Daylight & Architecture

The future is green
Conference center and
hotel extension in Rønne

Nowhere in Denmark does the sun rise earlier than on Bornholm – and the Baltic Sea island would also like to be the first part of the country that meets its energy needs from completely carbon-neutral renewable sources. The ‘Green Solution House’ in the south of the island's main town, Rønne, is a lighthouse project for this turnaround. The former Hotel Ryttergården from 1973 has been renovated, supplemented with a congress centre and equipped with numerous forward-looking solutions from the fields of architecture and building technology. Three sustainability concepts were at the centre of the building design: DGNB certification, the cradle-to-cradle principle aimed at a circular flow economy, and the Active House Standard, which focusses on a healthy indoor climate and an excellent supply of daylight.
The results of this strategy are apparent to visitors everywhere they go. In many places, recycled materials were used; there are carpets that clean the air and a small bioreactor in which algae are used to clean the hotel's waste water. Above all, however, daylight and the coastal landscape are omnipresent all round the inside of the building. The hotel rooms receive light through the flat roof windows and via the balconies, which have been fitted with new glass balustrades. Above the foyer, there is a folded glass roof composed of modular skylights, some of which are fitted with solar cells and thus contribute to the power supply. And thanks to large glass facades, the sunlight can exert its invigorating effect on listeners and speakers even in the conference rooms.

Location:
Strandvejen 79, Rønne, Denmark
Architects:
3XN, Copenhagen
Steenbergs Tegnestue, Rønne
Sustainability consultants:
GXN Innovation, Copenhagen

The future is green - Daylight and Architecture Magazine

Healthy Homes Barometer 2018

(Un)healthy homes, offices and suburbanisation in Europe

The Healthy Homes Barometer 2018 is the 4th edition of this pan-European study, which takes the pulse of Europe’s buildings and examines the effects of housing on inhabitants’ health. The 2018 Barometer sheds light on some stark realities, especially in Europe’s rapidly-growing suburban areas:

Europe’s suburbs have grown 54% more than urban areas over recent decades, and are made up of 62% single-family homes
Single-family homes are up to 33% more likely to result in residents reporting ill-health than multi-family homes
Investing in healthy office buildings should be a no-brainer for companies.

Suburbanisation and the (un)healthy home
Urbanisation is a familiar topic to many, but in Europe as a whole, it is actually suburban areas which are growing fastest, outpacing urban growth by 54% between 1961 and 2011 (when the last 10-year dataset is available). A house in the suburbs is still the dream for many Europeans, who move out of cities looking for more space, lower costs and better quality of life. Single-family homes dominate the suburban landscape, comprising 62% of dwellings in these areas. Yet many of them are old and deficient, and they are significantly more likely to cause poor health. For example, occupants of single-family homes with overheating issues are 33% more likely to report poor health than those in multi-family homes with the same problem.