Green Solution House
Adam Mørk

Green Solution House

3XN as Architects

The Green Solution House conference center and hotel in the Danish island of Bornholm is designed to be a platform for the highest level of sustainable development.

 

The vision for Green Solution House is to be a demonstratorium for circular sustainability with three goals 1) to demonstrate green solutions 2) to promote continuous improvement and 3) to enable knowledge sharing. The design of the building itself is based on several parameters to show a holistic approach to sustainability.

 

The building has been certified to DGNB standards, documented as an Active House and accepted in the Cradle to Cradle registry.The renovated hotel rooms and new conference building reaches out into the surrounding nature park where seasonal lakes ensures that all water is handled on site and creates habitat for local biotopes and red listed species.

 

Your comfort is the center experience at Green Solution House. This experience comes from being in ever presence of the surrounding nature, the clean air from the ocean, and the abundance of daylight everywhere. In accordance with the principles of Cradle 2 Cradle all materials used in the fan shaped building are either fully recyclable or biodegradable.  Hence, it is a building design that takes on the ambition to eliminate the concept of waste.

 

Eliminating waste means that everything must be part of a circulation. Thus, the building is designed for disassembly and constructed of defined recyclable materials. Solar energy is producing the energy consumed in the building, rain water is collected and water used is biologically cleaned and reused. Integrated green houses produce organic fruits and vegetables for the hotel restaurant.  Further, the daily material flows from running the center is either recycled or composted.

 

The center is a project under continuous development. Hence, the building will always introduce the newest sustainable solutions on biodiversity, materials, energy, water, and waste.

 

We developed our own material filter to select materials, prioritizing certifications and environmental labels, recyclability, social responsibility, use of resources, safety of compounds, and energy in production, to name a few.

 

Through dialogue with local manufactures, we also mapped out waste streams that could be upcycled in Green Solution House. Left over dust and chips from the local quarry created when cutting stone where used in a bitumen free parking area. A local glass academy donated waste glass that we tumbled in a cement mixer and used to pave the walking paths in the garden with permeable eco resin.

 

Instead of transporting materials and services to the island, we selected local options whenever possible. Concrete elements for the entrance where cast 5km from the site and granite sourced from a quarry 10km away.

 

Active materials, including carpets, plasterboard and roof membrane, help clean the air while abundant windows, skylights, light channels ensure abundant natural light reaches guests and staff throughout the facility.

 

We planted local biotopes in the landscape, strengthening the native biodiversity and the restaurant serves local produce.

 

One building, 75 sustainable solutions.

The renovation and expansion of this 4,500m2 hotel and conference center on the Danish island of Bornholm supports a positive, healthy footprint and aspires to eliminate the concept of waste by applying 75 sustainable solutions across all aspects of the project, from building materials and systems to energy generation and monitoring.

 

GXN and our client designed the Green Solution House to evolve and improve over time. All products and technologies are, in principle, replaceable with their more sustainable counterparts thought the life of the building. Some of the many solutions currently employed in the project include:

 

On-Site Energy Production

  • A pyrolysis plant heats food scraps and other biological waste, converting it natural gas for energy and biochar, a residue used as fertilizer.
  • Solar cells integrated into facades, glazed ceilings and balconies generate electricity.
  • Solar thermal plant incorporated into the landscape generates additional hot water.

 

Natural Technology

  • Algae generators clean wastewater. After passing through an initial underground clarification to remove solids, the water flows through transparent tubes of algae that clean the water and absorb CO2. Cleaned water then irrigates the gardens and green wall.
  • System can process 500 liters of water/day.

 

Intelligent Indoor Climate

  • Interactive energy visualization, via dedicated monitors in the lobby, displays on-site energy production and consumption correlated to building zones.
  • Two hotel rooms are designated ‘Smart Rooms’ and feature a custom designed app that tracks the impact of the guest’s stay, monitoring water and energy consumption, daylight levels, air quality, temperature and humidity levels.

 

Design for Disassembly

  • Design supports the eventual recycling and reuse of building components; sees all construction projects as ‘material banks’ for future generations.
  • Design prioritized accessible mechanical fastenings, which are separable, over permanent adhesives and other chemical fixes.

 

Clean Air and Daylight

  • Daylight tunnels, redirecting light channels and skylights all bring light deep into the building by means of a rotating reflector on the roof that captures sunlight and sends light into the reception area.
  • Conference hall gables are large north-facing glass, which draw natural light into the new meeting areas to enhance attendee productivity and reduce use of electric lights.
  • New kinds of ‘cleaning products’: dust absorbing carpets, wall panels that neutralize formaldehyde, a green wall with local ferns that cleans the air and balances humidity levels, roof membrane that captures airborne particulate pollution from traffic by neutralizing nitric oxide particles.

 

Reclaim, Reuse, Renovate

  • Remnants from demolished buildings comprise base of new parking area.
  • Existing buildings updated with energy efficient facades and roofing
  • Furniture, light fixtures and more were renovated, repaired and reupholstered whenever possible
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