The Green Building

THE GREEN BUILDING: Freiburg city's showcase for sustainability at Expo 2010 Shanghai. Currently under completion, this innovative and pioneer multi-storey building designed by Frey Architects is the exhibition masterpiece of the German Green-City pavilion. Scheduled to match the Expo duration, the construction progress is per webcam in China live displayed. Entirely made of cross laminated timber, the multi-storey building does not only fulfill Ultra-Low Energy House standards: thanks to the use of regenerative materials and energy-efficient design, it's expected to show CO2 credit and generate a net surplus of energy. Zero-energy and plus-energy buildings focuse only on reducing energy use and do not include the carbon emissions generated in the entire life cycle of the building and the embodied energy of its structure materials. The Green Building goes further with a more efficient use of ressources, waste reduction, use of renewable and non-toxic building materials and social integration. Passive houses are from the past! The conception, wich embodies architect's 5 finger principle, features passive solar and passive cooling design, vegetalized facade, green roof, solar thermal collectors and photovoltaic cells. And last but not least, social concerns were also in mind with this eco-project: no external investor were involved in the construction! Through a non-profit build-team organization, builders are also the owners of the flats.