#361 Bolueta: Designed to Be Efficient

Energy and sustainability, High Density, Project, Urban Paradigms, V Arquitectos

Collective housing, Comfort, Concrete, Construction, Density, Design, Efficiency, Energy, High-rise, Housing, Insulation, Materials, Neiborhood heating, Passive house standard, Project, Spain, Thermal comfort, Tower, Water recycling

In 2012 VArquitectos won the architectural competition for the design and project management of 361 housing units. The building was designed to be efficient but was far from complying with the Passive House standard. The heating and hot water generation were meant to be provided by district heating, for the 1,100 units built throughout the entire Bolueta neighborhood. There was a problem when the district heating was ruled out because of the crisis. The promoter still wanted an efficient building, with an A energy rating.
At that point, VArquitectos began studying the viability of employing the Passive House standard as a way of providing the efficiency desired by the client.