Over the last decade in Denmark, there has been an increased focus on designing low energy houses to achieve a more sustainable way of living. The goal of this thesis “The Green village – a proposal for urban living in dense cities” is to present a reinterpretation of the classic terraced house with close connection to the urban landscape in order to develop a more sustainable, denser alternative way of living to the otherwise more popular Danish single family house.
This thesis investigates the possibility of creating a new, denser way of living in cities so as to reduce the requirement for cars, thereby reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The distinct qualities of the traditional single family house and the terraced house have been merged together to create a new denser typology which can attract families with children. The chosen location for this project is located in the municipality of Høje Taastrup, located in northeast Zealand, 20 kilometers west of the Danish capital Copenhagen.
A survey conducted in Denmark showed that domestic houses are responsible for 30 % of the total energy consumption. Therefore, the focus is on designing and building a house type with a low consumption of energy and heat, containing integrated renewable resources such as solar cells.
The thesis is inspired by two large Danish low energy house projects: a passive house project designed to minimize heat and energy consumption, called “Comfort House” from 2008; and an active house project called “Home for Life” from 2007, which was designed to minimize consumption and is self-sufficient in producing energy and heat.
The lessons learned from these two projects are being used to develop a new version of an active house. The active house concept and integrated design process method have been used to create a holistically designed dwelling that takes account of environment, energy and indoor climate factors. In this thesis, I will use older and newer climate design methods to develop a proposal for a low energy house with a pleasant indoor climate for Danish families to live in.
I use climatic design methods to fulfill the demands for Danish energy class 2020, which stipulates a maximum consumption on 20 kWh/m2 year. I have integrated solar cells and heat pumps in the envelope in order to strive for a house that is self-sufficient in producing both electricity and heat.
The active house concept focuses partly on how to create a link between the houses and the surrounding contexts. To attract families with children to live in a denser way to reduce use of cars, the terraced houses are designed with a strong connection to a designed urban green landscape to create life between the buildings.