Client: Landsea Europe R&D GmbH
Architect: Peter Ruge Architekten
Structural/Services engineering: Shanghai Landsea Planning & Architecture Design Co.,Ltd.
Thermal structural physics: Passivhaus Institut (PHI)
Building quality assurance: Drees & Sommer Sustainable Engineering Consulting (Shanghai) Co.,Ltd.
DGNB certification consulting: Energydesign (Shanghai) Co.,Ltd.
Building quality workshop: Deutsche Energie-Agentur GmbH (DENA)
Building contractor: Jiangsu Nantong Erjian Group Co.,Ltd.
Blower door test: Ingenieurbüro Meyer-Olbersleben
The Passive House Bruck is the first residential building to be certified in the moist, warm, south China climate as a passive house by the German Passivhaus Institut in Darmstadt, and it achieves a 95-percent energy savings in operation compared to a conventional Chinese residential building.
Passive House Bruck is a pilot project and demonstrates the potential of the passive house standard in China. The design as detailed as execution drawings has been planned by Peter Ruge Architekten in Germany to improve and implement innovative, energy saving and sustainable building practices in China. The architects have been supported by the engineers of the Passive House Institute Dr. Feist in Germany. It is the flagship project by the recognized Chinese real estate development group Landsea and the core of establishing a research and development centre in Changxing, west of Shanghai.
The five-storey apartment complex accommodates in app. 2,200 sqm 36 one room staff flats, 6 two room executive suites and 4 three-bedroom model apartments. The flats have been planned so that Chinese families, interested in the benefits of sustainable housing, could be provided with an opportunity to temporarily reside in the building. Through this direct experience, prospective clients are able to gain their own understanding of passive house living has to offer, as the building demonstrates maximum comfort and quality of residence. This aims to reduce any prior reservations had towards the success of passive house design in extreme weather conditions.
The local climate has shaped the impression of the facade: triple glazed window units have been specifically used in all private rooms and common areas, whilst fixed sun shading elements protect the glass facade in the warmer half of the year. The closed areas of the highly insulated facade act to protect the building shell from intense sunlight through a screen of colored terracotta rods.
The project was officially certified, with a primary energy consumption of only 106 kWh / m² in the summer of 2014 by the Passive House Institute Darmstadt, as the first passive house residential building in southern China. Also, it became as the first realized project in China the gold certification of the DGNB (German Sustainable Building Council) 2015. Peter Ruge Architekten have been given the gold medal of the World Green Design Awards 2014 for the design of the building.
