location for ecological building attracting numerous
visitors.
Sustainable or green or ecological building
incorporates a huge variety of aspects and
perspectives. Principals and technologies have been
developing since more than two decades now with
various administrative bodies promoting green
building (cf. BBR 2001, OECD 2002 and 2003). A
green building is achieved through erecting a highly
energy efficient building envelope or through using
natural materials for the construction or through
minimizing the waste produced during the
construction phase. All of these types of ecological
building have in common that they aim for a less
environmental harming construction process1, i.e. to
achieve a more sustainable way of treating the
environment when construction activities are carried
out. Detlev Glücklich summarizes the tasks of
ecological building as follows putting the human
being and her/his wellbeing into the center:
Ecological building shall facilitate human being’s
living and working and allow them to satisfy their
social and cultural necessities without unbalancing
the environment in the long term [Glücklich 2005].
Ecological building becomes manifested in very
diverse aspects. Typically ecological materials are
used for the construction or the house is optimized in
terms of energy consumption through the use of
renewable resources or an excellent insulation, which
transfers the house to a 3-liter-, 1-liter- or even so
called passive house or zero emissions house
respectively. However, a consistent orientation
towards ecological benefits in all areas and levels is
yet seldom found, which is enforced due to the fact
that just few architects and planners as well as
building owners possess practical or theoretical
experiences in this respect.
There are approaches to separate the huge topic of
ecological building into various subsections. In order
to consider individual aspects this procedure is truly
sensible, but at the end of the day there must be an
integrated concept that serves the main targets, an
increase of the resource productivity and the use of
environmental friendly materials and substances.
Such an integrated approach is already sensible for a
single building, but even more promising when
quarters of whole cities are considered in terms of
their overall ecological effects. Then not only the
decision for the best building material, the most
environmentally friendly heating system, or the most
sustainable water supply and disposal moves into the
planners’ focus, but further aspects such as the
mobility of the inhabitants or the planning of green
areas for recreation become important as well.