What makes them 'alternative'?

• Sun, wind and water are used to generate as much of its energy requirements as possible and, once generated, energy is conserved.
• The building is able to passively store and reuse energy.
• The building materials are obtained locally from a sustainable source and do not create pollution or damage the environment, either in manufacture or use.
• The design should complement the natural environment, not dominate it.
• The building incorporates a composting system to deal with waste.
• Water needs are ideally met from rainwater.
• The city-based building is part of a development which has minimal environmental impact.

'Alternative' building techniques

Buildings with high thermal mass walls and floors and carefully located windows can store large amounts of energy from the sun and provide natural heating during colder weather. This technique is known as passive solar heating.

Earth-sheltered buildings, which are partially or wholly submerged in earth, are particularly energy efficient.

Turf roofs, like the one shown on the building below in Australia, designed by S. and D. Baggs, are also an excellent way to retain heat within a building.

'Alternative' building in action

Woodlea Primary School in Bordon, Hampshire, is an excellent example of a building that sits happily within its natural environment, while also meeting the day-to-day needs of its occupants.

The building’s large glass windows help to heat the interior, while the materials used and the sympathetic design help the building blend into its surroundings.

Image from RJ Watkinson, Consulting Engineers (http://www.rjwatkinson.co.uk/).

Old technology revisited

Traditional techniques, which are often thousands of years old, are revisited in alternative buildings. These people in China are building a rammed-earth wall by compacting moist soil one layer at a time between very strong timber forms.

The same basic method of construction has been used in this house in Australia, designed by Greenway Architects. (Information from ‘The Healthy House’, published by Thames and Hudson).

Did you know?

In an article published in New Scientist, researchers in Melbourne, Australia, found that new houses contained levels of polluting volatile organic compounds (VOCs) twenty times higher than recommended safe levels.

Similar research in the UK by the Building Research Establishment has found that 1 in 20 houses contain more than twice the safe level of VOCs.