Energy efficiency, diversity of use and design in housing / in relation to office building and mixed functions

Abstract

The aim of this study was to describe the current directions of development in the areas of theory and practice in subsidised housing, in particular with regard to energy efficiency, diversity of use and design, and to present for discussion recommendations for future programming.

Given the dynamism of the last decade, above all in terms of major social, ecological and economic changes, the study comes to the conclusion that in housing as in office construction – and throughout the area of town planning – a change of paradigms has, to some extent, already taken place and can be expected to become even more radical.

One consequence of this will be a need for new concepts in the area of housing, too. This applies to the socio-political aspects of the cost efficiency or affordability of living accomodation and to wider dimensions of urban sustainability but also has an impact on the social, aesthetic and urban planning effects of housing complexes that are conceived and designed primarily in a building-centred way.