Zuidkas project / Paul de Ruiter
The Zuidkas, an experimental project commissioned by the Government Building Agency, challenges architects with an imaginary office building of over 11,000 square meters in Amsterdam that demands innovative solutions. The main objective of the Zuidkas project is to achieve the highest possible score with regard to the fulfillment of environmental objectives.
Architect Paul de Ruiter and his team focused on nine aspects of sustainability, ranging from carbon reduction to energy savings. With these elements in mind, de Ruiter created a kind of miniature city that works as one building.
More about de Ruiter’s design after the break.
By creating one entity filled with different programmatic components, de Ruiter’s intent was to provide both an attractive, comfortable and healthy environment for people to live and work in, as well as a highly environmentally friendly atmosphere. The compact model of activities includes homes, offices, a school, parking facilities, retail stores, restaurants, a park and a biogas electrical plant.
de Ruiter’s model creates an opportunity to develop a more balanced response to the demand for energy. Depending on the program, the demand for energy will be different throughout the course of the day. For instance, in residential units, the energy demand spikes in the mornings and evenings while, in the case of offices, the energy demand reaches its highest point at the middle of the day. By placing these two programmatic components in the same building, energy can cycle from where it is needed presently to where it will be needed later. It is a logical and yet innovative approach to addressing an energy solution.
The placement of the programmatic elements is highly dependent on orientation. The office areas face the north because the heat of the sun during the summer months has less of an impact on the building. Due to the extremely high production of internal heat generated by computers, lighting and appliances, the north orientation will provide a fairly substantial natural cooling effect and require drastically less energy to cool the office spaces. Likewise the residential areas face the south because a home’s production of internal heat is much lower. The south orientation allows the sunlight to warm the interiors in the winter which makes a major contribution to the supply of heat.
The building is covered by a glass shell that creates a variety of climate buffer zones that naturally temper the effect of the outside climate. The heat surplus in the summer and the cold surplus in the winter will be stored in a geothermal storage system below the surface. This stored energy will be used when needed to heat or cool the building.
The building will also collect black water (toilet water) that will be converted into bigoas after it is led through the co-fermentation plant. This gas will serve as sustainable fuel for the power installation and the heat that is released in this process will be used to heat tap water. The CHP power installation will also produce high-quality energy in the form of electricity. The rainwater collected on the roof, approximately 4,130 m³ per year, is more than sufficient to supply the greenhouses and flush the toilets. The remainder of the collected water can be used for the washers and various household activities.
Paul de Ruiter’s approach to the Zuidkas is highly reasoned and although the building is driven by sustainable aspects, those aspects work to create an architectural statement.
RT @archdaily: Zuidkas project / Paul de Ruiter http://bit.ly/FFavb
It’s a nice
too many homeless people. why give trees a penthouse?
greenhouse benefits everybody indoors in a variety of ways & has positive domino effect for our planet… I am curious what shallowrooted trees & shrubs would be planted/recommended??? Let us all know plse
Exelent!
ссссссс АЙССС !!!
wow
now change all those plants into farms and you’ve got yourself a biodome. ;)
#architecture Zuidkas project / Paul de Ruiter:
The Zuidkas, an experimental project commissioned .. http://bit.ly/19MrjP
Zuidkas project / Paul de Ruiter – http://shar.es/XfHW
I think, as part of any sustainable development from hereon in, designers should incorporate community farms and gardens, which would allow people to be self-sufficient to an extent.
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed
Paul de Ruiter,sir, you are obviously in touch with the harmonies of nature and a good sense of architectural need. May we house those who need in a sensible structure, and heed the necessity of sustainability in our lives. Peace, Ed Hines
This is a fantastically well thought out design…great sustainability features combined with nice aesthetics. A rooftop forest is a fantastic idea and a place I would love to wander through. Incorporating farms would also have been great.
The roof garden is still too optimistic. Iwould rather think that it will be a very epensive ‘garden’ to harvest a tomato from. ;-) Yet so far so interesting. I rather suggest to pipeline the building with region’s glass houses…
likes every other buildings..
This just about complete my image of cities as islands on a sea of tarmac. Resolve that first please. Why do architects always think that our cities are in dire need of correcting? Perhaps it would be more effective to cast their attention to the regions with urgent and real humanitarian need?
Ok, off with my soap-box … then please please build it so that we can once and for all applaud or put it to bed? I fear this would be a live-long ambition rather then an overnight quick-fix.
i think is perfect… nice and good for the nature…
Excellent, simple and well thought out.
Veg patches up top would add to the general brilliance
greenhouse & integrated system benefits everybody – sustainability & the greenifying of cities&towns should be fundamentaly part of any future planning & ‘developments’
… I am curious what shallowrooted trees & shrubs would be planted/recommended??? Let us all know plse