Short films about sustainable architecture

Have been working with architekturclips.de, doing subtitles for ten short films about sustainable architecture, to be shown at the Copenhagen climate summit, Decmber 2009.

Links to each one, plus a brief intro blurb I wrote to go with each:

Siebengeschossig bauen – in Holz Seven-storey building – in timber. In 2008, Berlin saw the construction of the first seven-storey timber-framed apartment building. Tom Kaden, of architects Kaden + Kligbeil, takes us through the project from top to bottom, as the building nears completion.

Jahili Fort in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi Jahili Fort in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi – Refurbishment, conversion and repair, by Roswag & Jankowski Architects. A visitor centre within a historic fort, including exhibition space, as well as the design and integration of “Mubarak bin London: Wilfred Thesiger and the Freedom of the desert” – an exhibition for the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH).

Das Kinderhotel am Neuklostersee The kids hotel at Neuklostersee. Once upon a time there was a little house… where you could spend a free night sleeping beneath the stars.

This is the story of a small disused transformer building, lovingly converted in every detail into a magical place for children (and for the inner child in us all). A real pleasure to make a short film about…

Ein Strohballenhaus entsteht.. Building a home from bales of straw… ‘The Esserhof’, South Tyrol. Load-bearing straw bale construction? Prize-winning modern architecture? Are both these things possible in a single building? The answer is yes, and this film shows how…

The Esserhof holiday home was built in 2006 with a construction period of only four months. It achieved the ‘KlimaHaus A+’ rating, meaning that it uses less than 30 kWh/m² of energy to run each year.

Europäische Investitionsbank, Luxemburg European Investment Bank, Luxembourg
Ingenhoven Architects. In early June 2008 the European Investment Bank opened its new 70,000 sq m administration building, which will be home to nearly 800 employees. The entire building is built on sustainable principles, and is the first building on the European continent to score a “very good” rating under the British “BREEAM” eco-standard.

Speaking from Luxemburg’s Kirchberg Place, architect Christoph Ingenhoven explains his position on sustainable construction and how it can be implemented in a modern, humane and environmentally-oriented architecture.

Werkerweiterung der Fensterfabrik Extending a window manufacturing plant – a landscaped building. A window manufacturer in Hagedorn needed to extend their plant – but how to do this in a protected landscape?

The architects came up with a compromise: allow elements of the landscape to become part of the building. A grass-covered (sedum) roof offsets the large scale of the building. The facade is surrounded by a perimeter frame wall of tall foliage – reminiscent of a typical forest edge – which allows the building to merge into the landscape.

Mrs. De Haan Mrs De Haan: A ‘Slow Development Plan’ for happy eco-entrepreneurs, Zwartluis, the Netherlands. The tale of Mrs De Haan, who so hated her work at an industrial slaughterhouse that she gave it up and changed her life completely – now she has her own piece of land and uses it to raise her own chickens, outdoors.

She’s one of many who use the choice given to residents of Zwartluis to combine living and farming on a small scale – a interesting possibility for leading a new, more sustainable life.

One day on a building site A day on a building site. An extension is added to a 1940s building on the outskirts of the city, using a timber system.

The film shows how much can be done in one day, using the tremendous efficiency of prefabricated timber elements: some detailed planning, plus about a week of prefabrication, results in an amazingly short construction time on site.

and also…

Werdwies Estate, Zürich – Building with social relevance. The Werdwies housing estate in Zürich’s old quarter neede to be redeveloped – the process around the planning and construction of the replacement buildings shows how such development can also be seen as a social and cultural process.

One of five project portraits as part of “Umsicht – regards – sguardi” by Schwarz Pictures.

Vrin – an Alpine village moves with the times. To counter the brain drain, and to secure its long-term viability, Vrin has refocused on its own qualities and strengths. Over the last 15 years, a pioneering model has been developed to allow the villagers to continue on an economically sustainable basis. The model includes a variety of new and significant additions by local architect Gion A. Caminada, who has become a driving force for co-ordinating and redeveloping the village. His motto: “Give your space a special quality!