Benchmark Study on Green Buildings - Royal Architectural Institute ...

took place in 1998 and 1999 together with the new residents. In the summer of 1999, the
City of Freiburg began the sale of properties in the second development section. The
building process there started late summer 2000. In the year 2001 the first development
section of the new district was completed, and 2000 people moved in. When completed in
2006, Vauban was already a vibrant community which was prospering due to the shared
environmental concern of its inhabitants.
Vauban has set its own high standards for environmental performance. Vauban buildings
have a compulsory low-energy standard, where all new buildings are built to use 65
kWh/m 2 a or less, with the average energy standard for new German houses built between
1995 and 2000 being about 100 kWh/m 2 a and the standard of older houses about 200
kWh/m 2 a. This is a huge decrease in energy use. Additionally, about 100 houses have
been built to the passive house standard (15kWh/m 2 a). ‘Passive Houses’ do not need
conventional heating systems: their heat requirements are almost entirely covered using
solar power generation, heat recuperation systems, and southern-facing windows which
allow maximum penetration from the sun’s rays. However, several ‘Improved Passive
Houses’ (plus energy houses) have also been built in Vauban by an investor. These
houses produce more energy than they need, and represent the cutting edge of energy
efficiency. The investor hopes to build between 100 and 200 more of these houses in the
Vauban area. The Vauban development plan also includes some regulations for the
design of the houses: for example, ‘single houses’ are prohibited which leads to a
compact urban building structure and the characteristic mixed land-use. Finally, as the
whole settlement can not depend solely on solar power for all its energy needs, a highefficiency
power plant operating on wood-chips has been built and connected to district’s
power grid.
As transportation is one of modern society’s largest consumers of fossil fuel and
producers of greenhouses gases, Vauban has tried to minimize the use of personal
motorized vehicles in their settlement. It has done this through two approaches, “car-free”
and “parking-free” living. Cars are only permitted in the district for pick-up and delivery
purposes, and must be parked in one of the community car parks on the outskirts of the
development as Vauban prohibits the building of parking space on private property. Only
families who own cars must pay for parking space in the car parks. Car owners must walk
a short distance to reach their vehicles, which means travel within Vauban is typically not
done using a car as it would take more time to get to the car, drive to another car park,
and park there compared to simply walking or cycling to the destination. The speed limit
on the district’s main road is 30km/h, and in the residential areas cars are not supposed to
drive faster than “walking speed,” which is about 5km/h. By planning Vauban to be
predominantly car-free, it has been designed and built to be a district of short distances,
wherein most daily destinations (such as businesses, shops, schools, and recreation areas)
are all within walking or cycling distance. Car-sharing initiatives have also sprung up in
Vauban, where the vehicle is parked in one of the car parks, and where costs are divided
between participants based on how often they use the vehicle. Public transportation to
Freiburg exists in the form of two buslines and a tramway.
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