Research and Development

Eriksson Architect’s Environmental Program: A Guidebook for Making Sustainable Planning Solutions

The Environmental Program of Eriksson Architects Ltd is a research and development project of the office whose aim is to lead the planning practices into a more sustainable direction. As planners we have noticed that sometimes the newest research information doesn’t reach the actual planning easily because the material is not easy to use. That is why we began a program with the aim to bring tools for sustainable urban and architectural planning, for the everyday planning process of the office. During the first period of the project, we have been developing tools for urban planning. Now the project will be extended to include also the building design. The program will help to go through projects of varying scales, from planning phase to realization by using the best know-how, in a more useful format. The Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (Tekes) is financing the project.

The first part of the environmental program goes through a large amount of research material and creates a theoretical context of the project. The most significant aspects of sustainability and the potential of planning have been pointed on different scales. We have to understand the complexity of sustainable design and evaluate the combined impact of different variables of the planning solutions we are producing. One of the main goals of the project is to apply theoretical information about sustainability in practice. Eriksson Architects’ planning tools are developed based on this research material. The aim is to bring out the most important indicators of eco-efficiency so that they can be considered in planning process. We have developed our own simple and practical eco-efficiency tool for urban planning: Eriksson Architects’ eco-efficiency tool familiarly called ERKKO. We are already applying Erkko in our land use planning projects.

We are constantly applying and developing our toolbox with actual planning projects and existing sites. With this strategy, we create a sustainable base for the planning of the pilot sites. This is how we also bring the planning tools into the office’s everyday practices.

Strategic partnership with NordBuild Ltd

NordBuild Ltd and Eriksson Architects Ltd have established a strategic partnership to promote energy efficient construction. The European Union’s aim of all new buildings meeting nearly zero-energy requirements by the year 2020 has a significant impact on the energy efficiency solutions. The building regulations that come into effect by 2012, based on so-called “E-figure”, also take account of renewable energy and thus give wider opportunities to reach the required energy efficiency level. These tightening norms together with the accumulating energy costs emphasises the importance of the energy estimation already during the concept phase.

The new “NB Plan” -service offers tools for simulating energy efficiency solutions and analysing life cycle costs of a property during the concept phase of new building or a refurbishment project. The new starting point is to shift the focus from structural impermability to holistic simulation of energy balance, where external conditions, primary energy sources and novel technical solutions are fused into energy efficient spatial design.

KUUMA Quality Housing

“Kuuma Quality Housing” (Kuuma-laatuasuminen, an abbreviation for a project for urban structure unifying high-quality small scale housing) is a two-year joint research and development venture between 10 municipalities and a multidisciplinary team of consulting firms, coordinated by Eriksson Architects Ltd. The project is funded by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, the Ministry of the Environment, Uusimaa Regional Council and the participating municipalities. These municipalities (Järvenpää, Kerava, Mäntsälä, Nurmijärvi, Pornainen, Tuusula, Hyvinkää, Kirkkonummi, Sipoo ja Vihti) are located around Helsinki, the capital city of Finland. As a result of regional and national transformation, this region has faced steady migration during the last 3 decades. Despite legislatively strong status in land use, municipalities in different phases of urbanization have common challenges in controlling the urban fabric. The project responds the following present day housing challenges: improving eco-efficiency including constraining scattered development/urban sprawl, raising the quality of construction, and catching up the level of rental housing construction, which was agreed in the year of 2008 by municipalities and the state of Finland.

The main objective of the project is to find structural and qualitative criteria that are in accordance with sustainable development. Instead planning actual areas, focus is on shaping the general principles that will enable us to produce more eco-efficient neighbourhoods, without compromising attractiveness or local variation. One of the challenges is that until now, Finns have preferred loose territory, a detached house on a big yard. Therefore it is important to identify and harness the “pull factors” that promote steering the housing within existing structure and traffic routes.