We are please to share our entry into the Iceland Ski Snow Cabin competition. The team had a great time working together on the design. We like to enter competitions every now and again to keep the creativity flowing.
We are extremely proud of our team’s proposal and glad to see it being celebrated by Buildner on Instagram too.
Great team effort!
DESIGN AND CONCEPT
The main purpose of the design proposal is to create a place for people to enjoy skiing and the beauty of the landscapes surrounding the site. A place where people can interact with nature and leisure actives. The proposal seeks to create a hub for people to use as a base to explore the local landscapes with their friends and families whether close to the site or on local trails. The building is sited on a lower flat portion of the topography creating the opportunity to create a building form to become a feature of in the landscape.
The building aims to cultivate a sense of sanctuary and harmony with the natural context of it setting, inspired by the geological geometries and materiality of the Icelandic scenery. The environment is something that must be preserved and nurtured. The climate emergency we are experiencing and the need to be more frugal with our consumption of energy is at the heart of the project.
The design takes its inspiration from the unique geological setting and the movement of tectonic plates. A simple topographical location is divided by lines of movement.
MATERIALS AND CONSTRUCTION
Synonymous with buildings across Iceland, the turf roof insulates and protects the building from the elements and blends seamlessly with the landscape bringing harmony between the building and its context. A green roof over time sequesters carbon with potential for a carbon negative building. Carbon can be sequestered at an estimated rate of between 160 – 375 gC.m2.a. (~131 kgC.a)
The main structure of the building was considered carefully and with carbon emissions in mind. Concrete is a carbon heavy material. However, Iceland has very little timber resource and any timber structures would need to be processed and imported from another country adding to the total emissions associated. The use of concrete has benefits in the extreme climates due to the potential for longevity of primary building structure over timber, creating opportunities for reuse versus recycling. There is a concrete plant 92km from the site. 70% GGBS (Ground Granulated Blast-furnace Slag) concrete will be used which greatly reduced emissions compared to a traditional concrete structure. The structure has also been designed as a waffle type to further reduce the amount of concrete required.
One emerging industry in Iceland is the cultivation of hemp, hempcrete is a traditional but innovative material that can be used for structure and insulation. Hempcrete is also proven to sequester carbon a net rate of 110 – 160 kg of CO2 per m3 of hempcrete. We saw an opportunity to combine the hempcrete with the main structure to offset the emissions from the concrete frame, whilst providing additional insulation and aesthetic texture to the internal finishes. Hempcrete is proposed to be used for the waffle infill to the roof frame and for all of the internal walls.
Timber will be used as a feature in the warm areas of the building to create a welcoming contrast between the harsh external environment and internal experience of the ski cabin amenity spaces. A warm comforting hub, a hot cup of coffee with a view of surrounding landscapes. Other spaces will see the exposed concrete and hempcrete to protect from ski boots and heavy trafficking.
Using circular economy, low energy materials and innovative material strategies. Preliminary embodied carbon analysis of the project estimates that the life cycle embodied carbon for the proposal, is in line with current UK climate challenge target metrics and the Icelandic sustainable construction roadmap for 2030. The building should achieve a reduction in the region of 55-60% over the current business as usual case.
The estimated total lifecycle embodied carbon analysis for the project is 425 - 475 kgCO2e/m2.
CLIMATE AND ENERGY
A significant factor in the design and performance of buildings is the climate of the site at both micro and macro scales. The proposal has been developed with climate in mind, the current global circulation models and the shared socioeconomic pathways. The climate of Iceland is set to change the degree by which depends on how we react to the climate challenge. Current models show that Icelandic climate will change to be less Polar / Continental (ET / Dfc) climate to a Continental / Temperate (Dfc / Cfc) climate. The diagram below shows the predicted total area of changed climate zones between 2020 and 2070 under the SSP3 scenario.
PASSIVE DESIGN STRATEGIES
The bioclimatic chart with design strategies imposed has been used to inform the design of potential passive strategies that can be employed to reduce energy consumption within the building. The chart plots average temperature and relative humidity data for various times of the year. The graph demonstrates the potential for the use of passive solar energy collection and natural ventilation during a typical year.
OPERATIONAL ENERGY
The reduction of operation building energy is as critical to meeting energy targets as building materiality and embodied energy. The project has been designed to optimise the form and arrangement of spaces to maximise the potential for energy saving whilst balancing this with the architectural form and visitor experience. Researching the potential for climate change into the future highlighted the opportunity to set the current minimum standard of performance so that as the climate changes the building will become more energy efficient and the strategies employed will further support a reduction in delivered energy demand.
To optimise the building the Passivhaus design standard was employed to ensure a high performing building fabric and airtightness could be achieved and so that efficient building services could be installed in the form of heat pumps that utilise to local geothermal energy as a renewable source either locally on the site or from the nearby geothermal power plant. Using the Passivhaus standard also offered the opportunity to construct the first of its kind in Iceland as an innovation exemplar for the country to test the merits of the design methodology in the extreme cold climate.
Preliminary operational energy analysis of the project estimates that the proposal, has the potential to achieve net zero operational energy by utilising the Passivhaus design standard criteria and utilising renewal geothermal energy for space heating and all primary electrical energy demand. The level of energy used by the building will exceed current non-residential climate challenge targets for 2030 and be net zero in operational energy use.
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