Environmental expression

Building regulations are being tightened to increase energy efficiency to the extent that conventional construction methods struggle to achieve the required standards. Many buildings which attempt to address energy conservation wear their hearts upon their sleeves, environmental expressionism as a badge of conscience. More compact products are evolving, and architects are becoming more adept at integrating them into the building envelope. The crop store at the Renewable Energy Centre in Hertfordshire by Studio E Architects for example is built into an earth bank with an array of solar collectors as the waterproof layer on its sloping roof. The glass roof not only collects energy for the rest of the Centre but also traps heat to dry the biomass fuel stored beneath. Conversely, a building with very high environmental credentials may not express them externally at all. The efficiency of solar collectors and wind turbines has not quite reached a level where it makes economic sense to install them. It is important that the technology is pushed by demand but in terms of actual, immediate environmental benefit the best value for money is achieved through measures such as additional insulation, sourcing materials with low embodied energy, minimizing air leakage and use of biomass fuel for space and water heating.