, we look closely at solar radiation, sun protection, and the use of natural air flows.

People often think of recycling when they think of a circular economy, but it is much more than that. A circular system requires changes or transitions in the system that go beyond simply increasing recycling. Seven steps can be distinguished:

1. Awareness and reduction: using resources more efficiently because we think in a different way. Create awareness about the products and production processes to see how issues are currently being solved
2. Redesign: design resources in a different way, for example by thinking about possible reuse, repair, and recycling during the design process. This can be done with 3D printers for example
3. Reuse: reuse products
4. Repair and remanufacture: repair, maintain, and revise products
5. Recycling: processing and reusing materials. So this is only the fifth step!
6. Recovery: recovering energy from materials
7. Disposal: if there really is no other option, the product will be ‘disposed’. It always tries to recover energy first or perform one of the other previous steps

The demand for passive building is increasing worldwide – and for good reason. This principle makes the building a lot more sustainable and also cheaper to maintain in the long run. The basic principle of passive construction is that construction is energy-neutral. The core idea is that you don’t have to generate or store what you don’t consume.

How exactly does this work? There are five principles:

1. Optimal insulation
2. Special frames and triple glass
3. Balanced ventilation with HRV
4. Optimal crack sealing
5. Preventing thermal bridges

If all these points are in order, the heat demand is a lot lower than for a normal building. A small installation is therefore sufficient. This saves costs for installations, but also significantly reduces the costs for maintenance and replacement.

Besides the financial benefits, passive building is much more sustainable. As little heat as possible is lost and there is a healthy and comfortable indoor climate. In addition, passive buildings are future-oriented and retain their value. Passive building can be used for both new construction and renovation, so it can be taken into account already at the stage of brainstorming about a project.

People often have negative associations with ‘sustainable architecture’. With our work, we want to show that sustainable architecture can also be impressive. Aesthetics and sustainability are not mutually exclusive, but can in fact reinforce each other. Driven by sustainability, we create innovative and innovative architecture with intrinsic beauty. Because we believe that valuing the beauty of buildings is an important condition for creating a more sustainable world.