Human Settlements Review - Parliamentary Monitoring Group

Human Settlements Review, Volume 1, Number 1, 2010
In addition to embodied energy, other types
of energy were considered in the design,
construction and use of the buildings, to
address the conservation of each of these
types of energy (Maritz, 2002):
• Embodied energy: consumed in the
manufacture of building materials,
components and systems.
• Grey energy: consumed in the
distribution and transportation
of building materials to the site.
• Induced energy: consumed during
the construction of the building.
• Operating energy is used in running
the building and its occupants’
equipment and appliances.
• Added energy: consumed in the
building’s maintenance, alteration
and final disposal.
4. Lessons learned
4.1 Design and architecture
The design took into consideration local
aspects, such as rivers, small trees and
bushes. The concept for this design revolved
around three objectives (Maritz, 2002):
• To integrate architecture and
landscape
• To relate to the scale of the local
housing context, and
• To attempt a completely
environmentally appropriate
building as far as possible in
the context of its Windhoek location
and role in Namibia
With regard to the landscape, the buildings
were designed to ensure that only a few plants
had to be removed.
The office building was turned 25º east of north
in order to incorporate passive responses to
keep the buildings cool in summer and warm
in winter. The north facing parts of externally
fixed solar screens to the roof overhangs
shade the offices. The positions of the sun
during the various seasons are illustrated in
Figure 2.
Figure 2 – Sun positions during the year and on 21 June at 13h00
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