Denmark's been building

Welcome back to The Strawman, the daily climate newsletter that gives you the feeling of walking into a new house, every day. We got that new home smell baby.

Today we’re catching a flight (powered by sustainable aviation fuels, obviously) to Scandinavia - Denmark’s hosting a big conference for architects, and it’s worth taking a look at.

Let’s dive in.

Old school design

Homes - can’t live without em. They’ve been around forever - and it’s important to understand the role they play in our road to Net Zero.

Energy use within commercial and residential buildings makes up nearly 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions according to Our World in Data.

Spending time rethinking how we design and construct these buildings could put a huge dent in their emissions; and while most energy use is from older buildings, figuring out how to make new buildings better also creates the template for us to improve emissions from older ones.

Win-win.

Architects take centre stage

The 2023 World Congress of Architecture - if it sounds fancy, it’s because it is. In Copenhagen this year, it’s a little bit like the Olympics - but for house designs.

The forum will host 15 pavilion projects by Danish architects throughout the city, the SDG Pavilions, each showcasing experimental structures on how buildings can help achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

It’s like an all you can eat buffet of architectural ideas - and we’re feeling hungry.

Traditional Techniques Meet Modern Designs

As part of the "From 4 to 1 Planet" project, young Danish architects have built structures reducing the climatic impact of residential buildings by 75% using traditional techniques and natural materials like straw and dirt.

They're not reinventing the wheel, just the house, and it's working.

One standout project is Living Places Copenhagen, designed by Effekt Architects. They've created two prototype homes to showcase how ultra-low-carbon homes can be both feasible and affordable without sacrificing the 'wow' factor.

The houses blend a minimalist Scandinavian design with exposed timber, natural ventilation, and even a modular kitchen. It's like walking into a Scandinavian spa, but you live there.

And how do these homes measure up against Denmark's new legislation limiting carbon footprints of new constructions? Quite well, actually. While new builds must not exceed a carbon footprint of 12kg of CO₂ emissions per square metre per year, Living Places homes leave only tiny footprints of 3.8kg and 3.9kg CO₂ per square metre per year.

In essence, sustainable housing doesn’t demand a voyage to Mars or some groundbreaking tech; we just need to dig our heels into our design culture and perhaps, a little bit into the earth.

See ya tomorrow,

The Strawman