Architecture and Energy: Building in the Age of Climate Change

Bringing together real-world examples, Architecture and Energy offers starting points for how to approach construction today and into the future.

The energy requirements of buildings are enormous, resulting in a significant proportion of global carbon dioxide emissions, both in the construction phase and during the building’s use and eventual demolition. In an era of energy transition and extreme weather phenomena, the question of how we build in a time of climate change becomes all the more urgent. 

A sustainably-built wood and concrete supermarket that includes a roof farm, a kindergarten constructed from locally sourced recycled materials, renovating an office building so that it can remove its air conditioning and ventilation systems: in addition to the choice of materials and innovative operating concepts, the possibilities for reducing emissions and energy requirements lie above all in thinking about the entire life cycle of a building, including refurbishing rather than new construction when possible. This volume presents international best-practice projects characterized by sustainable design and provides forward-looking answers.
 

Annette Becker is an art historian and curator at the Deutschen Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt am Main.
 

Peter Cachola Schmal is an architect and has been director of the Deutschen Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt am Main since 2006.

Werner Sobek is an architect and building engineer, co-owner of Werner Sobek AG, and former professor at the University of Stuttgart.