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Medieval design makes for efficient eco house |
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18 Feb 2009, 2:49 PM
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Energy bills will be a thing of the past in the 'eco-house' of the future thanks to a combination of the latest renewable energy technology and building techniques from hundreds of years ago.
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The zero carbon building, developed by University of Cambridge architects as a prototype for future living, is based on a 600-year-old Medieval design that retains heat from the sun while cooling naturally in the summer..
The unusual dome-like design is based on a Medieval technique, originating in Spain, known as "timbrel vaulting". The four-bedroom "Eco-house", featured on the Channel 4 programme Grand Designs, cost £445,000 to build. However, with the price of renewable technologies set to plummet it could be an affordable and practical option for the future.
The building materials used were environmentally friendly, such as locally-sourced timber and recycled newspaper for insulation. The house was also straightforward to build. The four bedroom Crossway house in Staplehurst uses a large vault constructed out of clay tiles spanning 20m to create a structure with a low embodied energy and high thermal mass.
The basic design is adapted from a historic Mediterranean technique called “timbrel vaulting”, which uses thin bricks to create lightweight and durable buildings.
The arch uses three layers of locally made, overlapping tiles – creating an overall thickness of 100mm – which is then covered with insulation and a waterproofing layer followed by 20 tonnes of gravel and soil, topped with plants to help it blend in with it's surroundings and make up for the lost habitat space taken up by the footprint of the house.
Any necessary heating comes from solar energy through the UK's first example of a combination photovoltaic and thermal heating system. An 11kW biomass boiler has also been installed, along with triple glazed windows, some of which had to be imported specially as they are not on sale in the UK.
Michael Ramage, who is based at the University of Cambridge Department of Architecture, predicted future developments will look more and more like the eco-house. "The design is cost-effective in that the home is relatively simple to build and, once you know what you're doing, it's quick," he said. "Many of the costs come from the new technology it uses for energy storage and generation. If those become more widely available, making a similar house cheaply in much larger quantities may be possible."
At the moment the Government is under pressure to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. With more than a quarter of carbon emissions coming from households, improving the efficiency of homes is a major part of ongoing policy with all new homes to be zero-carbon by 2016.
Credits:: Photo: MASONS NEWS SERVICE
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