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Housing in Aalborg: Zero-energy

Danish Zero-energy Housing: Residential Development in Denmark design by C. F. Møller Architects

1 Dec 2009

Design: C. F. Møller Architects

Housing+ Aalborg

Housing+ Zero-energy Collective Housing in Aalborg

As one of five consortia, C. F. Møller Architects have designed a proposal for the pilot-project Housing+, for 60 zero-energy housing units on the Aalborg Waterfront. Only two of the proposals managed to abide to the strict demands set out for energy-efficiency – in C. F. Møller’s case achieved through a combination of architectural design and user-focused technical innovation.

The Housing+ concept sets the ambitious target of a zero-energy housing scheme, which also includes the tenant’s primary household energy consumption. The complex will thus be 100% relying on renewables.

Central to the project is the use of integrated energy-design to generate the concept of tomorrow’s housing, producing more energy than it consumes. This is achieved by optimizing the inherent passive gains of the main volume, and shaping it to take advantage of the orientation and potential for active solar energy-collection.

The project’s building mass is therefore deliberately overstepping the prescribed zonal masterplan envelope, to achieve economical sustainability through a better balance between the initial building costs and the necessary investment in renewable energy sources, something which many existing masterplans do not take into account.

The 60 units take the form of a sloped volume, from 12 to 4 storeys, creating a large south-facing roof-plane, ideal for solar energy, and just the right size to supply the housing units. This optimized shape also creates a landmark silhouette, prominently positioned between Aalborg’s bridges.

The roof-plane stretches all the way into the Limfjord, where it shelters a public gazebo and café. The extension of the roof underlines the dramatic shape of the building, and the entire surface of the roof becomes the building’s power plant using both solar cells, solar heating and a combination of the two.

The housing is built to passive-house standards, ensuring reduced energy consumption for heating and hot water supply, which can thus be covered by the solar array and heat pumps operating on fjord water temperatures. A 3 meter wide by 12 meter tall highly insulated water-tank is integrated to store the generated energy during daytimes.

The 1200 m2 solar array produces sufficient power to cover the annual 1740 Kwh electricity demand of each unit, a total of 104.400 Kwh. The building need not be connected to an external CHP.

4 vertical low-noise wind turbines take advantage of the windy location for additional power generation, and to recharge electric cars.

The jury report highlights the project, among other things, as “a radical proposal, which by deliberately overstepping the planning regulations raises important issues about how existing and future masterplans can or should enable on-site renewable energy generation, at a scale to achieve true zero-energy schemes.”

The project is designed by C. F. Møller Architects in cooperation with Moe & Brødsgaard, Cenergia, Phillips, Schüco, Erik Juul and Vogt landscape.

Housing+ Zero-energy Collective Housing in Aalborg – Building Information

Client: Enggaard A/S
Size: 7400 m2
Year: 2009
Address: Nørre Sundby, Aalborg, Denmark
Architect: C. F. Møller Architects
Landscape architect: Vogt Landscape
Engineer: Moe & Brødsgaard
Consultants: Cenergia, Phillips, Schüco, Erik Juul

Housing+ Aalborg images / information from C. F. Møller Architects

Location: Nørre Sundby, Aalborg, Denmark, northern Europe