APPLICATION OF THE ACTIVE HOUSE DESIGN PRINCIPLES ON FINNISH MULTISTOREY APARTMENT BUILDING.

Masters thesis

AuthorKRISTAPS SVEISBERGS

Date10.11.2020

DepartmentDepartment of Architecture

Academic ChairHead of Department Pirjo Sanaksenaho

SupervisorExecutive in residence Vikström Sami

InstructorsProfessor Kimmo Lylykangas

KeywordsActive house, indoor comfort, energy effi ciency, envi-ronmental loads, daylight,

The Active House Label is a recent-ly developed certifi cation method for buildings. Currently there are only approximately 100 buildings with an Active House Label, and most of them are in the EU and 0 in Finland. The Active House label presents itself as a simpler way of ensuring that buildings meet the current goals of Indoor Climate, Energy, and Environmental Im-pact. Helsinki, the Capital of Finland, is one of the fastest-growing cities in the EU. The rapid growth of the City increases the demand for new apartments. Most of the apartment buildings constructed in the Hel-sinki region share similar design elements and special qualities. The growth in building industry requires that special consideration is given to the design and environ-

mental impact of buildings that should last at least 50 years. This project investigates how the design of Finnish apartment buildings would diff er if it would aim to meet the highest Active House stand-ards. In this work, the Active house certifi cation tools and methods are used to determine typical Finnish multistorey apartment building’s performance results. Results are compared with the apartment building that is designed to meet the highest Active house criteria. The apartment building designed in this project aims to achieve high performance using combination of architectural elements and passive strategies,The apartment building`s design based on the Active House tools and manuals, illuminates weak-

nesses and strengths of this certi-fi cation system. The architectural design of the new apartment build-ing indicates elements and passive strategies that could be applied in other projects and indicates what can be expected. Active House analysis of the typical Finnish apartment building indicates ex-pected quality in current develop-ment and areas of improvement. This project illustrates the impor-tance of the architect’s involvement in a performance-driven design and suggests design directions that contemporary architecture might go towards.

Image 1Atrium space of the Apartment building designed

with Active House principles Image 2

Active house Radar

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DAYLIGHT

SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION

THERMAL ENVIRONMENT

INDOOR AIR

ENERGY DEMAND

ENERGY SUPPLY

ENERGY PRIMARY

ENVIRONMANTAL LOADS

FRESH WATER