Energy Performance + Architecture Award

On 26th September it was announced that the Berlin architectural practice of Sauerbruch Hutton had been awarded the fourth interclima+elec Energy Performance + Architecture Award.

Founded in 1989, the architectural practice of Matthias Sauerbruch and Louisa Hutton has grown and grown so that it now has some 100 staff and has been responsible for numerous projects across Europe from Helsinki to Milan, Munich to Frankfurt. Sauerbruch Hutton was chosen both for its functional approach that places the individual and his or her personality at the centre of its projects, and for its mastery of polychrome architecture in a clever mix of design and colour that is a real signature.

The Sauerbruch Hutton entry consisted of three recent projects: the KfW Westarkade office building in Frankfurt, the Brandhorst Museum in Munich and the Cologne Oval Offices in Cologne. In its deliberations the Jury praised all these buildings for the way in which the major principles of sustainable development were taken into account at every stage from initial studies to hand over. As a tribute to Sauerbach Hutton’s two decades of work, the Energy Performance + Architecture Award is above all a recognition of its commitment to sustainable development applied to architecture. A pioneer of ‘double skin’ facades for high rise buildings since 1991, the practice has become a reference for technological innovation.

Matthias Sauerbruch and Louisa Hutton will receive the award at a ceremony held at Interclima+elec 2012 and they will also speak at a conference during which their projects and their vision of how architecture can support energy efficiency will be presented.

A high profile event for specifiers (architects, design offices) at interclima+elec, the Energy Performance + Architecture Award is being presented for the fourth time in 2012. Its aim is to use recent projects created by international architects as examples in order to raise the awareness of professionals about how energy performance can be taken into account in the design of buildings.

Project 1

The 14 storey KfW Westarkade building in Frankfurt is one of the very first office towers in the world to achieve a primary energy consumption of less than 90 kWh/m²/year.

The aerodynamic shape of the tower is a tour de force in the way it avoids blocking the view of the surrounding buildings.

The energy performance goal was achieved in full by using renewables: double flow natural ventilation, geothermal, residual heat recovery from computer terminals (supplying 50% of the heating requirements), use of 100% green electricity and ‘green’ roofs for the collection of rainwater.

Sensors automatically switched the artificial lighting off whenever the natural daylight provided sufficient light for the building’s interior. Large glass windows were fitted with horizontal slatted shutters built into the double-walled façade, providing protection against overheating due to the sun’s rays and excessive brightness.

The Sauerbruch Hutton architectural practice has acquired international renown for its commitment to the environment in architecture and town planning. Louisa Hutton and Matthias Sauerbruch also continue to be involved in education and lead courses at a number of international universities (Berlin, Stuttgart, Boston - Harvard). Matthias Sauerbruch is a member of the council of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation and is a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts as well as the New York Institute of Urban Design. Louisa Hutton is a member of the Erich Schelling Architecture Foundation and a former CABE commissioner (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment). Both are regularly jury members for various architectural prizes and competitions around the world. Louisa Hutton and Matthias Sauerbruch won the Erich Schelling Prize in 1998 and the Fritz Schumacher Prize in 2003.

The Shortlist

At the end of the deliberations on 26th September for the 4th Energy Performance + Architecture Award the jury was able to report that the quality of the international candidates for this competition keeps on getting better and better. The jury chose Sauerbruch Hutton from the 11 shortlisted architectural practices:

> GERMANY
o Behnisch Architekten
o Diebedo Francis Kéré Architecte
o Herzog + Partner
o Sauerbruch Hutton

> BRAZIL
o Andrade Morettin Arquitetos Associados

> UNITED STATES
o Kieran Timberlake Architect

> FRANCE
o Jourda Architecte
o Lipsky Rollet Architectes
o Atelier Philippe Madec

> GRANDE BRETAGNE
o Kieran Timberlake Architect

> IRELAND
o Bucholz McEvoy Architects

The Energy Performance + Architecture Award Jury

• Chairman of the jury: Joseph Le Jollec, President of interclima+elec.
• Gwénaël Querrien, Editor-in-Chief of Archiscopie, Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine.
• Brian Ford, Professor of Architecture, University of Nottingham (United Kingdom).
• Frédéric Lenne, Director of the department of Architecture of AMC magazine – Groupe Moniteur.
• Nicola Leonardi, Editor-in-Chief of the architectural magazine The Plan (Italy).
• Christian Schittich, Editor-in-Chief of the architectural magazine Detail (Germany).
• Philippe Brocart, Managing Director of the Construction, Safety, Security and Consumer Goods Division of Reed Exhibitions
• Mario Cucinella, Founder of Mario Cucinella Srl and first winner of the EPAA
• Thomas Lechner, Co-founder of Transsolar and professor of the physics of buildings   
• Cesare Casati, Editor-in-Chief ARCA Edizioni, international architectural magazine