A New Construction Paradigm for Buildings

Image: Indoor Ecosystem from Peapod Life
Can Achieve 10x Better Air Quality than Outdoor Air

In my resent post Being Inspired by the Little Bit of Magic in My 'Backyard' I talked about the park that is magic, a small working eco-system in the middle of an urban environment, a place that derives its magic from the co-existence of its stakeholders, humans and animals, and its aliveness. The place resonates on an emotional level, bringing happiness and joy. I also eluded to that these elements could be key to a livable and sustainable design for interior spaces for the future.

But why bother pushing this concept? We seem to be happy with the status quo of building. Boxes with windows which according to the new building codes will have to have higher and higher degrees of insulation and less air leakage; trying to seal the building off from the outside world to achieve less energy consumption or net zero energy consumption. But we believe that this is a kneejerk reaction to an issue, but not the solution for the future. This approach disregards the natural environment that can be used to make our lives livable, we need daylight, natural ventilation.

Using an integrated eco system to enhance the interior space, living windows, living walls, living floor, nature as your decorator – what are the advantages?

The advantages are:

1. Better air quality. With the right eco-system you can have air that is 10 times better than the outside City air. Less stress, less respiratory difficulties;
2. Growing your own food 12 month of the year. We have food shortage in the City, there are areas where people do not have access to fresh food, also food variety has dwindled due to the way we produce our fresh food. So with a living eco-system the personal food production could be supplemented;
3. Ample use of daylight/sunlight. We as human beings need bright spaces for our physical and mental health. It provides Vitamin D;
4. Use of living wall systems that use aquaponics (fish and plants), next generation on food supply;
5. Integrated systems: a. such as solar cells for energy generation to help growing the plants and reduce overall energy consumption in homes; b. rain water recovery for watering;
6. Future push for better and newer building materials which will make these eco systems more effective;
7. But the most important reason: Tranquility: Plants help regenerate your emotional state. There is nothing better than sitting in your garden, or going out into nature, all of this has a calming quality. Just imagine having this at home 12 months of the year. This space is like a sanctuary, emotional reactions, joy and happiness.

These are some of the reasons why this approach to building is worth pursuing. We might even be talking about a new construction paradigm in building.

Martina Ernst
President/CEO
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Stay tuned as we will keep you posted with updates, here on our blog.