The 2005 World Sustainable Building Conference, 10-037 , 27-29 September 2005 (SB05Tokyo) OPEN BUILDING AND SUSTAINABILITY IN PRACTICE Frans van der Werf Msc, Arch BNA.1

1 Frans van der Werf, Organic and Urban Design, Tolweg 12, 2042 EL Zandvoort, the , [email protected]

Keywords: Open Building, Pattern Language, sustainable technology, user participation

Summary The concept of Open Building relates decision making to constructing and maintaining the built environment. It provides the framework for incorporating conditions for user participation, environmental sustainability, public as well as personal health and wellbeing. This paper give a personal account of four key projects designed in my practice of architectural and urban design. First the underlying objectives of the designs are explained: sustainable quality of the built in relation to the natural environment, human wellbeing and user participation. Secondly, the methods applied, are discussed. Open Building provides the framework for decision-making. The Pattern Language is used to communicate design decisions with the users and user groups. The latest insights in ecological building are applied, experimented with and evaluated. Next, these experiences are illustrated by four built projects, the most recent one currently being under construction. In the final analysis it is concluded that the shortest route to a sustainable built environment can be found by connecting a well-structured process of decision making to user participation and sustainable technology.

1. Introduction The sustainability of the built environment has many facets. First of all, the urban fabric needs to be designed in such a way that it can sustain for a very long time. It offers the capacity to contain elements with a shorter life cycle, such as buildings. These buildings need to be designed as base buildings, offering the capacity for fit outs that turn over with changing needs of its inhabitants. John Habraken and the SAR laid the groundwork for this approach, I am happy to have joined this office in the early seventies, having contributed to studies on how to design the urban fabric. Or should we say Open Building? A built environment sustains only if their inhabitants can relate to it. They need to connect and only then the users will decorate it, maintain, defend it, in sort sustain it. Therefore user participation is essential. A sustainable built environment is the construction industry’s contribution to a sustainable natural environment, our environment to survive and to pass on to next generations. Saving materials by shaping them into better spaces in turn, is the first step to make people feel better, it contributes to our physical and mental wellbeing. This not only touches upon the way we select and connect building parts, it also directs the choices of building materials. Open Building offers the framework for my holistic approach to making a built environment that works and gets better over time. Let me try to relate decision-making to user participation and technology as a means to sustain our environment.

2 Applied methods In my architect’s career, I have always had a strong believe in transparency of decision making as a condition for a built environment people love to live in. Open Building structures decision-making, the Pattern Language is the medium to communicate. Information technology is used to connect decisions to construction. This provides the framework to apply the rich body of knowledge on organic architecture and ecological use of materials.

2.1 Open Building If we want to build an environment that sustains and gets better as it ages, we have to appreciate how this process works. John Habraken (1961) and his research staff the SAR (acronym for the Dutch Foundation for Architects Research) suggested to decouple, yet coordinate the urban fabric (‘tissue level’), containing base buildings (‘support level’), containing fit-outs (‘infill level’). The higher level offers capacity to the lower level; specifying the performance of the lower level briefs the higher level. I have always used this layered system of decision-making hands on in my work. This was reported on in my book Open Ontwerpen (‘Open Design’ (1993). Habraken has described the theoretical basis in The Structure of the Ordinary (1998).

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2.2 Pattern Language Christopher Alexander developed the pattern language as a design tool. The language consists of a large set of ‘patterns’. Each pattern describes in generic terms a spatial solution for general problems, we encounter in the built environment. The patterns follow a fixed format (1977). Patterns can be used as generic guidelines to develop specific spatial design, related to a real project. I have been inspired by existing patterns and written new ones from the outset. By using patterns as a means to communicate with different parties in the design process (from institutional clients to end users), it was given a new dimension. Patterns can describe design directions, before the design is made. These patterns can be used to establish agreement with the parties concerned. After completion of the design, the parties concerned can then check if the architect did his job well, within the conditions agreed upon. Thus the pattern language is used to communicate complex ideas about solutions with non-professional parties, who do understand the generic explanations from generic problem to generic guidelines for the spatial solution.

2.3 Full-scale mockups The fit-out of a dwelling is the domain of the dweller, this can be a one or multi-person household. In a series of sessions, the architect has to learn about the dwellers demands and desires. This can be done around the table, using physical models or computer simulations. I prefer to make sketches during the sessions. The results can then be tested in a one to one full-scale mock-up of the dwelling. To this purpose, the space laboratory of the Eindhoven University of Technology was used.

2.4 CAD systems Every design decision translates into costs. In open ended design and decision-making processes as described above, there will be no two dwellings the same, therefore traditional ways to determine the total costs per dwelling fall short. Already in the stone age of computing we had our custom-made software application that kept track of design decisions and its required materials, parts and components to equip the desired dwelling. Now these programs are widely available, some of them highly sophisticated. The client instantly knows the rent or mortgage implications of any decision made.

2.5 Body of knowledge Above, the ingredients of a transparent decision making process were described as a condition for building a sustainable environment. This is sustainability in terms of quality of the build space. Of even greater importance are the materials used, and the way they are arranged. Buildings need to be energy efficient, materials need to be selected on their lowest possible embodied energy and replaceability. The use of natural materials and highly engineered design go hand in hand. Within the idiom of consciously selected materials they are arranged in a way that deviates from the modernist style of orthogonal building. This is referred to as organic design (figure 1).

Figure 1 The organically shaped plan of a housing project including health care facilities in Nieuw Bergen, completed in 2002 The 2005 World Sustainable Building Conference, Tokyo, 27-29 September 2005 (SB05Tokyo)

3 Four projects Open Building, Pattern Language, well-engineered organic design and IT are applied in all projects of my architects’ practice. In this section four projects are mentioned to illustrate the above. They span the beginning of my carreer (the Molenvliet project) until today, with the presentation of a project, still under construction (the Stadshagen project).

3.1 Molenvliet (1978) This project is located in the city of Papendrecht (greater Rotterdam region), the Netherlands and is a key project in my works, (my first large project) as well as in the history of Open Building. It is a social housing project of 123 units. The tissue design is based on a sequence of courtyards, arranged around streets and connected by alleys. The courtyards alternate in public and private use. The plan has a strict zoning of buildings, public green and parking (figure 2). The support structure consists of load bearing walls with openings that could be bricked up in order to allocate separate spaces to individual dwellings (figure 3). All elements were described in patterns and discussed with the local authorities. Once the dwellers were known, we had individual sessions to establish the infills.

Figure 2 Molenvliet, Papendrecht

Figure 3 Molenvliet, Papendrecht, support under construction The 2005 World Sustainable Building Conference, Tokyo, 27-29 September 2005 (SB05Tokyo)

3.2 Pelgromhof (2001) The Pelgomhof is a project in Zevenaar (close ot Arnhem, in the eastern part of the Netherlands). The project integrates social housing with healthcare and public facilities, such as a restaurant, a theatre, additional services and parking. It was my first large project to apply the latest insights in organic architecture (figure 4). Energy and water saving by individual heat pumps and boilers as well as planted roofs were engineered to the state of the art. All new dwellers consulted the architect in order to decide about the lay- out of their new apartment (figure 5).

Figure 4 Pelgromhof, Zevenaar

Figure 5 Pelgromhof, Zevenaar infill options

The 2005 World Sustainable Building Conference, Tokyo, 27-29 September 2005 (SB05Tokyo)

3.3 Romagne (2002) This is the architect’s and summer retreat, it was owner built and in many respects an object of experimentation, learning, teaching and evaluation (figure 6). The main structure has low embedded energy by using timber and mud plastered straw (figure 7). The house is equipped with a system of low-tension electrical power, solar energy for hot tap water and room heating by a water-filled system of wall heating by radiation. The ground floor is thermally insulated by the use of air cushions. The timber is protected against the elements by non-toxic paint.

Figure 6 Romagne, France, south facade

Figure 7 Romagne, France, straw walls

The 2005 World Sustainable Building Conference, Tokyo, 27-29 September 2005 (SB05Tokyo)

3.4 Stadshage (2005) The Stadshage project is located in Zwolle (Mid East Netherlands). It contains 51 units for rental as well as selling (figure 8). A dweller’s collective initiated it, a local housing corporation ‘Delta Wonen’ directs the process of decision-making. The collective dwellers to be have a maximum say in laying out the public outdoor spaces. Individually they determine their domain of the infill level. Bio-ecological principles will be applied.

Figure 8 Stadshage, Zwolle

4 Conclusion These four projects were pivotal in my works. They represent a gradual shift from modernist functionalist architecture towards organic building. This was not a dramatic change, it was a gradual shift based on growing insights. It shows a deepening of the application of the concept of Open Building, a new interpretation of the Pattern Language in order to better communicate with all parties involved and the use of basic ecological knowledge engineered to the highest possible level. It is an exploration to gain more by using less.

References

Habraken, N.J. 1961, Supports an alternative to mass housing, London 1972, Amsterdam 1961 (Dutch version). Habraken, N.J. 1998, The Structure of the Ordinary, MIT press Cambridge. Werf, F. van der, 1993, Open Ontwerpen, 010 Publishers, Rotterdam. Alexander C. A. et al., 1977, A Pattern Language, Oxford University Press, New York.