Award in the single-family residential building category

The Old Cowshed House, or recycling on a larger scale

Authors
Ekodama Studio

jury opinion

The award for using an existing building and carrying out a retrofit using natural, renewable and environmentally neutral building and finishing materials.

The Old Cowshed House, or Recycling on a Larger Scale, is a building that exemplifies the renovation of a dilapidated old barn in an environmentally friendly, natural way. By remodeling and adapting an already existing building to its new function, using renewable local building materials and reusing used finishes, the facility implemented the principles of a closed-loop economy and minimized its carbon footprint. With traditional construction techniques in mind, straw was used to insulate the building, clay plaster was used, and the floors were made as stave. Thanks to the preservation of the traditional body, the building fits into the character of the non-urban landscape.

The realization proves that designing a building that meets modern needs is possible with technologies with a very low carbon footprint. The technologies and materials used made it possible to achieve better heat transfer coefficients of the building envelope than currently required. Particular attention was focused on achieving high building airtightness, for example, through the use of windproof sealing tapes. These measures have made it possible to significantly reduce the amount of energy required for heating. The building's heating needs are mostly covered by convection electric heaters fed by the PV system, thus avoiding local emissions. Most of the plot is biologically active area, landscaped with local species. In order to retain rainwater for watering the garden, a reservoir is provided, into which water is discharged from the roof of the building.