Interventions for the Sustainable Development of Architectural Heritage - The Example of the Soda Fabriek in Schiedam, NL

Interventions for the Sustainable Development of Architectural Heritage - The Example of the Soda Fabriek in Schiedam, NL

Zarmpis, M.

Martin, C.L. (mentor)
Koopman, F. (mentor)

Architecture and The Built Environment

Architectural Engineering and Technology

Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences - Building Technology Track

2015-04-16

Existing historic buildings, remnants of a past long gone are often still highly operational in our time, most likely at the expense of the environment. Without interventions, their energy performance is outdated – provided they are used in a contemporary way - and they contribute to the over-consumption of energy and the increase of greenhouse gas emissions. Intervention possibilities for historic buildings are numerous and highly dependent on a case by case approach. This project examines the case of the Soda Fabriek in Schiedam, an 18th century industrial building. Technical solutions for the energy performance upgrade of the Soda Fabriek’s envelope in respect to its historical significance will be discussed. Yet even for this aspect of a redesign, it is imperative to keep in mind the original elements or characteristics of the building in question. Interventions are always appropriate to the goals of each project. Lowest energy consumption, energy neutrality, over-all sustainability, conservation are different approaches to the issue of upgrading or redeveloping architectural heritage and can lead to different degrees of intervention on such a building. The approach taken to achieve those goals also plays a big role. Simplicity of interventions, budget, extravagance, appearance can have significant impact on how an existing peace of architectural heritage is being redeveloped for a new purpose. This project shows clearly that partial intervention, although it can achieve some improvement on the energy consumed for conditioning a building, it simply is not sufficient. More holistic approaches on all aspects and elements of an existing building are necessary already from the initial stages of re-design, if a historic building is to answer to the issue of energy and sustainability of architectural heritage.

sustainability
refurbishment
historic building
monuments
building conservation
architectural heritage
heritage

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:9dfadff4-0ed7-4c94-842b-9c765a7403b2

51.911231, 4.405547

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2015 Zarmpis, M.