Dear guests
welcome to Leipzig, welcome to Saxony!
In the name of all my fellow members of the chamber of architects in Saxony, our governing board and in the name of our President Alf Furkert I welcome you to Leipzig.
I would also like to welcome you in the name of our chamber of architect’s workgroup for energy saving concepts and ecological building led by Olaf Reiter, an architect well known in the passive house scene and who is with us today in the public.
Leipzig shows the way!
Over the years as a client, the city of Leipzig has demonstrated ambition, responsibility, intelligence and pioneering spirit in the execution of its municipal projects. It has been an inspiration to other cities and communities in Saxony with its impressive history of commissioning passive standard buildings in the public sector. This is of extreme importance to the architectural profession, as there is no better way to convince the citizens, the taxpayers and the politicians about the energy saving qualities of building to passive house standards than to demonstrate this by commissioning projects. I am delighted to say that several fellow Architects have been involved in the realization of these ambitious projects. Architects provide an important service to the public building sector; to do this we need the support of the clients and the citizens we serve; we also need successful references that demonstrate that the trust placed in us has resulted in the realization of buildings of the highest quality. In the days ahead, you will be able to visit several examples of projects constructed to passive building standards. They all demonstrate a responsible execution of public money and the excellent teamwork between clients, architects, engineers, environmental scientists and builders. This is imperative to us all as it can inspire private investors to build to passive standards and encourage sustainable growth.
Commissioning public buildings such as schools demonstrate that building to passive standards can also be applied to the larger more complex architectural and planning objects. In this way, we broaden the use of Passive standard building to include larger city objects such as office buildings, health and care buildings, fire stations and indeed even whole city quartiers. Thus passive architecture can influence not only the independent micro objects in a city such as the family house but also influence the city on a macro level and move us towards the philosophy of holistic city planning. Think small, smart in detail and big in vision. That is the important statement.
Let us focus on schools for a moment; I would like to say that there could be no better way than to educate young people, children and students about the importance of sustainable building and its far-reaching significance than to do that in a house built to passive standards. This enables future generations to grow up with the everyday use, and way of thinking, that a passive house requires. User behavior would become a normal part of everyday living and would be no longer a point of concern, as has been observed in the present generation of users; this would be genuine “learning by doing” from the earliest ages. It would become quite natural to understand the “rules and regulations” of a natural eco-system. It can be that simple.
Let me broaden the context somewhat to finish, Contemporary building means planning and implementing in an energy efficient and, even more importantly, sustainable way. Architecture and sustainability is about finding the balance between man and nature. This requires a universal humanistic approach to sharing limited resources and an awareness and acknowledgment of the rights of generations that will come after us. Our profession in cooperation with the building industry needs to reflect intensely upon the importance of this and act accordingly.
Despite all the talk about saving costs and energy, it is important that buildings are not only looked at in terms of economics and energy balances but also in terms of their beauty, what they offer the user in terms of quality of life, aesthetics, visually and spiritually. That is the work of architects, to find the balance between economics, technology and science on the one hand and the art, the, spirit, the “baukultur”, on the other hand. Saving costs and improving technological building standards is not sustainable in the long term if the users do not enjoy the buildings they work and live in. There is a danger in over estimating the importance of reducing costs at the cost of user contentment. Vitruvius in his “Ten books of architecture” wrote; “Architecture is a science arising out of many sciences advanced by varied learning and finally formed by the result of and the contact with diversity of other arts”. You could read this to be a definition of passive architecture, an architecture achieved through interdisciplinary thinking and teamwork, arising out of many sciences and advanced by varied learning.
In the name of all my fellow members of the chamber of architects in Saxony, our governing board and in the name of our President Alf Furkert I welcome you to Leipzig.
I would also like to welcome you in the name of our chamber of architect’s workgroup for energy saving concepts and ecological building led by Olaf Reiter, an architect well known in the passive house scene and who is with us today in the public.
Leipzig shows the way!
Over the years as a client, the city of Leipzig has demonstrated ambition, responsibility, intelligence and pioneering spirit in the execution of its municipal projects. It has been an inspiration to other cities and communities in Saxony with its impressive history of commissioning passive standard buildings in the public sector. This is of extreme importance to the architectural profession, as there is no better way to convince the citizens, the taxpayers and the politicians about the energy saving qualities of building to passive house standards than to demonstrate this by commissioning projects. I am delighted to say that several fellow Architects have been involved in the realization of these ambitious projects. Architects provide an important service to the public building sector; to do this we need the support of the clients and the citizens we serve; we also need successful references that demonstrate that the trust placed in us has resulted in the realization of buildings of the highest quality. In the days ahead, you will be able to visit several examples of projects constructed to passive building standards. They all demonstrate a responsible execution of public money and the excellent teamwork between clients, architects, engineers, environmental scientists and builders. This is imperative to us all as it can inspire private investors to build to passive standards and encourage sustainable growth.
Commissioning public buildings such as schools demonstrate that building to passive standards can also be applied to the larger more complex architectural and planning objects. In this way, we broaden the use of Passive standard building to include larger city objects such as office buildings, health and care buildings, fire stations and indeed even whole city quartiers. Thus passive architecture can influence not only the independent micro objects in a city such as the family house but also influence the city on a macro level and move us towards the philosophy of holistic city planning. Think small, smart in detail and big in vision. That is the important statement.
Let us focus on schools for a moment; I would like to say that there could be no better way than to educate young people, children and students about the importance of sustainable building and its far-reaching significance than to do that in a house built to passive standards. This enables future generations to grow up with the everyday use, and way of thinking, that a passive house requires. User behavior would become a normal part of everyday living and would be no longer a point of concern, as has been observed in the present generation of users; this would be genuine “learning by doing” from the earliest ages. It would become quite natural to understand the “rules and regulations” of a natural eco-system. It can be that simple.
Let me broaden the context somewhat to finish, Contemporary building means planning and implementing in an energy efficient and, even more importantly, sustainable way. Architecture and sustainability is about finding the balance between man and nature. This requires a universal humanistic approach to sharing limited resources and an awareness and acknowledgment of the rights of generations that will come after us. Our profession in cooperation with the building industry needs to reflect intensely upon the importance of this and act accordingly.
Despite all the talk about saving costs and energy, it is important that buildings are not only looked at in terms of economics and energy balances but also in terms of their beauty, what they offer the user in terms of quality of life, aesthetics, visually and spiritually. That is the work of architects, to find the balance between economics, technology and science on the one hand and the art, the, spirit, the “baukultur”, on the other hand. Saving costs and improving technological building standards is not sustainable in the long term if the users do not enjoy the buildings they work and live in. There is a danger in over estimating the importance of reducing costs at the cost of user contentment. Vitruvius in his “Ten books of architecture” wrote; “Architecture is a science arising out of many sciences advanced by varied learning and finally formed by the result of and the contact with diversity of other arts”. You could read this to be a definition of passive architecture, an architecture achieved through interdisciplinary thinking and teamwork, arising out of many sciences and advanced by varied learning.
Vitruvius,
in his explanation of what architecture is, places the sciences and the arts in
the same sentence. This holistic approach to design can help us achieve a
“baukultur” with an acceptable ecological footprint.
Vitruvius also tells us in the simple sentence; that Lifelong learning is important, we should never cease to learn from each other, like here and now at this conference, where open minds meet and where there is an awareness, a tolerance for the new, and the innovative.
Due to the positive demographic development of Saxony, we will be building numerous new schools in Leipzig and Dresden in the coming years. Passive standard buildings can play a large role in educating future generations about living in a sustainable dialog and in harmony with our environment. In this respect, we hope that the next time you are in Saxony that you will have many more buildings built to passive standards to visit and enjoy.
Ruairí O’Brien
Architect RIBA AKS
Lighting Designer FILD MSLL LiTG
Vitruvius also tells us in the simple sentence; that Lifelong learning is important, we should never cease to learn from each other, like here and now at this conference, where open minds meet and where there is an awareness, a tolerance for the new, and the innovative.
Due to the positive demographic development of Saxony, we will be building numerous new schools in Leipzig and Dresden in the coming years. Passive standard buildings can play a large role in educating future generations about living in a sustainable dialog and in harmony with our environment. In this respect, we hope that the next time you are in Saxony that you will have many more buildings built to passive standards to visit and enjoy.
Ruairí O’Brien
Architect RIBA AKS
Lighting Designer FILD MSLL LiTG
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