Green and Resilient Buildings: Cities of the Future

What is a resilient building?

A resilient building is one that can face and recover after a disaster situation, while maintaining safety and functionality for its occupants. These buildings are designed to withstand extreme natural phenomena and other adversities, and are equipped with efficient systems that ensure their operability and adaptability in emergency situations.

How to create a resilient building?

The strategies to consider will depend on the level of threat being faced. One way is to prioritize these four elements:

Robustness

The building must be able to continue operating in crisis situations.

Ingenio

It depends to a large extent on the building's design, which should minimize dependence on external resources and allow flexibility at critical times.

Accelerated recovery

It's a crucial aspect in designing building systems that can withstand damage and continue to operate after the immediate threat has passed. It includes well-developed contingency plans, effective emergency operations, and the means to mobilize people and resources to the right places.

Redundancy

It consists of duplicating the components of the construction system to support the original ones in case of failures. They can include backup generators, primary heating and cooling equipment, alternative water sources, and utility systems.

In addition, these five steps will guide you in planning green and resilient buildings:

1. It collects comprehensive information about current and future weather. This will allow you to define the most appropriate preliminary requirements for the adaptation, energy demand and comfort of the building.
2. Consider site conditions to identify and prioritize adaptation strategies, passive bioclimatic architectural design, and the most appropriate active and energy efficiency strategies.
3. Evaluate the materials available in the market, prioritizing those with low energy and environmental impact.
4. It analyzes the remaining energy demand and determines the need to incorporate renewable energy generation systems on site.
5. It considers other aspects that reduce the operational impact of buildings, such as water use efficiency, wastewater and solid waste management, among others.

Examples of strategies for adapting to climate change

In a context of drought and water scarcity, the following treatment and reduced use strategies can be incorporated:

• Incorporate rainwater capture and storage systems for non-drinkable uses.
• Include gray and black water treatment systems for use in irrigation and toilets.
• Install low-flow showers and faucets.
• Install dual-flush or energy-efficient toilets.
• Recover and reuse condensed water from equipment such as air conditioners, refrigerators or other devices.

In situations of rising sea levels, hurricanes, floods, torrential rains and storms, the following mitigation strategies can be implemented:

• Improve the land drainage system.
• Increase rainwater collection and treatment capacity for reuse.
• Increase the height of the ground floor in new buildings.
• Include structures such as retaining walls, embankments, levees, mangroves and other protective measures against floods, river erosion, avalanches, or landslides caused by heavy rain.
• Use materials and construction systems resistant to adverse weather phenomena such as floods and strong winds.
• Use permeable pavements and vegetation to improve soil absorption capacity.
• Install green roofs or other permeable green surfaces.
• Integrate floodable areas into outdoor spaces, among other measures.

Faced with a scenario that anticipates an increase in temperature due to climate change, these strategies can be considered in buildings:

• Make architectural designs and/or modifications that ensure natural cross ventilation.
• Implement solar protection and sun management systems on facades, such as the use of parasols.
• Place thermal insulation materials on ceilings and walls to optimize building insulation.
• Apply reflective paint or tiles to exterior ceilings and walls.
• Use reflective glass or glass with low thermal emissivity.
• Opt for natural solutions, such as using vegetation to provide shade or green roofs to improve thermal insulation.

It is also recommended to adopt a multi-threat approach during project planning, ensuring that measures are implemented to improve resilience to various threats in addition to climate change, such as earthquakes.

Sources consulted: Origo Sustainable Architecture. Green buildings: guidelines for the incorporation and accounting of mitigation and adaptation measures to climate change, IDB. 5 steps to planning green and resilient buildings, Alexandra Alvear.

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