Christensen & Co

Green Lighthouse, Carbon Neutral Faculty building

Green Lighthouse, Carbon Neutral Faculty building
© Adam Mørk

GREEN LIGHTHOUSE, CARBON NEUTRAL FACULTY BUILDING

Christensen & Co Arkitekter

ARCHITECTS
Christensen & Co Arkitekter

LOCATION
Copenhagen, Denmark

CATEGORY
Higher Education

AREA
950.0 m2

PROJECT YEAR
2009

PHOTOGRAPHS
Adam Mørk

Green Lighthouse, Denmark’s first CO2 neutral public building, demonstrates that sustainable design is not a question of stuffing the building with brazen, expensive high-tech gadgets, but that it starts with good old fashioned common sense.

Green Lighthouse, Carbon Neutral Faculty building
© Adam Mørk
Green Lighthouse, Carbon Neutral Faculty building
© Adam Mørk

In fact, 75% of the reduction of the energy consumption is the direct consequence of architectural design.To achieve carbon neutrality, many green design features were incorporated to reduce energy use and provide a holistic and healthy indoor environment for students and faculty.

The building itself was oriented to maximize its solar resources, while windows and doors are recessed and covered with automatic solar shades to minimise direct solar heat gain inside the building.

Plentiful daylight and natural ventilation are provided by means of the carefully placed VELUX skylights, Velfac windows and the generous atrium.

Green Lighthouse, Carbon Neutral Faculty building
© Adam Mørk
Green Lighthouse, Carbon Neutral Faculty building
© Adam Mørk

Finally, sensibly integrated state-of-the-art technology has been applied: heat recovery systems, photovoltaic panels, solar heating, LED lighting, phase change materials, geothermal heat are just some of the technologies that are seamlessly integrated into the building.

The building is going to serve as a showcase for sustainable building at the UN’s Climate Conference here in Copenhagen in December later this year.

Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Helge Sander states; “Everyone who has had a share in the Green Lighthouse project has every reason to be proud. It is a stylish, exemplary, climate-friendly construction, which will help focus the attention on Danish know-how during the forthcoming climate summit.

Green Lighthouse, Carbon Neutral Faculty building
© Adam Mørk
Green Lighthouse, Carbon Neutral Faculty building
© Adam Mørk

At the same time, the building can serve as inspiration to other universities and builders, while also contributing to the construction industry's knowledge base of sustainable building solutions”.

The parties involved in the project are the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, the University of Copenhagen, the City of Copenhagen and the window producers VELUX and VELFAC.


Green Lighthouse, Carbon Neutral Faculty building
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Green Lighthouse, Carbon Neutral Faculty building
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Christensen & Co
T +45 72 444440
Christensen & Co
Bragesgade 10, 2200 København, Denmark