The Architects’ Journal Architecture News & Buildings
In this episode, Feifer explains why sustainability is no longer relative. ‘One planet means one carbon budget with a fixed amount available for buildings,’ she says. It’s not about improving relative to previously accepted standards.
She also describes how Denmark’s new building regulations will regulate whole life carbon by requiring life cycle assessment for projects and setting benchmarks for different building types. For homes, Feifer advocates the Active House Alliance’s adaptive comfort approach rather than the absolute comfort ranges prescribed by Passivhaus.
Currently on site, Velux’ Living Places project by EFFEKT Architects will showcase a community of the future as part the UIA Congress in 2023 when Copenhagen will be World Capital of Architecture. The project comprises two homes and five open pavilions, proposing a range of visions and construction methods for a neighbourhood of the future.
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About Lone Feifer
After completing her architecture degree at Aarhus University, Feifer spent six years working as an architect in Berlin. Returning to Copenhagen in 1999, she joined Velux as project architect and has remained there for 23 years. She is currently its director for sustainable buildings, a role that encompasses both strategic and operational responsibilities. Her team has built more than 30 demonstration projects in 22 countries.
In 2011, Feifer completed a Masters in Energy and Green Architecture at Aarhus and Tsing Hua University in Beijing. She is a board member of the Royal Danish Academy and the Danish Architects Association and general secretary of the Active House Alliance.
She approaches sustainability holistically with the quality of people’s experience of buildings at the heart of design.
Show notes: Projects and resources mentioned in this episode
Living Places, EFFEKT Architects, Velux demonstration project of a model community for UIA 2023 in Copenhagen. On site, due for completion November 2022
CarbonLight Homes, Kettering, Northamptonshire
Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces Drive Performance and Productivity by Joseph G Allen and John D Macomber (Harvard University Press, 2020)
Ostbirk Innovation Building, Praksis Arkitekter Retrofit of storage barns for Velux innovation centre, due 2024
Søren Jensen Consulting Engineers
In association with
Climate Champions is produced in association with ACAN, the Architects’ Climate Action Network
Podcast produced and edited by Simon Aldous
Music: Edmilson do Pífano, Forró de dois Amigos. Interpretation: Felipe Tanaka e banda Balaio de Baião