Livegreen Blog
CO2Saverhouse
by Christiane Burklein on Monday, 30th January 2012 in Sustainable Architecture
Building sustainably, not only for the environment but for the pocketbook too, while achieving excellent aesthetic results: it’s perfectly possible, as demonstrated by the CO2Saverhouse designed by Peter Kuczia in Upper Silesia, Poland, on the shore of Laka Lake.
Use of local materials, recycled construction elements and traditional building techniques translated into low lifecycle costs and construction costs in general, so that this ecological home costs the same as a conventional home!
The house, covered with untreated larch wood alternating with coloured strips reflecting the shades of the land around it, blends into the landscape like a chameleon.
It is symmetrical on the outside, but not the same on the inside. Fibre cement strips frames views of the landscape through the insulated windows.
The home’s shape and its construction as a passive home optimise absorption of solar energy, and about 80% of the façade faces toward the sun. Key elements of the project include the glassed-in veranda (the flooring of which, made of strips of larch, extends onto the patio outside) and the “black box”, 3 floors covered in slate-coloured fibre cement siding rising above the wooden base. Solar energy is stored in the rammed-earth walls, improving comfort inside with natural climate control.
In addition to these passive solar energy measures, the house has solar collectors on the green roof, integrated with photovoltaic panels. The well-insulated home has a ventilation system with thermal recovery.
This project, designed to save energy and CO2 in the long term, has won Peter Kuczia a number of international awards including a nomination for the 2009 Mies van der Rohe Award.
Project: Peter Kuczia, http://www.kuczia.com
Location: Laka Lake, Poland
Photographer: Tomas Pikula
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