The Zero Energy Project has found a new home withinElemental Green, a leading green building media company dedicated to accelerating adoption of more sustainable residential building products and techniques.
By joining forces, the Zero Energy Project will reach a wider audience and have a greater opportunity to build consumer demand for zero energy and zero carbon homes, while encouraging building professionals to increase supply. Elemental Green and the Zero Energy Project, in partnership, aim to further our reach and impact – improving the discovery process for new products and professional services, and increasing understanding of how we can build homes that are energy efficient, sustainable, and healthy.
Thank you for being part of the Zero Energy Project story and for continuing that journey jointly with Elemental Green as we all work toward creating a zero-carbon future.
Joe Emerson Founder, The Zero Energy Project Advisory Board, Elemental Green
Dutch studio AMO has used pillows to form the display stands and line the walls in this tactile womenswear boutique by fashion brand Jacquemus in Paris, France.
The 60-square-metre shop, set in the department store Galeries Lafayette Haussmann, was designed to feel like a bedroom according to AMO, which is the research and design arm of architecture firm OMA.
AMO has lined a Jacquemus store with large cream-coloured pillows
“The location of the shop within the Galleries Lafayette – without windows or daylight – led to the idea of creating a bedroom-like environment: a room entirely made of pillows,” said OMA partner Ellen van Loon.
“It is a cocooning and relaxed atmosphere, inviting customers to lounge and browse for as long as they want,” she told Dezeen.
The store is designed to feel like a bedroom
The linen pillows were designed to reference the textiles of Provence, where Jacquemus founder Simon Porte Jacquemus grew up.
“We explored a material palette that aims to capture the atmosphere of Provence,” said OMA architect Giulio Margheri.
“The fabric of the pillows is a reference to the linens of the South of France,” he told Dezeen.
Linen pillows reference the textiles of Provence
AMO also added a stack of pillows to serve as a seating area for shoppers, as well as a spot to showcase Jacquemus’ signature tiny bags.
The studio completed the store’s easy-going atmosphere with the help of a stripped-back scheme, including cream-coloured carpet, soft lighting and clothing rails in a milky beige hue.
AMO previously designed another store for Jacquemus inside the London department store Selfridges. Much like the brand’s Paris outpost, the shop was wrapped entirely in a single material – clay.
“The design of the Jacquemus boutiques in London and Paris began with the idea of testing the limits of working with a single material,” Van Loon explained.
“Instead of working on the design first and deciding on the materials afterwards, we let the materials dictate their presence in the space.”
Changing rooms are coloured in the same creamy hue
The Jacquemus store is one of many retail interiors AMO has designed in Paris.
Among them is a pop-up shop by Tiffany & Co that showcases an array of jewellery pieces and a flagship store for clothing brand Off-White that features abstract interpretations of Parisian courtyards and flea markets.
Project credits Partner: Ellen van Loon Architect: Giulio Margheri Team: Valerio Di Festa, Camille Filbien and Mattia Locci
Spotted: Having inherited their family shoe business, and after learning the ins and outs of the industry, a pair of Croatian brothers, the Boljars, decided to step away from the literal toxicity of footwear. They created Miret, an eco-friendly sneaker made from 97 per cent natural materials. The upper is wool, the insole is hemp, and the outer is natural rubber and cork.
The remaining three per cent of the shoe consists of synthetic glue and polyester thread. The brand emphasises that although its footwear is low impact, it is by no means ‘sustainable’. Production still affects the Earth, and most of the company’s products, including the sneakers, are not easily compostable. Making shoes from bio-based materials is a huge improvement, though, and something the company wants to continually improve.
Replacing the glue and thread with natural materials is a priority, as is continuing to raise the profile of the threat of plastic pollution to the natural environment. Assembling the shoes in the same country that the brand is based in helps reduce emissions. And the Life Cycle Assessment of the full emissions footprint of a single pair of Miret sneakers is 3.7 kilogrammes of carbon dioxide. That compares to the 14 kilogrammes of carbon dioxide typically created during the production of a pair of sneakers.
Environmentally friendly sneakers are becoming more common and are an exciting area of development. Springwise has spotted materials innovations that include plant-based oils and eucalyptus used in a biodegradable shoe and a brand that offers a vegan, fully traceable sneaker.
Irish social enterprise Common Knowledge has teamed up with hemp producer Margent Farm to design a low-carbon micro home that it claims can support people affected by the housing crisis.
Designed in-house by Common Knowledge, the Tigín Tiny Homes take the form of oversized caravans built from natural materials that include Margent Farm‘s corrugated hemp cladding panels, cork insulation and natural rubber linoleum floor tiles.
They are intended for people struggling to buy their own home. Purchasers can either buy one of the 20-square-metre micro homes ready made, or learn the skills to build their own.
The homes are clad with corrugated hemp panels
With property prices in Ireland increasing by as much as 11 per cent a year, Common Knowledge believes these homes offer an affordable solution for those looking to “escape the rent trap”.
“The Tiny Home is filling that gap between moving out of the rental market and owning your own home,” said Harrison Gardner, who co-founded the organisation along with Erin McClure, Fionn Kidney and Spider Hickman and is also a passive building designer.
“The reality for a lot of people is that they can’t afford a home that’s actually ready to move into. They can only afford a home that needs a lot of work, and they can’t afford to do that work and pay rent,” Gardner told Dezeen.
“The Tiny Home is filling this gap; people can use it for a year or two or three, while they work on their forever home.”
The interior is designed to feel as bright and spacious as possible
Common Knowledge is primarily an education provider. By hosting workshops that teach everyday construction skills – like bricklaying, carpentry and welding – it aims to empower people to self-build.
The Tigín Tiny Homes – named after the Gaelic word for a small house or cottage – are the result of these workshops.
They are also available to buy ready-made at prices starting from €55,000 for people unable or unwilling to build themselves.
“We have now taught over 200 people how to build their own Tiny Homes,” said Kidney. “Of course, the byproduct of this is that we have produced four Tiny Homes that we can offer for sale.”
A ladder leads up to a large mezzanine sleeping space
The target audience for these prefabricated homes includes parents supporting their grown-up children to get on the property ladder, and those who don’t have the time to take on a building project.
The profits will be used to fund future workshops.
Each home contains two floors, with the interiors led by Common Knowledge’s McClure. The lower level includes a window seat that doubles as a bed, as well as a kitchenette, a toilet and shower, and a storage area or workspace.
A ladder leads up to a mezzanine floor containing a large loft bed.
Windows make u 25 per cent of the exterior walls
As the Tigín Tiny Homes are mobile, weight was a key consideration when selecting materials. It was this that led Common Knowledge to Margent Farm’s corrugated hemp panels.
First used in the pioneering zero-carbon Flat House, these panels are made by combining cannabis plant fibres with a sugar-based resin produced from agricultural waste, making them both lightweight and highly sustainable.
The rear corner can be either used for storage or as a workspace
Although planning regulations make it difficult for these panels to be used in typical architecture projects, their use on mobile structures is not so restricted.
“Hemp ticked most of the boxes,” said Harrison, “and the fact it’s grown and manufactured in the UK is amazing.”
Other design details include large windows, an eco-composting toilet and a customised electrical system that can be used off-grid or connected up to mains power.
Rigid cork insulation is left exposed inside
Common Knowledge plans to open-source the designs for the Tigín Tiny Homes so that anyone can build their own, either using these materials or alternatives.
Gardner said the plan is to release a toolkit that includes a full set of architectural drawings, a materials list with suggested suppliers, and a price scale.
“We’re trying to create options in the toolkit, so people can scale the price up or down,” he said. “For instance, if they don’t want to use cork insulation, they can switch it out for something else.”
Each home also features an eco-composting toilet
He believes the use of natural materials, combined with the natural light and views, make the Tigín Tiny Homes a more attractive option than the traditional mobile home.
“Compared to a lot of tiny homes that exist in the world, ours is quite tall and it has a lot of glazing,” Gardner added.
“You get a real feeling of space and feel completely connected to nature.”
Other mobile micro homes recently featured on Dezeen include Quatro by Land Ark, Dodo Van by Juan Alberto Andrade and María José Váscones and Base Cabin by Studio Edwards.
A sweeping, tiled roof informed by the surrounding mountain ranges tops the Yong’an Community Hub in China, which has been designed by students from Tongji University in Shenzhen with architecture studio Archi-Union.
Referencing local structures and involving residents in its construction process, the rammed-earth, courtyard-style building provides a gathering space and residence for the Yong’an village’s more isolated upper area.
Shortlisted in the civic building category of Dezeen Awards 2022, Yong’an Community Hub forms part of an ongoing social welfare programme funded by Tongji University and led by Philip F Yuan, principal of Shanghai-based studio Archi-Union.
Archi-Union worked with Tongji University to create the community hub
“The villagers from the upper village often suffer from inaccessibility to transportation, and are living in strained circumstances,” said the project’s team.
“The majority have no space to interact with one another other than their working space, therefore building a community centre for the upper village [became] the main goal of the volunteer activity.”
Bordered by stone walls, the main building sits at the north of the site, with a smaller toilet block on the opposite side of a large courtyard. Both were built using rammed earth partially made from the red sandstone found near the site.
The building features rammed-earth walls
A run of wooden doors allows the main building to be almost completely opened to the courtyard, while a thin, letterbox-style window in its northwest corner frames views back towards the village.
The steel-framed, curving roof contrasts these traditionally-built rammed earth structures, using parametric design methods to create an undulating arc around the courtyard and minimising the use of non-standard components to make construction easier.
This roof shelters what the team describes as a “floating corridor”, an area of covered seating space that provides an area to dwell, watch performances or take in expansive views of the surrounding valley landscape.
“While retaining the functionality of the interior spaces, we tried to maximise the open public space as much as possible… from funerals to weddings or even daily socialising, the openness of space becomes the top priority to [the villagers],” said the team.
“The ‘floating corridor’ became a continuous yet fluid element that held the spaces together…to accommodate the low height of the entrance the roof was lowered, forming a starting point that ends when it meets the mountain slope.”
An undulating canopy wraps around the centre
Other projects on the shortlist for the civic project category of Dezeen Awards 2022 include a hospital in Myanmar by German practice A+R Architekten, which also drew on materials and typologies local to the area for its design.
New technologies are making zero energy homes and buildings more affordable, healthier, and more comfortable than ever. The Zero Energy Project now helps you keep up with advanced building equipment and materials through our new Zero Energy Product Directory. Our focus is on energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly products that support and hasten the transition to zero energy homes and buildings.
Improved Efficiency
At ZEP, we are fond of saying that you can buy all the products you need to build a zero energy building “off the shelf”. While that’s certainly true, even mature technologies are improving their energy efficiency every year. For example, the success of heat pumps in heating and cooling homes is well established, and using heat pumps for water heating is gaining acceptance. Now heat pumps are being used for energy-efficient clothes drying as well. And mini-split heat pumps are now capable of heating a home even when outside temperatures drop below -13°F . As product offerings change and new products are introduced, one of the goals of the directory is to help you find the latest equipment and materials for your building project.
More Choices
While the key to affordability in zero energy buildings is, and always will be, good design, new technology offers designers many more choices. Technological advances are increasing efficiency and changing the balance between efficiency due to structural measures and efficiency as a result of high-performance equipment. For example, the rapidly falling price of solar electric panels is changing the relative cost-effectiveness of on-site generation versus that of structural improvements. Furthermore, solar roofing combines two functions that can be installed at the same time at lower cost than roofing and solar panels separately.
Lower Cost
It’s also true that it is sometimes cheaper to purchase an advanced product than to spend time and money on a labor-intensive, conventional approach. For instance, Aerobarrier is an aerosol sealant for buildings that can reliably reduce air leakage to a specified level in only a few hours. Air leakage is a complex problem with at least a dozen unique solutions. But this one technology promises to revolutionize the task of air sealing, especially for production builders.
New Capabilities
Finally, some new products offer capabilities that simply haven’t existed in the past. On-site battery storage is already a key component of major grid-integrated zero energy housing developments. This could become standard equipment in future zero energy homes and buildings. It’s a nascent technology that can benefit builders and buyers, while helping utilities even out the loads on the grid.
Greenhouse Gases
Reducing the energy needed to operate buildings has been the focus for years. Now that we are closer to realizing the goal of buildings that operate entirely on clean energy, it’s time to integrate the greenhouse gas impact of creating the products themselves. Sometimes called embodied energy, this is the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from extraction of raw materials, transportation, processing, manufacturing, installation, and disposal or recycling.
Products selected for the Zero Energy Project Product Directory exhibit low global warming potential compared to conventional materials or products. When available, the manufacturer has completed and made public a full life cycle assessment to show the range of benefits and impacts of its production, use, and disposal.
Indoor Air Quality and Environmental Safety
Since zero energy homes are so air-tight, it is important that the products used in them do not off-gas toxins, such as volatile organic compounds or formaldehyde, or contain chemicals contained in the Living Building Challenge Red List. These chemicals are a risk for homeowners, builders, fire safety personnel and for the environment.
New or Existing Buildings
New zero energy construction offers the easiest opportunity for installing these products. On the other hand energy efficient equipment has an especially important role to play in renovating existing homes toward zero. In these homes where the structure is already established and access is limited, upgrading the energy efficiency of the shell is more difficult and expensive. So it becomes necessary to take advantage of the opportunity to replace failing equipment with new, high-efficiency products, either over time or as part of a major energy upgrade on the path to zero. The energy savings that result may be sufficient to avoid having to make major structural changes.
Suggest Products for the Directory
While the Zero Energy Project Product Directory is not intended to be an exhaustive list of everything needed for high energy performance, our hope is that the Directory will stimulate the supply chain of cost saving, energy efficient products in a way that will help drive the zero energy movement forward. Our goal is to help you identify useful products, both new and tried-and-true, that will make it easier to build a zero energy home. We invite your suggestions for products to add to the directory as well as your feedback on listed products, which you can provide in the comment section at the bottom of each page.
Please Note: While the Zero Energy Project is funded in part by sponsorships, sponsors will have no effect on our editorial content or mission, which is to help us all advance towards a zero net energy, zero net carbon, society. Contact us for more information about sponsorship.
ALLAH is more Merciful to you then you are to yourself. JUMMAH MUBARAKDoes man think that We will not assemble his bones? Yes. [We are] Able [even] to proportion his fingertips. – Surat Ul Qiyama (Aayat # 3,4) JUMMAH MUBARAKAnd be not like those who forgot Allah, so He made them forget themselves. Those are the defiantly disobedient – [Quran 59:19] JUMMAH MUBARAK
Sea green floors and skirting tiles are contrasted against the all-red interior of this bar in Warsaw, Poland, which local studio Noke Architects has designed to recall the high waters of Venice.
Billed as Poland’s first cicchetti bar – an Italian bar selling drinks alongside small plates of food – Va Bene Cicchetti is located in a huge Socialist Realist housing estate from the 1950s called the Marszałkowska Housing District.
Va Bene Cicchetti is a bar in Warsaw
Customers enter the bar via an arched doorway lined with antique mirrors. Inside, they are met by a huge red travertine counter with a large drinks cooler, which is hollowed out of the stone and filled with ice and bottles of prosecco.
Most of the interior is rendered in warm hues of red and gold in a nod to the colours of the Venetian flag.
But the floor, and everything up to about 20 centimetres in height, is finished in sea green to suggest the high waters of the Veneto region, locally known as acqua alta.
Its interior was informed by Venice’s floodwaters
Several times a year, when the tide in the Adriatic Sea rises, these floodwaters will cover streets and piazzas in Venice in a layer of water.
To recreate this “flood effect” inside the interior of Va Bene Cicchetti, Noke Architects coloured the floors and skirting tiles, as well as the base of table legs, chairs and plinths in a watery shade of turquoise.
Tables resemble Venice’s red-and-white striped mooring poles
“We wanted the place to be unambiguously associated with Venice but we also wanted for this reference to be fresh and unique,” said Piotr Maciaszek, who co-founded Noke Architects alongside Aleksandra Hyz and Karol Pasternak.
“We took inspiration from the colours of the Venetian flag, which dominate all finishings, and incorporated the acqua alta motif in the interior as an element of surprise.”
Turquoise skirting tiles run along the perimeter of the room
The scheme is completed with glass lamps that resemble rippling water and bespoke furniture pieces including tables that pay homage to the red-and-white striped mooring posts found in Venice’s canals.
Taking over an entire wall of the bar is an intricate mosaic made from reclaimed materials including glass panes from the Murano glass factory in Venice and fragments of wine bottles from Va Bene Cicchetti’s sister restaurant Va Bene.
The mural depicts the bar’s owners and their dog Koko enjoying wine and food at a table in Venice.
“Veneto is where the famous Murano glass and antique mirrors are manufactured,” Maciaszek explained.
“The region is famous for its ceramics and wine. We came up with the idea to use mini pieces of Venice as the building blocks of our artwork. Mosaic was the perfect solution for this.”
The bar is centred on a red travertine counter
The bar’s basement level is completely saturated in the same greeny-blue hue as the floors upstairs to create the impression of being underwater.
Bathrooms, meanwhile, are finished in black and white stripes and topped with a red ceiling in a reference to the uniforms worn by Venetian gondoliers.
An intricate mosaic covers an entire wall of the bar
Polish illustrator and graphic designer Ola Niepsuj was responsible for creating the bar’s visual identity, which depicts the Lion of Saint Mark – a winged lion that represents the patron saint of Venice and is found on buildings across the city.
At Va Bene Cicchetti, this motif can be found in the form of door handles and the neon light above the entrance.
The bar’s basement level is covered in sea green tiles
Elsewhere in Poland, local practice Paradowski Studio recently channelled the glamour of Kraków’s interwar cafes and the clean functionalism of its mid-century modern cinemas for a hotel renovation.
The Puro Stare Miasto hotel is located next to Kraków’s historic old town and spans 138 rooms alongside an extensive open-plan reception, lobby space and restaurant.
Spotted: Bananas going to waste on the kitchen counter is an all-too-frequent occurrence. On an industrial scale, that waste is even greater, with up to 30 per cent of the annual banana crop deemed unsuitable for sale and therefore discarded. UK company LyteGro sees opportunity within those piles of unsaleable fruit. By adding water to the bananas and then mixing, heating, and filtering the mash, the company produces Baclyte, a microbial growth enhancer.
Highly potent, the mixture enables rapid microbe growth for a huge range of industrial applications. With everything from biofuels, brewing, and distilling to dairy food and pharmaceutical production reliant on microbes, Baclyte has the potential to be a highly valuable addition to food and commercial manufacturing processes. By speeding up microbial growth, production of the final product occurs faster and yield is increased.
Key to both the use and production of the growth enhancer is its scalability and circularity. LyteGro plans to expand its volume of production by working with local communities and governments to build and locate waste banana processing plants near growers. Cutting down on transportation costs reduces emissions, and as microbreweries and distilleries continue pushing the growth in circular economies, putting local waste products to use further can further bolster their green credentials.
So much food waste still occurs that Springwise has spotted a wide range of innovations making use of leftover produce. In Spain, a student has turned ugly fruit that would otherwise have been wasted into a line of sustainable cosmetics, and an Italian startup uses orange peels to 3D print a compostable lamp.
A moving wall that evokes a sailing ship and a roof canopy modelled on a banana tree feature in this roundup, which collects 10 buildings that challenge conventional ways of fitting solar panels to help kick off our Solar Revolution series.
Solar panels, also known as photovoltaics or solar electricity cells, are becoming an increasingly common sight in our built environment.
Traditionally installed in the form of rooftop arrays, they capture energy from the sun and convert it into renewable electricity. The stronger the sunshine, the more electricity the panels generate.
While it is not uncommon for solar cells to be installed as an afterthought, this roundup demonstrates how architects are getting creative with the technology, making it a key feature in their designs without compromising on aesthetics.
Read on for 10 buildings completed and upcoming that incorporate solar panels in creative ways:
Photo is by Iwan Baan
Bay View, USA, by BIG and Heatherwick Studio
A “dragonscale solar skin” forms the roof of Google’s Bay View campus, which BIG and Heatherwick Studio recently completed in Silicon Valley.
The undulating structure is built from 50,000 solar panels that generate almost seven megawatts of energy, amounting to 40 per cent of the building’s total energy needs.
Find out more about Bay View ›
Photo courtesy of Marjan van Aubel
The Dutch Biotope, UAE, by V8 Architects with Marjan van Aubel
A colourful skylight formed of translucent photovoltaics crowned The Dutch Biotope pavilion at Dubai Expo 2020, casting pink and blue light below like a stained glass window.
Created by V8 Architects the structure incorporates skylights designed by Marjan Van Aubel to show how solar technology could be used as “a form of art” while providing renewable energy.
Find out more about The Dutch Biotope ›
Render is courtesy of MVRDV
LAD headquarters, China, by MVRDV
MVRDV has reimagined a traditional solar canopy in its design of this office building, which it is currently developing for agriculture company LAD in Shanghai.
Its swooping roof structure will be left open on one side but covered in solar cells on the other in a bid to provide renewable energy for the building and minimise its operational carbon footprint.
Find out more about LAD headquarters ›
Photo is by Ivar Kvaal
Powerhouse Telemark, Norway, by Snøhetta
Snøhetta used photovoltaics to cover the angular roof and south-facing facade of the carbon-negative Powerhouse Telemark office in Porsgrunn.
While contributing to the structure’s “clearly identifiable expression”, the studio said the system generates approximately 256,000 kilowatts of renewable energy each year, compensating for the carbon that the building will consume over a 60-year lifespan.
Find out more about Powerhouse Telemark ›
Photo is by Bob Ditty
Mount Sinai Kyabirwa Surgical Facility in Uganda by Kliment Halsband Architects
Slender tree-like columns support the wavy solar canopy that sweeps over this health facility in Uganda, designed by Kliment Halsband Architects.
While providing energy for the building, the canopy also shelters its outdoor spaces in a nod to banana plants growing in the area. “We thought of solar panels as leaves of banana plants gathering sun and providing shade,” the studio explained.
Find out more about Mount Sinai Kyabirwa Surgical Facility in Uganda ›
Render is courtesy of Kennon
550 Spencer, Australia, by Kennon
More than 1,000 solar electric panels that resemble glass will form the facade for this office tower, which Australian studio Kennon recently proposed for Melbourne.
The technology, named Skala, is produced by German company Avancis and has never been used in Australia before. It is designed to replace traditional rooftop arrays and will free up space for a garden on top of the building instead.
Find out more about 550 Spencer ›
Photo is by Didier Boy de la Tour
La Seine Musical, France, by Shigeru Ban
A wall of photovoltaic panels follows the path of the sun at La Seine Musical, a glazed music complex near Paris designed by Shigeru Ban.
Mounted on rails, the sail-like wall is designed to resemble a ship circulating the ovoid structure. This movement also ensures the lobby behind is shaded from direct sunlight over the course of the day.
Find out more about La Seine Musical ›
Photo is by Adam Mørk
Copenhagen International School for Nordhavn, Denmark, by CF Møller
Architecture studio CF Møller disguised 12,000 solar panels as blue cladding at the Copenhagen International School for Nordhavn to mirror its waterfront site.
The panels are arranged in a way that creates a sequin-like effect across the exterior and generates over 50 per cent of the electricity needed to power the building annually.
Find out more about Copenhagen International School for Nordhavn ›
Render is courtesy of MVRDV
Sun Rock, Taiwan, by MVRDV
A rounded form sheathed in photovoltaics will define Sun Rock, an office and operations facility that MVRDV is developing for power company Taipower in Taiwan.
The studio designed its bulbous form to maximise the amount of sunlight its facade can harness throughout the day and, in turn, create enough energy to make the building self-sufficient.
Find out more about Sun Rock ›
Photo is by Ivar Kvaal
Powerhouse Brattørkaia, Norway, by Snøhetta
Three thousand square metres of solar cells envelop this office, another Powerhouse by Snøhetta that produces twice the amount of energy it uses.
Its steep and angular exterior is the result of the limited daylight hours in the city, as it helps maximise sun exposure and allows the panels to harvest as much solar energy as possible before dark.
This article is part of Dezeen’s Solar Revolution series, which explores the varied and exciting possible uses of solar energy and how humans can fully harness the incredible power of the sun.