Winging the wild side

World's greenest home

Posted by Casey Ng (Ipoh, Malaysia) on 7 May 2010 in Architecture.

I FIND IT HARD TO BELIEVE that property developers are getting away with green-washing. There are buyers who blindly believe and pay hundreds of thousand buying homes that looks like anything but green.

My point is: Is so easy to separate wheat from chaff; why let businesses tell you what's green or not?

Nothing gets greener than this

Picture above shows the home of Orang Sungai natives, people who live off the land. To be exact, they live off the riverine eco-system (Orang Sungai literally means "river people"). As noted, only materials from plants are used to build the house. Palm fronds from Nypa fruiticans are used to provide thatched-roofing and walls. Main structure, stilts and roof truss are made from wood of mangrove tree Rhizophora apiculata.

All in, the hut depicts traditional wisdom that accentuates green home at its purest. Building materials are sustainable and bio-degradable. No carbon footprint is incurred since there is no reliance on mechanical or electrical gadgets to build or live in the hut. Amid hot tropical weather, thousands of small gaps among thatched roof allow up-draft hot air to escape and thatched wall enable passive and cross ventilation to cool its interiors. There is no heat gain to worry about. Properly angled roofing that considers local solstice provide ample shading and open door to make use of day-lighting. Vegetable is planted and free-range chickens are grown in the compound. The whole place is practical and self-sustainable. Mother Nature would be very pleased if everyone live like this.

Now don't get me wrong. I am not asking everyone to hole-up in huts; I don't live in one too. What I am trying to say is, if you're buying a house that's advertised "green", you should look for telltales that emulate traditional wisdom. Before spending your hard-earned cash, spend some time looking out for these features (Caveat: I assume you live in equatorial tropics);

1. Recyclability is key

Clay, glass and steel is recyclable. Wood is okay but one need to find the right sizes and types. Reinforced concrete is difficult to recycle and use up hefty energy to do so. Well, when the developer show you the house plan, ask him when the house has passed its purpose, how many percent of it can be taken apart to build future new houses. This is the easiest way to catch a bluff. I'd expect at least 70% of materials to be recyclable. (Note: If you didn't know, used roof tiles can be ground up and added to cement mortar to form waterproof surfaces)

2. Modularization & flexible layout

Design that promotes modularization are faster, easier and more cost effective to build, thus reducing carbon-footprint and manual labour. Modular designs are also flexible and can be configured to suit terrain or adaptation of spaces to suit a family; more space as the family expands and adjustment when children leave the nest. Modularization also reduces dependency on manual labour and achieve improvement in delivery time.

3. Natural ventilation

As global warming is slowly frying our planet, more and more buildings are designed to be fully air-conditioned. I find this trend very disturbing. When more electricity is used to power massive air cooling units, more energy is needed. More dams (read: deforestation) and fossil-fuel powered electricity plants (read: carbon emission) have to be built, and causing our planet to be warmer. Simply put, supply-demand cycle is poised for self-destruction. Home builders nowadays have lost to art of harnessing natural movement of air for cooling effect. A house design that allow fresh air ventilation and use adaptive vegetation to cool down always get my vote.

4. Go with flow

Most developers are trained to build homes on flat ground. Thus, all undulating contours and hills are bulldozed for their convenience. When the original topography is altered, the effects can be catastrophic. Changes in soil density and rainwater runoff should never be taken lightly. This is how deaths from landslides make headlines frequently. The ideal, and safest, green house should be built to blend into time-tested contours. Construction cost can be saved too when hill-cutting and earth-moving exercises are not required.

5. Going local

Long before a house can be considered green, materials used during construction stage must be scrutinized too. By importing marble slabs from Greece and oak wood from Canada for building, besides higher cost, more energy and fuel will be used for transferring them to the project site. This translates to more carbon emission to the atmosphere. Going green means starting from scratch. It's a philosophy that encompasses procuring manpower, material, method and machine with the lowest energy usage.

6. Climatic responsiveness

A Italiano piazza or Spanish hacienda homestead design may be captivating but they are out of place in the tropics. Besides sticking out like a sore-thumb, the architecture may not mitigate local elements. One must carefully consider local weather, rainfall, wind direction, sun direction and surrounding environment. Generally, a house is much cheaper to build in the tropics as its design does not require heavy foundation, double-glazed windows, insulated walls and steep roofing as in winter-swept regions. So, don't buy the jazz that an eco-friendly house should be more expensive.

Go to www.caseyng.com to view my professional profile and contact info. Thanks.