The New Arch Vol1 No2 (2014)

International Journal of Contemporary Architecture
The New ARCH

Peer-reviewed open-access E-journal
ISSN 2198-7688
Vol. 1, No. 2 (2014)

December 2014
www.The-New-ARCH.net
Editor-in-Chief
Arch. Marina Stosic, GERMANY
E: Editor@The-New-ARCH.net
Editorial Board
Arch. Prof. Dietmar Eberle Baumschlager Eberle, AUSTRIA; ETH Zurich, SWITZERLAND
Arch. Prof. Kengo Kuma University of Tokyo, JAPAN; Kengo Kuma &Associates JAPAN, FRANCE
Arch. Rafael de La-Hoz Rafael de La-Hoz Arquitectos, SPAIN
Arch. Prof. Branislav Mitrovic University of Belgrade, SERBIA
Arch. Luca Francesco Nicoletti Studio Nicoletti Associati, ITALY
Arch. Prof. Milica Jovanovic Popovic University of Belgrade, SERBIA
Arch. Jose Luis Vallejo Ecosistema urbano, SPAIN
Arch. Bostjan Vuga Sadar+Vuga, SLOVENIA
Arch. Philippe Rahm Philippe Rahm architects, FRANCE
Arch. Dr. Manfredo Manfredini University of Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Arch. Dr. Paola Leardini University of Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Arch. Ass.Prof. Wah Sang WONG University of Hong Kong, CHINA
Arch. Nikola Novakovic Enforma, MONTENEGRO
Arch. Dr. Milos Dimcic Programming Architecture, GERMANY
Arch. Ass.Prof. Laila Amer Al Kahtani Princess Norah Bint Abdulrahman University, SAUDI ARABIA
Arch. Dr. Dina Ahmed Ahmed Elmiligy Princess Norah Bint Abdulrahman University, SAUDI ARABIA
Arch. Hassan Estaji Hakim Sabzevari University, IRAN, University of Applied Arts Vienna, AUSTRIA
Arch. Mirjana Uzelac Filipendin Atelje Krstonosic, Architect & Journalist ArchIntention, Ambijenti, SERBIA
Eng. Ass. Prof. Vincenzo CORRADO Politecnico di Torino, ITALY
Arch. Prof. Despina KYPRIANOU SERGHIDES Cyprus University of Technology, CYPRUS
Arch. Prof. Dusan VUKSANOVIC University of Montenegro, MONTENEGRO
Publisher
Get It Published
Verlag e.k.
Allee am Rthelheimpark 14
91052 Erlangen GERMANY
T 00 49 (0)9131 917 96 14
E info@get-it-published.de
W www.get-it-published.de
Copyright
This journal and all published articles, including all illustrations contained in authors papers block, are protected by copyright. Upon
an article being accepted for publication, all rights of publication, for translation, further reproduction, distribution, transmission,
display, broadcast, of storage in any electronic form and producing photocopies are transferred to the publisher. Without the written
permission of the publisher, any usage outside the limits of the copyright act is forbidden.
Copyright by Get It Published Verlag e.K.

Notice
The publisher does not assume any responsibility for any harm and/or injury to property and persons resulting from any ideas,
instructions, methods or products contained in the material published in this journal, as well as a matter of inattention or creation
liability, or from any use or operations.
Cover Illustration
Studio Philippe Rahm architectes, France: Jade Meteo Park
International Journal of Contemporary Architecture The New ARCH Vol. 1, No. 2 (2014)
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A WORD FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Nowadays, when numerous online portals overwhelm
us with daily news about architecture from all over the
globe, and having an impression that we must not miss
anything (or must stay up to date), we are mostly under
pressure to quickly flip through pictures of various new
projects, without taking time to really deal with them.
Well, we have decided to choose another way.
In our editorials, we are pursuing to focus on a single
particular theme, an architect or a project and to write
about rather isolated from news and influences we are
facing with day by day.
Our intention is to acknowledge the coexistence of
diverse both methodologies and ideas on the way to
new architectural language creation. Aside from clich,
when we talk about a project or architect, we are trying
to not only focus on a built object, but rather on the
design and research processes, which architect has been
used.
Founding Editor & EditorInChief

Architect Marina Stosic
In this issue we are taking you to France. We would like

to introduce you two architects from Paris and their very
special arts of dealing with sustainability.
On two different scale projects, Philippe Rahm shows us
his very individual design strategies. The same
fundamental method applied to two different cultures
and climates. Same method, but different approaches.
His colleague Mirco Tardio from DTA architectes talks
with us about their studies of Paris suburbs and
searching for a right answer on rising density, with a
strong emphasis on environmental friendly architecture.
Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will
never fail you Frank Lloyd Wright
So, take time and enjoy reading
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A Word from the EditorinChief
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A Word from the EditorinChief
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The EcoControlled Urban Density Interview with Mirco Tardio
68
Dana Krhlanko, Damir eler, Ana Penavi

Process of Natural Growth of Architecture
72
Biljana Pavlovi
From Path to Strategy
84
Dina Stober, Branko Cavri

Dynamics and Aesthetics of Urban Change in PostSocialist Osijek, Croatia
93
Milica Jovanovi Popovi , Jasna Kavran

Energy Efficiency and Renewal of Residential Buildings Stock
101
Dina Ahmed Ahmed Elmeligy

Innovative Sustainable Technologies in Heritage Revival
112
Haris Bradi
The Autonomous House, Sarajevo
119
Vesna Lovec, Milica Jovanovi Popovi

Adapting the Traditional House in Vojvodina to Contemporary Needs.
The Porch as the Basic Element of Transformation
127
Soolmaz Abdali Hajiabadi, Alireza Jahanara, Aref Arfaei

An Investigation of the Energy Saving of Windows in Halil Raif zmuhtar
Apartment, Salamis Yolu, Famagusta, Northern Cyprus
e25
About the Journal
e26
Instructions for Authors
e28
Advertisements
Authors Papers
e18
The Meteorological Architecture of Philippe Rahm
The Journal
e1
Editorial
CONTENT
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Content
c1
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
THE
METEOROLOGICAL
ARCHITECTURE
OF PHILIPPE RAHM
We may have experienced various concepts that aim to become new practice in this century and bring the modern
society closer to what is ultimate goal of sustainability. Some of these ideas are perhaps radical now but their roots are
natural and the final outcome always pushes forward architecture in a new direction towards better future. It is not an
optimistic approach. It is a research based and design demanding practice that is in favour of sustainable development,
heat insulation, climate condition, the use of renewable energies and whole life cycle of materials, etc.
Taking into account that nearly 50% of greenhouse gas emissions comes from energy used to heat or cool dwellings,
Rahm creates architecture that treats the interior climate of the space as a new architectural language, a language for
architecture rethought with meteorology in mind. All known phenomena such as convection, conduction or evaporation
for example are new tools for architectural composition. This is the architecture where vapour, heat or light become
the new bricks of contemporary construction.
Climate change is forcing us to rethink architecture radically, to shift our focus away from a purely visual and functional
approach towards one that is more sensitive, more attentive to the invisible, climate-related aspects of space. Slipping
from the solid to the void, from the visible to the invisible, from metric composition to thermal composition, architecture
as meteorology opens up additional, more sensual, more variable dimensions in which limits fade away and solids
evaporate.
Philippe Rahm is architect, principal in the office of Philippe Rahm

architectes, based in Paris, France. His work, which extends the field of
architecture from the physiological to the meteorological, has received
an international audience in the context of sustainability. In 2002, he was
chosen to represent Switzerland at the 8th Architecture Biennale in
Venice, and was one of the 25 Manifesto's Architects of Aaron Betsky's
2008 Architectural Venice Biennale. He was nominee in 2009 for the
Ordos Prize in China and in 2008 and 2010 for the International Chernikov
Prize in Moscow where he was ranked in the top ten. He has participated
in a number of exhibitions worldwide (Archilab, Orleans, France 2000; SFMoMA 2001; CCA Kitakyushu 2004; Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2003-2006
and 2007; Manifesta 7, 2008; Louisiana museum, Denmark, 2009;
Guggenheim Museum, New-York 2010). In 2007, he had a personal
exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal.
Rahm was a resident at the Villa Medici in Rome (2000).
He was Headmaster at the AA School in London in 2005-2006, Visiting
professor at the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture in Switzerland in
2004 and 2005, at the ETH Lausanne in 2006 and 2007, at the School of
Architecture of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts of Copenhagen in
2009-2010, in Oslo at the AHO in 2010-2011. From 2010 to 2012, he held
the Jean Labatut Professorship in Princeton University, USA. He has
lectured widely, including at Harvard School of Design, Cooper Union,
UCLA and the ETH Zurich.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e1
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
VIEWS ON THE MATTER

In your works we can recognize evaporation and other
methods used to create the internal climate of the
building. What about the external climate, and the
building envelope? How do you treat that part of the
project?
Philippe Rahm: We have to think in a different category.
The first question refers to the building envelope, the
shape and the form of the building. For example, we
made a project where we considered wind, sun and
orientation, which is something quite common in green
architecture. But also, there is another aspect the
question of the colour or the material and I think it is
quite interesting, because depending on the colour of
the material it could absorb more or less heat.
Therefore, in my view the question of the colour of the
building, which is more related to the aesthetic choice
or some cultural choice, is an interesting challenge
today. However, deciding on the colour of the building
is more challenging if you consider climatic choice. It
could be a new way of perceiving the appearance of the
building. Also, we have to consider the public space and
roads more like an interior because it is like an envelope
the faade of the building is like the interior of the
street. Thus, we made the proposal were the colour
black is used for the floor of the street because the
project was in a cold climate country. Black floor absorbs
more heat from the sunlight and then creates warmer
microclimate in the street. Meanwhile, the higher parts
of the buildings are in lighter colours, so they reflect the
sunlight back to the walkways and increase the heat
quality and maybe also the noise quality by using some
absorbing material (like concrete that acts like a
catalyst). Therefore, in my opinion we can challenge the
shapes and the materials through the same climate
issues.
What is the main reason for choosing these methods in

your designing process?
Philippe Rahm: The reason why we need the building is
to create a pocket of different climate within another,
larger one. The main fundamental reason is to shelter us
from the rain, cold etc. Therefore, I tried to make a
comeback to this very primitive idea of architecture. As
it is dealing with climate we have to decide on the
interior and the protected space using climatic
parameters, and afterwards make a decision and try to
imagine depending on the program what would be the
most important aspect of the space.
Is this decision your personal one or is it a conclusion of

the analysis?
Philippe Rahm: No, it is not my personal decision, it is a

product of the analysis and it depends on the program.
For example: we just finished a competition in which we
made a storage for art work. Of course, it was intended
to have different temperatures in different storage
facilities as well as different humidity levels. Therefore,
it was quite simple to focus on the principles. I think if
we focused on one element, it could increase quality of
the space. Likewise, in traditional architecture you focus
on the columns, the structure of the building or the wall
structure or try to define the quality of the space
through a structural choice or material choice. However,
in this project we tried to give increase quality through
some climate figures.
Do you believe that certification is a good way to

promote green architecture or do you prefer more
individual case studies, analyses and research as a more
adequate way?
Philippe Rahm: I think that the regulations and rules for
buildings were never set / made by architects. In 2005,
when we started to deal with these regulations, the
general community of the architects was not interested
in green buildings at all. It was more like a business or a
political approach, which in our view was wrong and
therefore, we tried to get more involved in this topic. As
the architects were missing, the result was that
someone out of profession decided what the relevant
regulations are. Therefore, it is in a certain way the
responsibility of the architect to know that these rules
do exist and what they are. This is the reason why
architects always have to be more up to date with what
is happening and not to allow themselves to be lost in a
course of change and to suffer the consequences of not
knowing new rules. I do think that we have to be always
avantgarde and to do research, in order to avoid
receiving a set of rules and just following them.
However, rules can sometimes be stimulating as they
force you to think differently and also develop your
imagination.
What is the response to your methods from the clients,

the building officials and colleagues?
Philippe Rahm: When I started to talk about this topic I
was quite alone but I was sure that it was something
interesting. You always have to wait a little bit, maybe a
few years, before anything new and interesting takes
hold. I think this is one of the most important challenges
for the architecture today. Also, I think that the question
of energy and ecology will transform deeply the
architecture and the future. Therefore, the response to
these methods will then become better.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e2
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What is more challenging for the design process: when

you apply your principles in architecture or in urban
planning?
Philippe Rahm: Both are challenging. I usually start with
the architectural scale or the room scale, then apply it to
the architecture and afterwards to the urban design. All
scales are interesting but maybe the architectural scale
was quite new when I started and it was a new
technique as it was linked to workflow and the airflow.

The room scale was something more linked to the 70s,
like green buildings from this period or solar buildings.
Therefore, I did not find something really new, but after
I started to work on an urban scale, like the project we
did in Taiwan, it was becoming more evident and new to
find solutions for the urban scale. However, I think that
the focus in the beginning was more on the interior and
on the architectural scale.
Philippe Rahm is working on several private and public projects in France,

Taiwan, Italy and Germany. His recent work includes in 2011 the first prize
for the 69ha Taichung Gateway Park in Taiwan; An office building of 13000
m2 in La Defense in France for the EPADESA; A convective condominium
for the IBA in Hamburg, Germany; The white geology, a stage design for
contemporary art in the Grand-Palais on the Champs-Elysees in Paris in
2009 and a studio house for the artist Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster in
2008.
Monographic books include Physiological architecture published by
Birkhauser in 2002, Distortions, published by HYX in 2005,
Environ(ne)ment: Approaches for Tomorrow, published by Skira in 2006
and Architecture meteorologique published by Archibooks in 2009.
THE LYON RESIDENCE

THE THERMAL COEXISTENCE OF
SPACE AND USER
In the architectural world in the last decade the works of
French architect Philippe Rahm are recognized as
projects of a new wave that takes the practice and
sustainable issues to the next level. This talented
architect incorporates basic elements of comfort and
atmosphere as his concept and builds his ideas around
different perspective of the ambient. When he started
putting his ideas to the practice with the turn of the
century it was very difficult and yet over the years he
earned respect and numerous recognitions for breaking
projects that distinguish him from the other
contemporary
artists.
Inclusion
of
thermal
characteristics of the air, moisture and demands for
energy, etc. into the method named meteorological
architecture became his new building blocks of his
architectural creations, weather it is an apartment,
building or public park.
It is a matter of sense and sensual connection between
the space and its users. The connection is based on
physical and biological aspect of comfort that needs to
be achieved in space. Imagine that you do no longer
occupy the space horizontally but you live and use your
ambient spatially. Imagine using the evaporation,
Insight in the Apartment

Source: Philippe Rahm architects
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e3
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

thermal and moisture gradients, airflow or other natural

components of comfort to compose the program of
space without boundaries.
The meteorological architecture has no longer the task
to build images and functions but to open up climates
and interpretations. At the large scale, meteorological
architecture explores the atmospheric and poetic
potential of new construction techniques for ventilation,
heating, dual-flow air renewal and insulation. At the
microscopic level, it plumbs novel domains of
perception through skin contact, smell and hormones.
One of his latest projects is the Evaporated Rooms An
apartment for a young doctor in Lyon, France. This 70
m2 floor area was completed in January 2012 as a white
open space interior with conventional home spaces
(bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room, etc.) that are
fused in a single living unit in a very unconventional way.
In every ambient the level of present energy emitted by
the users and the equipment within represents the
unused amount of kWh/m2 that are usually wasted and
released into the outdoor space. Therefore, in this
particular case, the author analysed the outdoor
conditions and provided a new approach to
architectural design. This magical ambient has spatial
disposition of functions based on thermal analysis of
each unit of the apartment. It is a liquid space where all
necessary utilities are present and connected with each

other by the level of temperature in particular point
created by the materials, users and activities.
For this apartment in Lyon, we used the most

recent recommendations for domestic internal
temperatures to reduce environmental energy
consumption in the built environment. This
approach caused us to shift from working in plan
to composing in section based on atmospheric
gradations. Philippe Rahm
The interior design indicates the importance of the

relationship between the users, space and heat energy
in creating comfortable interior conditions. Space is a
result of observation of temperature curves and air
saturation with water vapour, i.e. its relative humidity.
Observation of the temperature curves, i.e. comfortable
temperature, and air temperature ranging between 16
and 21C defined the horizontal and vertical layout of
the space functions. Allowing architect Philipe Rahm to
spatially define apartments functions. The cross-section
of the space with temperature curves clearly shows the
idea of elevating the zones within the space.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e4
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e5
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The interior design indicates the importance of the

relationship between the users, space and heat energy
in creating comfortable interior conditions. Space is a
result of observation of temperature curves and air
saturation with water vapour, i.e. its relative humidity.
Observation of the temperature curves, i.e. comfortable
temperature, and air temperature ranging between 16
and 21C defined the horizontal and vertical layout of
the space functions. allowing architect Philipe Rahm to
spatially define apartments functions. The cross-section
of the space with temperature curves clearly shows the
idea of elevating the zones within the space.
Based on prescribed temperatures of spaces (kitchen
18C; living room 20C or bedroom 16C), airflow,
laws of physics and the level of activity in particular
space (generating or demanding certain amount of heat)
as well as the dress code, the author made a spatial
composition of apartment that follows these standards
in order to reduce energy consumption within the space.
Deserting the need physically to separate the different
rooms, each with its own function, by using walls and
closed doors and to prevent air from rooms at different
temperatures to mix, Rahm rather used sections and
thermal analysis to decide how to organize the
contemporary open-space residential unit.
The free plan and spatial continuity was

achieved by working in section on the intrinsic
physical behaviour of air when it is elevated and
hot or when it is cold and closer to the ground.
We can start composing rooms and spaces; or
rather begin dividing programs in space, without
the use of walls, which delineate the contours of
the parts. We can compose using only the spatial
distribution of temperatures and luminosities in
the air to divide program. The goal is no longer to
design the plan but rather to design an
atmosphere, with its various weather gradations
through which one moves to find a certain
temperature or a certain light. Philippe Rahm
Another aspect presents the dependence of the

functions on the percentage of relative humidity of the
indoor air. Analysis of dry and moist zones provided
results on the space quality in terms of water vapour
concentrations. Space without walls, i.e. physical
barriers or partitions becomes a unique atmosphere
defined only by different functions within single volume.
The architects proposition was not to create rooms and
spaces, but instead to situate the furniture and the
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e6
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
furnitures usages at particular heights, temperatures

and light intensities. This methodology makes an
atmosphere of the interior similar to a natural
landscape, providing the user with shelter for rain or
perhaps the shade from heat. Thus, the sit alone chair is
positioned in the highest point in the upper warmer air,
same as the shower based on dress code. The sofa, on
the other hand, that represents more social and
interactive activities, is situated somewhat lower, as its
temperature will rise due to the increase of warmth that
each individual produce. The kitchen floor would be
placed lower still, reducing its temperature, while the
bed is in the coldest part of the house, on ground.
Referring to the users of the space as a live matter and
to find answers to the question what type of the space
and how would it look like, led the author to develop
specific solution, presented in this project. The Lyon
residence is a unique space that emphasizes the

coexistence of users and ambient based on natural laws.
This project goes beyond the physical or psychological
connection as it re-establishes the components the
occupant, the material and the volume in a single living
organism.
Between the infinitely small of the physiological

and the infinitely vast of the meteorological,
architecture must build sensual exchanges
between body and space and invent there new
aesthetical philosophies approaches capable of
making long-term changes to the form and the
way we will inhabit buildings tomorrow.
Philippe Rahm
Thermal section of the Apartment

THE JADE METEO PARK

COLOURFUL SYMPHONY OF
SENSES
image of modern cities forever. The public character of

these projects intrigues the designer to create the
hybrid space that will nurture socialisation,
communication, playfulness and reconnection with the
nature.
The public urban spaces were always the subject of

special treatment in a matter of architectural design and
construction. Beside the difference in scale, the
reconstruction of public green areas provide creative
comfortability for designers who can take their step
forward in the field of design, composition and mixture
of functions. They are like a raw material that stands in
front of the sculptor ready to be turned into a beautiful
statue. If we examine the past and remember some of
the well-known projects like Parc de la Villette in Paris,
or recent the High Line the liner Park in New York, we
will discover that all of these areas become the golden
examples of architectural virtuoso that changed the
One of the examples of successful contemporary

redesign of urban space is the project for new urban
park called Jade Meteo Park. It was designed by Philippe
Rahm architects along with Mosbach paysagistes and
Ricky Liu & Associates for the city of Taichung in Taiwan.
The design team won the First prize on the International
competition that was held back in 2011 with their
proposal that used meteorological architecture in urban
scale. Since then the authors worked on detail projects
and other documentation so that the completion of the
entire project is expected in July 2015. The city
authorities dedicated a budget of 90 million US$ for
transformation of airport site into the welcoming
exterior spaces where the excesses of the subtropical
warm and humid climate of Taichung are lessened.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e7
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Jade Eco Park

micro climate
Source:
Philippe Rahm architects
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e8
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Park view
This is the project, which beautifully demonstrates the

methods of architecture that treats climate as a building
tool and use advantages of the site so that the new
urban park becomes pleasant green area in the middle
of a busy and polluted Asian city. The exterior climate of
the park is thus modulated so to propose spaces that
are: less hot by inserting more cold segments and shade;
less humid by lowering humid air, sheltered from the
rain and flood; and less polluted by adding filtered air
from gases and particle matters pollution. The green
oasis is also less noisy and less mosquito presence
because of unique design principle that embraces the
climate and nature rather than to counteract.
This massive urban park will be a new meeting place for

more than 2.6 million inhabitants of the Taichung city.
The project included several new features of the park:
vegetation and topography, rain maintenance, park
furniture and climatic devices, architectural buildings,
and facilities buildings. The subject of the project was a
new landscape and architectural design for a new park
stretching on more than 70 hectares located on the site
of the previous airport. The proposal included facilities
for leisure, sport, family and tourist activities, a 1500 m
visitor centre, maintenance centre, urban regulation for
the construction of a new museum and the Taiwan
tower.
Park view
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e9
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DESIGN PRINCIPLES
The ambition of our project is to give back the
outdoors to the inhabitants and visitors by
proposing to create exterior spaces where the
excesses of the subtropical warm and humid
climate of Taichung are lessened.
Philippe Rahm
The Taichung Jade MeteoPark project is based on

specific
design
principles
that
incorporated
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation to
achieve necessary climatic variations through the space.

The design team mapped several areas of the park that
are naturally warmer, more humid and more polluted or
areas that are opposite to them as naturally colder,
dryer and cleaner. The results have shown the
differences of microclimates on the location that
demanded change and upgrade in order to create more
comfortable spaces for the visitors. Based on the
existing climatic conditions of location and dominant
direction of cold winds coming from the north; or
southeast wind bringing the humidity of the see in the
air; and the distance from the roads, all of these inputs
were carefully analysed and recognised as the starting
points of the design concept.
Influences
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e10
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This had a consequence of defining three gradation

climatic maps that followed the results of three CFD
simulations. Each map specifically corresponds to a
particular atmospheric parameter and its variation of
intensity thought out the park. The first map
corresponds to variation of the heat on the site, the
second one describes the variations in humidity in the
air and the third one the intensity of the atmospheric
pollution. These maps keep certain areas within the park
from reaching out the excessive natural conditions and
allow comfortable climate changes between the
upgraded segments. Visitors can freely move thought
the space and since the three maps intersect and
overlap randomly in specific points it provides visitors
different sensual experience of internal microclimates of
the park.
The Climatic Lands represent special places inside the
park that are the result of the CFD simulation as places
of the coldest, the driest, and the cleanest areas of the
park. The most comfortable areas are denominated
Coolia, Dryia and Clearia by their specific climatic
character. The Climatic Lands contain all the activities
and programmes and they are all linked together by the
three Climatic Paths.
Coolia This is a colder area of the park that houses
most of the cooling devices and trees. There are four
Cooling Lands named Northern Coolia, Western Coolia,

Middle Coolia and Southern Coolia. They represent
zones where people can enjoy favourable climate and
air temperatures.
Dryia It represents a zone for recreation, or more
precisely, this is the area where majority of sports
facilities is located. Here, relative humidity is reduced,
ranging between 60 and 70%. This area is divided into
three zones: Northern Dryia, Eastern Dryia and Middle
Dryia.
Clearia This area offers conditions for comfortable
family rest. The aim was to create the space with
insignificant amount of air pollutants. The result was
four zones, which the author named Northern Clearia,
Eastern Clearia, Middle Clearia and Southern Clearia.
The climatic maps vary within a gradation, which ranges
from a maximal uncomfortable ambient (maximum
value of pollution, maximum rate of humidity, maximum
heat) to areas that are more comfortable (optimal
values of the heat, the humidity and the pollution). For
the materialization of these climatic maps design team
invented a catalogue of climatic devices (natural and
artificial) that reinforce areas that are already more
comfortable by lowering, reducing, inverting, and
Sections
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e11
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
diminishing the heat, humidity and pollution. These

devices are classified in three categories: the cooling
devices, the drying devices, and the depolluting devices.
The natural protective (cooling, drying and depolluting)
devices are trees that create heavy shadows, or white
flowers and waxy white leaves that reflect the warm sun
rays, or trees that produce a strong evaporation that
cools the air around; trees with capability to absorb
oxides of nitrogen and other aerosols, to make effective
sound barriers and reduce the presence of mosquitoes.
The other, i.e. the artificial cooling devices are apparatus
that uses convection, conduction, evaporation or
reflection in order to cool the air or the human body; or
drying climatic devices which objectives are to protect
the body from the rain and to reduce the excess of
humidity in the air that amplify the displeasure by
blocking perspiration; or the depolluting climatic devices
that reduce the pollution in the air, the excess of the
noise etc. All of these artificial devices contribute to the
total variety of climate inside the park making special
ambient with specific atmosphere which users can
choose and enjoy.
Night Light This device uses radiation and conduction

to cool the human body. It was inspired by the
phenomenon that during hot nights the excess heat is
re-emitted into the atmosphere. It is a curved tube with
cold water (from the city water supply system, at
temperature of 27C. The structure provides protection
from the solar radiation and offers refreshment at the
temperature not higher than 32C (mean value 27
37C). The effects on the human body include less
dizziness, less vasodilation, less imbalance of
electrolytes, and fewer risks of heat stroke. The two
such devices are installed around the location of the
park.
Long Wave Filter It is the result of analysis of the solar
radiation spectrum that brought up an idea to reflect the
sunrays with the highest solar energy concentration
(650750nm) in the spectrum of 450nm1mm into the
atmosphere to reduce the direct solar radiation on the
users of the park, i.e. to initiate the process of natural
cooling. In this specific case, a glass filter (green, cyan
and blue acrylic glass filter) reflects 83% of the heat
energy it releases on the low-energy short waves. Eight
such devices found its habitat in colder areas of the park.
COOLING DEVICES
System-based and targeted cooling of the park is a result
of an analysis of the microclimate and meteorological
phenomena that have been causing overheating of the
park. These phenomena include wind movements, i.e.
its frequency in certain zones of the park and solar
radiation. Besides, the project also observed reactions
of the human body to different outdoor temperatures,
which in the end resulted in five different cooling
devices.
Anticyclone Based on the analysis of energy
movements (radiation, convection and conduction) the
author created an innovative device for blowing cool air
into the outdoor space, which he named Anticyclone.
The purpose of the device is to create a colder zone with
a radius of 11m and maximum temperature of 29.4C in
relation to the surrounding zone with the temperature
of 34.5C. The device blows cool air into the
atmosphere, and cools the human body by means of
conduction and convection. There are four devices of
this type and they are located in the coldest parts of the
park, which are determined by the analysis of its hot and
cold areas.
Cumulus Cloud Was created to provide better
microclimate (lower temperature and reflection of
excess solar radiation). The author designed a
perforated pillar to disperse mist or droplets to cool
down the surrounding air temperature by creating an
artificial cloud around the device. Water droplets cool
the surrounding area and reflect 90% of the solar
radiation into the atmosphere. In total, two such devices
have been installed in colder areas of the park.
Cooling Devices location plan

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e12
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Cold Light Similar approach was used in this shelter to

provide sun protection. Here, a violet shade of glass
coated with infrared blocking film was used to enable
the glass to absorb almost all visible and infrared
radiation and allow penetration of only the violet light,
which is the coldest light (390450nm) in the visible
spectrum of the sunlight.
DRYING DEVICES
with this gel absorb the air from the park, dry it and emit
it back into the atmosphere by means of fans. Dry Cloud
has positive effects on the human body. It enables more
efficient cooling of the body, perspiration, less
overheating and dehydration, inflammation of the
respiratory system, reduce high blood pressure, etc. Six
devices are installed in the driest parts of the park.
Crepuscular Rays This device provides shelter from
monsoon rains, and at the same time, its acrylic glass
enables the sun to reach the users of the park. The
heaviest rain season is from May to August, when
relative air humidity is very high. In total, 15 devices are
installed in dry areas of the park.
South-west winds bring more humidity into the city,

which causes over-saturation of the park with water
vapour. Therefore, it was necessary to analyse the park
areas to provide specific drying solutions. Dry, i.e. less
humid park areas depend directly on the south-west
wind that brings humid air from the sea.
DEPOLLUTING DEVICES
Dry Cloud If the air is oversaturated, it cannot absorb

more moisture, and thus it blocks perspiration. This is
made possible by the Dry Cloud device, which absorbs
water vapour by means of the silicate gel. Bags filled
As in most urban areas, the biggest air pollutants are

harmful gasses from traffic and industries. Active and
passive depollution systems are installed in the park, in
the areas with less polluted air.
Dehumidifying Devices location plan

Depolluting Devices location plan

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e13
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Devices for cooling, drying and depolluting

Ozone Eclipse In total the 15 devices has been installed

to absorb aerosols (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and
ozone (O3) through various catalytic and plasma filters.
The air is depolluted in areas far from the traffic zones
and other pollutants.
PreIndustrial Draught This device filters the air using
water. As air is lighter than water, a mechanical force
pushes it through the water, depolluting it in that way.
Heavy pollutants sink to the bottom from where they
can be easily removed. The device eliminates PM10
andPM2.5 particles from the air, which may cause
breathing difficulties.
Beside the specific devices installed and design through
the park, it is important to emphasize that energy
savings and efficiency was also a matter of the design.
So, all of the above devices are powered by electricity
generated from photovoltaic systems, built to meet the
energy demands of the park and to reduce CO2 emission
down to zero.
ARCHITECTURE
OF THE JADE ECO PARK
In order to change the external environment, the
architecture works on two levels: the first level is
the building envelope as filtration of the outdoor
climate. The second level is by conditioning the
inside air as an artificial increase of the filtration
effects. Constructing a building is actually to build
a space pocket whose inner climatic
characteristics are each more or less different
from those outside. The building envelope has a
mission to filter more or less intensely natural
outdoor meteorological parameters which are
then more or less artificially increased or reduced
according to the interior comfort sought.
Philippe Rahm
Beside special constructions and devices located

through the park the project included also few new
buildings. The architect has decided to take different

path in creating the objects by applying the same
principles of the meteorological architecture from the
design of the park to every aspect of the buildings that
were planned for the same area, and even to the
structure of the building envelope. This is an essential
example of how do architects learn and work with the
environment itself by carefully designing not only the
structure or function of the future building but also its
envelope the element that is the first to come in
contact with the surroundings.
The traditional wall construction (i.e. stone, wood, brick
or glass) represents a single element a single layer that
served as a major, straightforward filter for all of the
external climatic forces towards the building. This is a
solo, closed plane and boundary between an outer
uncomfortable exterior and a comfortable interior. This
situation is opposite to the modern construction that
tends to distinct layers; use multiple materials and
thickness to create optimal joined filters for each
exterior condition that can be separated by the
intermediate spaces. Buildings of the Jade Eco Park
replay to dissociation of an individual building envelope
into a wall of multitude layers, each with a specific
climate priority. These layers join together and separate
from each other in order to develop habitable interstices
that heats up, cools down or cleans the inner climate in
its own way. Taking the principle of climate as a priority
Rahm designed his structures by the level of occupancy,
exterior climate conditions and demands for certain
interior climatic values. There are four types of buildings
throughout the park that follows this same principle of
unique functions and building envelop.
Climatorium This building assembles several functions
each with different set of its envelope depending on the
conditions needed inside for the users to operate in the
particular space. The maximum level of the envelope
layers are four and they are applied in a concentric
gradation from the outside to the innermost, from a
single one to a group of four. Each layer is different
material and it protects in a specific way, has its own
mission for climatic filtration.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e14
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The first layer (grid of white aluminium) creates physical

and solar barrier for visitors representing: the first
outline of the interiority; the first element of envelope
with open and closed fields of material that meets the
wind, rain and heat; the space like outdoor terrace for
various activities. The second layer is a thin skin (tight
polymer) that stands as a filter for moisture, rain and air.
It runs together with first one and yet sometime it
shrinks inward to open the space allowing the users to
stand underneath when it rains. The third layer
(insulating layer consisting of sheep wool coated with a
cotton textile) is reserved for more comfortable spaces
such as corridors, toilets and storage the places where
users do not spend too much of their time to experience
interior discomfort. Inside the insulation are the most
comfortable spaces: info centre, caf and offices, and
these spaces have maximum insulation and are
conditioned because users spent most of their time
here. In the centre of the building are the three artificial
climatoriums three envelope layer, concrete
constructed ambient with ideal conditions of cold, dry
and clean climate against the typical Taichung climate
(hot, humid and polluted). These oasis are a kind of
shelters, a refuge for the visitors that are designed for
sensual experience. They are the structures of
atmosphere (built climates) immersed bodily and
sensory.
The Coolium is one of the climate constructions for a
cool atmosphere that uses conduction and convection.
It replicates the climate of the Jade Mountain, located in
the middle of the Taiwan Island. In the base, this room
reproduces in real-time the subtropical highland climate
of the village Alishan located at 2190 meters above sea
level with temperatures from 6C in winter and 15C in
summer. At the top of the space, the visitor will
experience the climate from 3000 meters altitude,
where the visual effect of sunlight is reflecting off the
snow by a grid of white fluorescent lights just as it is at
the peak of the Jade Mountain covered by snow and
shines like a stainless jade. A translucent transparent
acrylic covers floor allowing visitors to walk in the light,
as on snow. For better reflection of the light the walls
and ceiling are white semi-satin as a white day in the
mountain. To simulate the mountain condition a light
sensors are installed on the mountain and monitored
from Cooliums technical room that control the emission
of light from fluorescent tubes in a real-time dimming of
the sun.
The Dryium is the spatial construction of a less humid
climate that represents the day of November 21st in
Taichung that is recognized as the day with the best
possible climatic conditions during the whole yearlong
of a high humidity. This date is taken as the driest day of
the year and replicated in the interior of the Dryium as
climate condition on every day. The Authors monitored
and recorded a variation of the humidity and
temperature during the whole day of the November 21st

so that this data can be transmitted by a computer
controlled creator of the interior climate. This oasis is
completely white and divided in middle by a glass floor
line representing the upper (the air above) and lower
levels of the Taichung city (the soil below). The
fluorescent tubes stretching on walls and ceilings mimic
the path of the sun during the same day so the amount
of active lights (noon five lights on the ceiling, midnight
five light on the floor) directly depends on the exact
time during the 24-hour sequence.
Dryium
The Clearium is the final atmospheric construction with

unpolluted indoor environment. This room replicates
the climate of the Taichung from the year 1832 before
the industrialisation and motor vehicles that erects each
year tons of toxic gases and particles that jeopardize
human health and before the increase of the
temperature due to the global warming. The constant
clean air is secured by filtering the air by two different
filters: molecular filter for nitrogen oxides (NOx), ozone
(O3), and sulphur dioxide (SO2) and another filter that
traps harmful particulates. The air is also cooled by 2C
air to reincarnate in total the air before the global
warming. The thick layer of circulating mist caps the
open roof of the Clearium to reveal the natural sky of
the Taichung. The only alteration is done by modifying
the level of humidity to create more clouds just like it
was before the increase of the temperature with the
turn of the 20th century.
Clearium
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e15
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Jade Meteo Park

The project of Jade Meteo Park represents a result of

past analyses of the subject location and a proposal from
a new millennium. This design and its final outcome will
contribute to the city of Taichung on so many different
levels and it will improve the life quality of its
inhabitants. The project also re-assesses some of the
basic principles of climate and environment in a single
location that are treated according to its roots and
natural inhabitant. The authors used benefits of the
location and tame other less positive aspects of the site.
The design principles and the buildings are all done with
the applications of the same climate driven method
that recreates the best possible scenarios for group of
different ambient inside the 70 hectare area. It allows
the visitors of the park to relax and reconnect with the
nature and experience it on a very basic, more sensual
level that is less present in other parts of the built
environment. This project is a true symphony of senses

gathered around the unique wish for quality, smart and
green oases in the middle of the busy metropolis.
Jade Meteo Park

Name of the project: Jade Meteo Park

Location: Taichung, Taiwan
Authors: Philippe Rahm architectes, Mosbach paysagistes,
Ricky Liu & Associates
New urban park
Dates: 20112015. First prize of the International
competition in 2011 / Preliminary design completed in
December 2012 / Detailed design completed in June 2013 /
Tender design completed in December 2013 / Construction
started in January 2014 / Completion in July 2015
Size: 70 hectares
Park (vegetation and topography, rain maintenance), park
furniture and climatic devices, architectural buildings,
facilities buildings
Public client: Taichung City Government
Budget: 90 million US$
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e16
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
APPLICATION FOR
THE JADE METEO PARK
Specific location
Temperature, humidity level and pollution level measurements in real time

Climate data of temperature, humidity and pollution for the specific location
Interview: Mirjana Uzelac Filipendin

Text: Mirjana Uzelac Filipendin and Haris Bradi
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e17
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
THE ECOCONTROLLED URBAN DENSITY

INTERVIEW WITH MIRCO TARDIO
Mirco Tardio and Caroline Djuric founded the Djuric-Tardio Architectes

in 2004, to develop projects and researches at different urban scale, up
to single-family house. Eco-sustainable architecture is the favoured
theme, with the aim of investigating the modern needs of living in the
contemporary dense urban and suburban areas, while optimizing the
citys energy consumption and the sustainability of its districts. These
criteria are the basis of the architectural production of the study, with
the modularity and the future and unpredictable reconversion of
buildings, embracing a wider stance about the "sustainability of the
project.
Djuric-Tardio Architectes develop projects on a small scale but always
within a broader vision: to develop a "chart" of principles for the
development of a socially inclusive and sustainable future in our cities.
In 2012, feedbacks from several eco-sustainable family houses projects
start to nourish their theory of an innovative urban-suburban
development, based on densification and the respect of the historical
scale of districts. The quality of life of inhabitants pass before the
mainstream threat of the urban sprawl, which the firm partly considers
as an excuse for a schizophrenic optimization of the land. Djuric-Tardio
Architectes analyse the interaction between the user and its house,
thanks to the variety of their clients in terms of social origins, and
therefore assert the high role of the architects proposals in the
management of energy in the city.
Indeed, they stand at the crossroads between individual needs and
wishes, cities ambitions of sustainability, and the proposals made by
energy suppliers and engineering consultants.
In your works we can recognize many important aspects

of the sustainable architecture, but one is the most
important: the society the users the quality of correct
population of the buildings and cities. Could you tell us
more about this approach?
Mirco Tardio: You are right. Our project Imbrications
for instance, which has been acclaimed here in France,
in the architecture and the urban field as well, aims at
raising awareness of energy savings among its users, and
also of the importance of a renewable energy. The
concept of a cluster of houses able to produce its own
energy is not only a decentralization stake but also a
simple mean to address the neighbourhood a very clear
message: people are now able and allowed to buy a
renewable energy, in-situ produced by their neighbours,
rather than buy energy to the historical supplier. Isnt it
a sustainable way of raising awareness of people,
encouraging them to produce their own energy?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e18
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Antony House
Source: DTA / Djuric Tardio Architectes
How is the Eco-density controlled method sustainable?

Mirco Tardio: The concept of densifying the suburban
cities suffers from an overwhelming pressure of the
metropolis. Thats what led us to propose a concept of
densification intimately related to the historic,
geographic context and moreover to the local identity.
Our goal is to question whether the hyperdensity is
relevant or not to the suburban cities, as long as we have
noticed it condemned them to the rubbing out of their
historical pattern, their social links and their local scale,
usually more human than the Hypercitys. The Eco
controlled urban Density is adapted and contextual. It
is an alternative to the accepted principles of the non
urban sprawl, respecting better the intrinsic identity of
historic city.
How do you perceive the users/inhabitants of your

creations? Are they inspiration or resource or something
else?
Mirco Tardio: Our research on the Ecocontrolled urban
Density results from data we collected during several
years of conceiving and building houses in suburban
cities.
To be in contact with both the inhabitants and the local
authorities confronted us with many questions they had
in mind, and that preoccupied them. The individual
focus of these houses allowed us to look for answers at
a small scale, with specific rules. These answers are the
starting point of our wider urban study.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e19
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Antony House
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e20
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The space for the city and the citizens is a sort of synergy
of people and space. How do you accomplish it? Where
do you find the connections and how do you enable
links?
Mirco Tardio: An atypical operation in a neighbourhood
always creates a sort of social link. We have this in mind
when we work on multiplying and duplicating our urban
model. We believe that urbanity is mainly made by
citizens. Therefore, the change, or the urban renewal is
easier and stronger when based on a consensus.
Imbrications, our project of 15 ecohouses on 4 sites, is
an urban dynamo, not only stocking and producing
energy, but also generating social link, enthusiasm,
confidence and thus similar operations. Like an
epicentre propagating its shock waves. It is a new form
of individual housing in the city, and a new way of
producing, consuming and saving energy.
How do you conquer the challenge of creating in a strong

context of identity that does not have the emblematic
appearance?
Mirco Tardio: Identity already exists, we intend to

preserve it, to enlighten it. Imbrications densifies
without turning upside down neither the urban pattern
nor the scale. The demand for density is strong and
legitimate. It cant be a pretext for erasing the history of
a neighbourhood, of a city, of its industrial past and its
strong, rooted social life.
What is more important for the future of a building: a

method of its creative process or the communication
with its users?
Mirco Tardio: An interactive, monitored building, has an
impact on the sensibilisation of its users towards
sustainability. To produce energy locally, to stock it, to
consume ones own and to get real time information
upon your consumption, all these involving process lead
people to save energy. Furthermore, if the building is
connected, it contributes to the intelligent
management of energy according to the real needs, and
to optimize both production and distribution.
DTA EcoHouse Principles

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e21
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Rue Sainte Marie Integration in the existing urban shape

Looking beyond the buildings as objects, how do you use

architecture as an innovative tool to make a change in
the environment in a physical and psychological way?
Mirco Tardio: The use of natural building materials, the
visibility of bioclimatic spaces, planted terraces,
demonstrate a strong will to build ecoresponsible
projects. Speaking about psychological way, we

associate an ecological house to natural, local materials.
In a process of social and urban education/
sensibilisation, this sustainable choice has to be visible
from the envelope, for it is not only a matter of
aesthetics, but of real impact, long experienced and
proved.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e22
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Rue Sainte Marie

Starting from family houses and housing, Djuric-Tardio Architectes are imagining a future urban landscape,
based on a different approach of the inhabitant. DTA do not aim at building emblematic project, but at
finding solutions to change the rules of control and regulation, to create a smart city based on urban planning
but also on the relation of the inhabitant towards its city (including its energy management). It is definitively
not about selling a catalogue of green technologies to people.
Through the Architecture Bas Carbone EDF competition (low carbon architecture/launched by the French
energy supplier EDF), DTA is now working on such solutions on the Gennevilliers project, 15 houses spread
on 4 plots in Paris close suburb. The research is focused on a new concept of house autonomy, leading
Djuric-Tardio Architectes to conceive a new outline of smart-grids.
The firm participated in various international competitions in architecture and design, also collaborating with
different architectural offices on different programs. The Helsinki Library is exhibited at the MOMA in New
York, and their temporary, modular and urban nursery concept Sticks at the MAXXI museum in Roma.
They won the prize for wood constructions Lauriers Bois 2012 in Grenoble and the 2012 Prize for the
Emerging Architects for Wallpaper London.
Interview: Mirjana Uzelac Filipendin
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e23
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Authors Papers
68
Dana Krhlanko, Damir eler, Ana Penavi

72
Biljana Pavlovi

84
Dina Stober, Branko Cavri
Dynamics and Aesthetics of Urban Change in PostSocialist Osijek, Croatia

93
Milica Jovanovi Popovi, Jasna Kavran
Energy Efficiency and Renewal of Residential Buildings Stock

101

112
Haris Bradi

119
Vesna Lovec, Milica Jovanovi Popovi

127
Soolmaz Abdali Hajiabadi, Alireza Jahanara, Aref Arfaei

Apartment, Salamis Yolu , Famagusta, Northern Cyprus
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DOI: 10.14621/tna.20140201

Dana Krhlanko*, Damir eler, Ana Penavi
Studio Arhimag d.o.o.
Zelengaj 17, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia, powerofthespace@gmail.com
Abstract
1. Introduction
For the living environment to be alive, supportive and sustainable, the

quality of the process of its creation is crucial. The formal result is just
the consequence of the process.
Process of natural growth of architecture is the methodology, way of
working on designing and building that encourage changes in quality
of life through conscious relationship with environment. The basic idea
is to open up the design process so that everyone involved can connect
and feed the project on many levels: mental, emotional, spiritual
Through the synergy, working beyond conscious level, the process gets
infused with life, allowing the architecture to emerge naturally. Such a
way of working feels right, grounded in laws of natural balance. In this
way, sustainability is embedded in the process itself without being
imposed as a set of outside rules and demands.
Process of natural growth of architecture is configured as to follow the
way architecture manifests itself in the outer space. Although the
process is fed by the participants, it is driven by the force of life coming
from the seed which has the power to break through into the
manifestation provided it is healthy and vital. An architect has the role
of the leader of the process and the mediator of a group process
having the ability to recognize the forms when they are ready to show
up.
7 steps of the process of natural growth of architecture:
I step = COEXISTENCE = The reality of current life condition coming
from the relationship with present environment shows what is the
starting point
II step= SEED = Recognizing true potentials and authenticity of the
people, gaining freedom for new choices, defining the qualities we
wish to be included in life with the future environment- condensing
the seed
III step= PLACE = Listening to what place needs and offers by looking
beyond perceivable
IV step= CREATION= Merging of people and place - new life, new
form arises in virtual space
V step= BUILDING= If the process has enough force, the form will
break through into physical realm
VI step = FIRST BREATH = new life of a building starts- moving in
VII step = COEXISTENCE = Establishing new relationship with the
environment, one cycle ends, another one begins
Process of natural growth of architecture is the

methodology of creating architecture that allows the
architectural forms to come to life naturally and in an
easy way from the idea to the built form. The process
changes the usual architect-clients relationship. The
architect is more a mediator of the group work which
feeds the life force that enables the form to come into
manifestation. As a consequence of the Process, infused
with life, the living environment that comes out of it, is
supportive, alive and sustainable.
Keywords:
The methodology, Architectural design,

Sustainable architecture, Truthfulness,
Manifestation, Life, Supportive
environment
Article history:
Received: 6 July 2014

Revised:
Accepted: 6 October 2014
2. Theory of Space and Form

According to Vastu, the ancient science of form and
matter from vedic texts, there is the Primal energy called
Moolam= Space, out which all the forms emerge
through the process of transformation. The Primal space
has inner consciousness. Everything we perceive as
forms, aural and visual, are transformed Primal space.
Manifestation is described as the Space which pulsates
or vibrates and then becomes self-consciousness and
creates Kalam=Time, out of which units of
Seelam=Order is created and then turns into
Kolam=Form.
Human beings have the ability to influence the Primal
Space through their consciousness. The process of
manifestation starts with the intention which causes the
first pulse.Young people use public spaces in a different
way from most other users. More self-determined and
sometimes aggressive, they are no longer "sweet" to
attract enough affectionate tolerance. A small group of
young people is already felt to be disturbing or
threatening and nobody knows what to do with theirs
demands and desires. That may be the reason that
research and open space planning are putting far less
attention on their spatial demands than on those of the
sweet children [2].
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
D. Krhlanko, D. eler, A. Penavi: Process of Natural Growth of Architecture, pp. 6871
68
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Figure 1. Illustration of the process of manifestation
3. The space is alive

Figure 2. Explanation of inner and outer space
As the Primal energy field is alive by its very definition,

all the matter, be it natural forms or built forms, are alive
as well and under the same laws of creation as
everything else in the universe. Respecting the laws,
makes the spaces vibrant and supportive for life.
tool to a tool for the inner work and shifts, which then
simply manifest in the outer world.
The spaces we inhabit can feed and support us or they

can deplete our energies.
5. Energy moves in cycles
Creating spaces with consciousness of the laws that

govern all the forms and with heart connection, ensures
that these future spaces will be healthy and
nourishing.teens_open_space is co-funded by the
European Union and takes place in cities in Austria and
Slovakia and can take place everywhere. The examples
and experiences put together in this paper represent a
synopsis of six years of the project.
4. Inner and outer space

According to Vastu Science, all our outer circumstances
are mirror pictures of our inner space. As a human being
we all know the difference between our inner world and
outer world. Our inner world with its emotional, mental
& spiritual levels crates our inner space. And that space
is place where we create our lives. What we perceive as
real world is just a mirror image.
Changes we try to make in physical reality are easy if we
have made the inner shift which allows the new
circumstances to emerge naturally.
We can learn a lot from nature by exploring its shapes

and forms and understanding the patterns and cyclic
nature of life. Organic growth is not linear, but cyclic
depending on the rhythms of the dance of the planets.
Earth is a part of the larger system which is a part of the
larger system which is
As architecture is part of the same system, it needs to
accept the same rules. The Process of natural growth of
architecture nurtures the organic approach to the
development of design. It encourages flow and gives
space for energy to move through a cycle understanding
that one cycle follows another in an endless flow of life.
6. The difference between usual design

process and process of natural growth of
architecture
According to this, the building of architecture makes the

current state of our inner space present and visible in
the material world.
The intention is always the step which precedes the

actual design process. What happens in a classical design
scenario is that clients after having the intention to build
something, communicate to architects their wishes and
then the architects transform them according to their
abilities into design which is then built by constructors.
The Process of natural growth of architecture enables

the building process to be a tool for the inner change,
for a real improvement of the quality of life. It moves the
building process from the position of a demonstration
In the process of natural growth of architecture the main

focus is that the activities during the process feed the
initial force coming from the intention, so that it
becomes strong enough to burst into life form.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
69
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
future building is actually already very alive and present

in the inner space.
In this step we may sit around the fire, draw posters,
work with clay, make space cosmos, dance.depending
on the project. In the case of corporate clients we
introduce group work without a hierarchical structure in
the group so that everyone can feel free to express
themselves.
The outcome is again Manifest saying what the future
place will say.
III step= PLACE
Figure 3. Diagram showing 7 steps of the process of

natural growth of architecture
I step = COEXISTENCE
For every change we wish to make in our environment,
it is important to become aware of the starting point or
the reality of the current condition concerning the topic.
This is very important as we can only move anywhere if
we start from where we are.
For example if the design process seeks to create a new
family house, the current living conditions are analysed,
as they actually give the best information on the inner
space of the family. The analysis is done through group
work exploring all the levels of the existace of the space,
from physical, over temoral, emotional to the spiritual
level. Such approch provides very clear insight into the
current condition. The outcome of this step is the
Manifest of what the current place says and how the
family relates with that.
II step= SEED
This step creates the shift toward the new condition. It
allows peoples true potential and authenticity to come
to surface.
It works on gaining freedom for new choices. This is the
freedom we often forget we have.
Its goal is to define the qualities we wish to be included
in life and with the future environment.
What is of crucial importance for the SEED step is that it
needs to create a consistent emotional model of the
future building. The manifestation depends on how
strong and consistent the emotional model is. Ideally,
we need to loose fears and burdens and create the
model out of love and good feelings knowing that the
The energy of the actual place where the architecture is

about to happen has a strong influence on the project.
The place is already alive and has its own life. It needs to
be listened to and respected. The Process of natural
growth of architecture uses the method of place analysis
developed for a consensus design which allows the
group to read the message of the place by going from
the physical level of perception, through time and
emotional levels, toward the spiritual level.
This method allows the voice of the place to be heard
without doubt as it is read by the group sharing
consensus at every step.
IV step= CREATION
Till this phase, Process has gained very strong inputs and
the condensation of forms happens in an easy way. They
emerge as a 3D model in virtual space. In this way
everyone involved can connect to the project. The
virtual model gives clear information on the forms
created. Clients can feed their emotional model through
exploring the virtual model.
This step can once again be done through group work by
making models and working on the plot if the project
scale allows it. The design is later transferred into 3D
model and drawings.
In any case it is important to keep in constant relation to
the seed and the spirit of the place during the creation
phase and to remain open to the possible influences on
the design. The form needs to find its own expression.
The space already knows what it wants to be. Architects
need to give encouragement for the inner force to come
to recognition.
V step= BUILDING
All the energies that are involved in the building process
determine the quality of the future space. Constructors
should be chosen not only on the basis of the technical
quality of their work and the price they offer, but
choosing a company that has high moral values and
respect for their workers. Depending on the scale of the
project, the participation of the clients in the building
process is necessary for the future healthy relationship
between them and the space.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
70
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Choosing natural materials, that havent gone through

heavy industrial processing helps the future space to be
vibrant and life supportive.
Acquiring building permits and the building itself should
flow easily if the first 4 steps of the process were well
done.
VI step = FIRST BREATH
Moving in is the moment when the life of a building
starts. This initiation needs to have a conscious moment
dedicated to it. It can be a simple ceremony coming from
the heart.
VII step = COEXISTENCE
With the establishing of a new relationship with the
environment, one cycle ends, another one begins.
Immediately we start to gain new experiences what
naturally leads to a new cycle.
Supportive spaces give us freedom to be ourselves. This
experience happens not only on a physical but also on
emotional and spiritual levels. The feeling is as if we have
sunk deeper in our own peace.
7. Conclusion
Everything we own is the expression of what we are.
Process of natural growth of architecture is a tool to help
us to become better, to enjoy life and to follow our inner
needs instead of fighting our shadows.
The intention behind Process of natural growth of
architecture is big. It wants to make life better, people
more free, happy and closer to themselves. Our
experience is that it works. Making the shift is crucial. No
matter how big. Just to make one step toward ourselves
is what helps us to go on.
The relationship we have with our living environment is
so constant, so present and forceful that it is a great
opportunity to use it as a tool for an improvement in the
real quality of life.
The current condition of architecture shows the broken
relationship between us and the natural forces. Mostly
buildings tend to separate life from nature, to create
artificial, zones, based on the physical commodity.
The Earth suffers. It is used and ignored as the mother
and source of life.
Sustainability cannot be gained by imposing a set of
rules on architecture. Sustainability can only come from
inside, from the consciousness of every individual as the
need that cannot be ignored.
When our being is out of balance we tend to make
substitutions by increasing quantities in our physical
environment. We build too big houses, we have too
many things. By being closer to our true desires, we

need less and what we need comes with ease.
Process of natural growth of architecture puts focus on
the quality of process. It changes usual object and goal
oriented working. The architects need to feel fulfilled by
working. Clients and other participants need to feel
connected and seen.
Sometimes a Process brings out something completely
different from what the initial intention pictured.
Onetime clients came with an idea for a big house with
3 flats. Then after following the Process we ended up
with a simple house with which they felt much more at
ease.
One Process for a big Retail industry on the interior for
their shops, showed that the strategy they had followed
over the last few years went in the wrong direction,
emphasising the points which didnt show their real
strengths. On individual levels they felt it, but on a
corporate level, there was not enough strength to
change it.
The Process brings up all sorts of ambiguities and forced
presumptions that can be surprising. It can be applied
without actual plot or money. Applying it helps to move
from the current life position to whatever changes might
be.
It is applicable to small projects like family houses or
bigger scale projects where more people are involved.
The methods of work depending on the case. Usual
office work is expanded into group activities that
sometimes might seem like they have nothing to do with
the design process. The point is to loosen learned
positions and to allow free expression.
We believe in the wisdom of life. At our best we let it
through us. Each of us, is a completely unique prism,
making the rays of life disperse into the biggest possible
varieties of life form. By life form we mean all aspects of
our physical presence on Earth, our bodies as well as all
our formal expressions.
Bringing this consciousness into the process of creation
and coexistence with our living environment is what we
feel is the highest priority. For our own sake, as well as
for the sake of everyone with whom we come into cocreation.
References
[1]
Christopher Day, Concensus Design, Socially

Inclusive Process, Routledge, 2002.
[2]
V. Ganapati Sthapati, Building Architecture of

Sthapatya Veda, Dakshinna Pub. House, 2nd
Edition, 2004.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
71
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DOI: 10.14621/tna.20140202

Biljana Pavlovi
Urban Centre Urbanizam Novi Sad
Bulevar cara Lazara 3, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia, biljana.pavlovic@nsurbanizam.rs
Abstract
City-construction should be performed in a creative manner by
discovering motifs and themes, exploring external influences,
going deep into details, always bearing in mind both broad and
narrow context. Bureaucratic approach to the task is obligatory;
seemingly it frees of responsibility and concern for the common
good, yet it moves the urban planner away from the core altruistic
aspirations of the architectural profession.
The promenade new edge of a town is a strategy of
sustainable development of the western part of Novi Sad which
the author promoted 15 years ago. The idea was to recycle the
space i.e. to connect the Danube-Tisa-Danube Canal with the
Danube via the two existing basins of reclamation canals, while
ensuring the flow of water purified by ''Wetland'' system.
Watercourse would enhance the drainage of the soil threatened
by high ground-water. Relocation of the planned route of the
boulevard from the area of the canal and embankment would
allow promenade to be put in order. Contaminated water
gradually draining off would arouse the interest of the population
for the cultivation of the landscape. The monotonous areas of
single family housing would be given an open public space that
would instigate the construction activities in the area new spatial
landmarks in the relaxing line centre.
The idea came to life after the tightening of essential conditions.
A cultivated promenade surrounded by greenery becomes part of
the urban plan. ''Struggle'' for pedestrian and bicycle path initiated
a change in strategy for the development of west part of a city.
What remains to be done is: to make a connection between the
negligible financial cost of the defence against the excessive inland
waters and the use of benefits of the environment of small
watercourse; make proposals for the relocation of military
barrack. The relocation is related both to new location of the
goods transportation centre and the defence of National Park
Fruska Gora from further exploitation of mineral resources.
Transformation of a city towards a sustainable future is led by
creative effort which avoids the pitfalls of bureaucratic approach.
Keywords:
Canals, Embankment, Promenade,

Commitment, Vision
Article history:

Revised: 1 October 2014
1. Introduction: Specific view of development

strategy of Novi Sad
As a macro regional centre of Vojvodina (Republic of
Serbia), Novi Sad is a city of 280.000 inhabitants, partly
arranged on a left plain riverbank of the Danube larger
area, and partly on the right riverbank, with hillsides of
mountain Fruska Gora.
Embryonic forms of a settlement have been connected
with the narrowest riverbed in Vojvodinas plain, where
the Danube suddenly turns around the rock which was
foundation of the fortress of great significance. During
the XVIII and XIX century, the settlement has been
developed on a left riverside; it expanded from the
highest, dried beams radially over the plain. From the
1920s the floodable, swampy branches of the river
started to be covered with sand and housing
construction in a wide side of the bridgehead began.
During the sixties, a water defence embankment (left
shore) has been finished, which made it possible to
cover ahead and build forth on the defended area, as
well as to build a quay with promenade and pushing the
one of the main roads from the city centre.
After The World War II, strategic plans of urban
development (Figure 1) brought zoning, transferring
railroad network and industrial area to the north, with
imposition of a rectangular to radial urban-rural
network. The boulevard beside to the riverbank should
stretch extend along the edge between the city and the
river (6 km), then go around large family residence on a
southwest, with a manner of limiting the west side (3
km), until the city entrance from the settlements away
from the Danube. However, the concept of one-side
serving main road started to crumble.
It changed the offered section starting from the main
existing embankment to the west entrance of the main
road. From the sharp, brutal diagonal cutting through
the existing occupied space, it was transformed to the
gentle route over the existing local embankment, that
was built in the sixties to protect the city against possible
upstream water penetration.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
B. Pavlovi: From Path to Strategy, pp. 7283
72
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
north pumping station into canal which is a part of large

Hydro-System Danube-Tisa-Danube. For 15 years these
canals have been neglected, polluted by wastewater and
waste materials. Questions about the maintenance
costs and the purpose of their existence in urban space
remain open.
Finally, there are fifty years of urban planning, building
(and losing) bridges and investing in a public utility and
space development of the right riverbank, with the
intention of widening the city to the both sides. During
the seventies started the construction of multi-family
residence of Bistrica (i.e. mountain clear river) in the
northwest area started, hence the fringe area of Novi
Sad extended. They occupied agricultural land, but filled
up the ground first. This direct development has
occupied the largest capacity of house construction and
it redirected investments far away the right riverbank.
Figure 1. Western part of a city and the Structure Plan

of Novi Sad to 2021
In the meantime, uncontrolled housing development in

adjacent areas produced consequences with reflects in
occupation of agricultural land in the surroundings,
degradation of natural values, appearance of insanitary
settlements with septic tanks and no supra-structure
facilities. Intensive uncontrolled construction produced
changes of the Structural Plan of Novi Sad to 2005, so
that boundary of the city building zone was extremely
pushed to the west, including single-family residential
zones. It led to the image of uniform, monotonous, too
large houses that are hardly finished. The houses are
sunk in the mud that originates from rain and high level
underground water.
The problem of high level underground water which
exists in the large area of the former plowed fields,
where the growing housing area is today, is being
covered-up. The area has no chance of being largely
covered, which used to precede the mass construction
in the area next to a river. The existing reclamation
system is partly kept but is ''renamed'' to the sewerage
of the rainwater. It consists of two basins of open canals:
the water from south area is collected by the "Telep"
basin and flooded by the south pumping station into the
Danube branch; the water from north area is collected
by the "Sajlovo" basin, mixed with rainwater from the
industrial zone on the northeast and flooded by the
Contemporary Bistrica, in the middle of its older part is

represented with the open-space, detached or
discontinuous row of high-level houses on common plot
(public space) with vegetation, but with no parks. There
are extreme finalizations of more or less closed urban
blocks, with ground floor used for central contents and
with the same two or three floor for the apartments. The
open space of these blocks is obstructed by the groundfloor civil protection structures. Far away from the
Danube and city centre, with no specialized centre in the
surrounding, with no other mark than vegetation and
peace, Bistrica is characterized by certain comfort as
well as monotony.
2. From the Structure Plan of Novi Sad to

2021
The aims "can be realized on sustainable development
principles which imply harmonized economic, social and
physical development and absence of conflicts between
overall growth and quality, i.e. the culture of living It
means that ecological sustainable criteria on local level
establish desirable, in other words compulsory relations
between the occupied and vacant land; the use of
occupied land was defined so that economic and social
criteria act as environmental factors and provide
adequate proposition of uses which raise the quality of
life, although they do not always bring profit."
These goals with less lexical variation have been
repeated in the city development documents from The
World War II. Their application is partially problematic
concerning strategic decisions and design of urban
periphery in the western part of the city. Several years of
pending decisions concerning secondary embankment,
route of the main road and future of the ameliorated
channels in the metropolitan area illustrate the lack of
commitment to interdisciplinary work and coordination
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
73
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Figure 3. Sumska Street as a local embankment
Figure 2. The promenade - new edge of a city
of detailed and general planning. This path points to the

possible improvement of the current situation, in order
to solve complex problems caused by uncontrolled
construction in the surroundings and the lack of
reasonable strategic response.
Figure 4. Traffic design, flood protection and rainwater

disposal
3. Suggestions about the West Edge

"The promenade new edge of a city" is a strategy of
sustainable development of the western part of Novi Sad
which was promoted 15 years ago (Figure 2). The
author's idea of urban recycling rose out of her
commitment to the improvement of public space, which
should be lead to urban transformation, reconstruction
and revitalization in surroundings. There was no openminded authority to approve it. Here are 8 suggestions.
3.1. Correction of traffic design transfer the

main roads route
The idea about the boulevard into the riverbank area as
a frequent traffic artery on the edge of a city, could be
replaced by "principal of comb": frequent traffic road in
the background, low-level branches pulled out to the
attractive aims (partly connected in couples). Instead of
stretching the boulevard to the existing local
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
74
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
embankment "pounded" in the main embankment

without the logic extension, it is possible to plan it
through the area which is partly in developing. It could
be a logical connection - the shortest way from highdensity residence of Bistrica, through the centre of
family residential zones, towards existent approach to
the river island, which is the desirous centre of tourist
and recreation space (Figure 2).
Recycling of the embankment to be used as a

promenade could be the example of the incremental
approach, i.e. "choosing from small number of policy
approaches that can only have a small number
consequences and are firmly bounded by reality,
constantly adjusting the objectives of the planning
process and using multiple analyses and evaluations [1].
Correction of traffic design could be the example of the

rational planning, "emphasizing the improvement of the
built environment based on key spatial factors which
include movement of vehicular traffic", but more, it
could be the example of the synoptic planning, with its
"emphasis on quantitative analysis and predication of
the environment" [1]. Many of the case studies use
common knowledge "principle of comb" to exclude
vehicular traffic from public spaces.
3.3. Connecting two basins of reclamation

system, supporting with running water
3.2. Permanently keeping up the local

embankment as a promenade
Instead of expanding the top of embankment from 3 to
9 m with intention to build the temporary traffic artery
(which would be replaced by the boulevard after raising
the main embankment with planned improvement for
the protection against millenary high water), we suggest
following: keeping up the local embankment as reserve
flood control preserved; then, transforming it into
longitudinal park with promenade on the top (about 3
km long, from 1 to 3 m higher than the surrounding
land), also with trails for jogging, cycling, roller-skating
etc. A dirt road on the top is called Sumska (i.e. the field
road leading to the forest next to the riverbank) (Figure
3). Sumska Street is now intersected by lower roads
which lead from east to west. In irrelevantly short
relations it serves as an approach to the houses, that has
alternative from the background or short tangent line of
one-way street. In addition, many different ways of
crossing the roads could be attractive and challenge to
imagination about the pedestrian bridges. Sumska
Street on a top of the local embankment towards
Danube and Fruska gora National Parc, could be used as
a promenade in future with trails of every kind and
cultivated landscape (Figure 4).
Figure 5. Cross section through the canal and the

embankment
In order to improve the evacuation of underground

water from the family residential zone on the south and
extremely jeopardized part of Jugovicevo on the north,
it is possible to connect the basins "Telep" and "Sajlovo",
in order to deepen and clean the canals [2]. That could
make better hydrology conditions on the land and in the
existing branches of the main canals. The proposal plan
of traffic design, flood protection and rainwater disposal
gives suggestion for the strategy of sustainable
development of the western part of Novi Sad [Figure 4].
Reaching could be implemented by gravitational getting
the fresh water from the canal Danube-Tisa-Danube, by
the pouring into the new pipe - from 300 to 500 m long,
which could tank the canal S-800 of System "Sajlovo".
Water could be caught from the stable level under the
lock of canal Danube-Tisa-Danube where controlled
regime of water level is on peak elevation 80 m a.s.
Longitudinal section describes the suggestion for the
connecting two basins of reclamation system,
supporting with running water (Figure 5. and Figure 6).
Water treatment would be operative due to system
"wetland" (natural puddles) developed on 0,3 km2 of the
area "Jugovicevo", jeopardized by underground water.
''Wetland'' system means productive and dynamic
habitat with the physical, chemical and biological
interactions, whose values include reduced damage
from flooding, water quality improvement and fish and
wildlife habitat enhancement. It contributes to the
overall health of the environment. Wetland would
induce development of natural resources by case and
accumulation of aquatic flora and fauna.
Connection of these two basins has to be excavated on
the shortest and the best topographic way. The new 660metre-long open canal would extend over the vacant
land reserved for protective vegetation next to the
boundary of the building zone. It would contact the
southwestern end of canal S-800 (6,5 km) and canal T800 on the station 4,5 km of the basin "Telep". Draining
out of the water would be provided by the existing
pumping station on the south, which transmits it into the
branch of Danube (now fisherman's paradise - a future
lake). That's the way of providing the running water
favourable for the urban conditions.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
75
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Using the running water for the recovery of land could

be the example of recent theories of urban planning "for
example by Salingaros see the city as an adaptive
system that grows according to process similar to those
of plants. They say that urban planning should thus take
its cues from such natural processes" [1].
Preliminary design Flussbad, urban renewal and
swimming-poll precint", Berlin [3], is a strategy that
leads to the preservation of channels in the city, their
reconstruction and revitalization. As a result of the
expected reduction of pollution themselves channels,
and therefore adverse impacts to the environment, the
revival of flora and fauna, and the return of the tradition
of the channel as a place for recreation and meetings.
3.4. Forming of vegetation wedges with

integration into a half-circle around the
city
Taking over the canals and embankments route as a
vegetation and water corridor to the width of 40, 60, 100
to 300 m, certainly could provide streaming of the fresh
air in a following way:
a) From the woodland of the Fruska Gora National Park,
across the Danube and river valleys with park-forest
and planned rowing and sailing trail, swimming
beach and eco-camp;
b) Through the large family residential zones on both
sides (Figure 7);
c) Through the city nursery garden within the area
which has been assigned to a bio-garden of a
significant scientific and horticultural character,
including the green house;
d) Through the sports park that have been planned for
the multi-family residence of Bistrica, with extension
through its large green main roads towards wetland;
e) Through the family residential zone on the northwest
and its uncontrolled urban growth in adjacent area,
and then through the planned protective green belt
too (Figure 8);
f) Through the planned landscape park Jugovicevo,
though harmonized with authentic values of
wetland between the cemetery on the northwest
and the planned sports centre with mixed uses on
the southeast;
g) Between the old tree platanus occidentalis protected
as a natural property (one of the six trees in Novi Sad
protected by law);
Figure 6. Longitudinal section suggestion for the
connecting two basins of reclamation system
h) Through the planning sports park for the peripheral

family residence;
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
76
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Figure 7. Fishermans in amputated segment of the canal
Figure 8. Neglected canal
i) Through the protective vegetation planned between

the railway line and the business activity on the
entrance direction to the settlement on the north;
The first step - open promotion of the here presented

idea by the local government which would induce the
financial resources for excavating the 660-metre-long
canal [3], building the siphon, laying the supply pipe 300
to 500 m long and opening the existing canals here and
there.
j) Across the planning hydro-technical intake area to

the existing protective green belt extended along
both banks of the canal Danube-Tisa-Danube.
Identification of this vacant route between occupied
land, although keeping such attention to promote a
natural influence on urban life, could discover the first
continually planted half-circle of vegetation around
Novi Sad [4]. That could vivify the proclamation of the
structure plan about integration of vegetation wedges
into a system. Contemporary urban design calls for the
formation of new urban oasis which are tailored to the
needs of its users, so that it is an artful combination of
wetlands, creation of the field of plant materials and
landscaping.
3.5. Inducing population to arrange a

promenade
The promotion of this idea to the local government
ought to be led by realistic vision of the optimal
cooperation of private and public interest [5]. That
would give a common basis to our vision.
Communicative approach to planning focuses on "using
communication to help different interests in the process
understanding each other" [1]. Recent theories of urban
planning, for example by Salingaros "also advocate
participation by inhabitants in the design of the urban
environment, as opposed to simply leaving all
development to large-scale construction firms" [1],
according to Project for Public Spaces (PPS) which "is the
central hub of the global Placemaking movement,
connecting people to ideas, expertise and partners who
share a passion for creating vital places" [6].
The second step - promotion of this idea together with

gradual evacuation of polluted water which would
induce inhabitants in the neighbourhood to clean canals
and embankment from waste materials and cultivate the
landscape, planting lined trees along the canals and
support vegetation (lawns, shrubs, flower gardens)
along the embankment. Finally, they could post some
modest assembles of benches, eaves and children's
playgrounds on grass.
These spontaneous activities are expected from the
inhabitants of the single-family residence who, even
now, in early evening stroll along the embankment,
appear on the alley (traditional, rural custom) to
associate with neighbours, whose children feel limited
within the boundaries the home gardens and to whom
half empty streets and neglected spaces represent a
homey space.
Arousing joint efforts for the joint interest in their own
encirclement would echo with these modest people who
have built houses by helping each other.
The third step would be to actually finance illumination,
paving with tablets or asphalt and covering the trails of
any kind (footpath, jogging, trimming, bicycle lane, roller
skating etc.) with gravel.
3.6. Stimulus for builders

Gradual arrangement of promenade will induce people
to differ in house construction activity along the contact
of public and private space: new pedestrian entrances
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
77
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
from the existing gardens, reconstructions of the houses

to create new facades to represent the owners, new
restaurants with basins and fountains, all kinds of clubs,
galleries, music and theatrical stages. Gradually, these
spaces will create specific form of pedestrian's line
centre [7].
In the meantime, it is expected that the land value would
grow and no one would be able to say: 'Adequate
planning does not bring profit!
3.7. Realisation by means of concessions for

the attractive focal points
Growing attractiveness of promenade will produce
growing affinity of building the unusual restaurants and
entertaining places at this site. From that moment on,
sections of the promenade will be conceded by means
of concession for the purpose of building the following:
identity and marking the city edge. It's accessible if: an

embankment and canal could associate towards the
meanings of the Great Wall of China and trench around
city fortification [10], the vertical structure next to the
bridge across the main road could remind of the
entrance to that city, and if the environment full of
fountains and park-like arranged entrances to the
architectural "foolish-acts" could associate to the castles
and summer houses from all historical periods.
If that is so, we can believe to raise the quality of life far
from necessity, towards the level where the culture of
living is characteristic for the world of satisfaction, which
lives in surroundings of water, vegetation and
nonchalant promenades (Figure 10).
a) Imaginative accents with pedestrian's bridges across

the main roads on entrance directions to Novi Sad, in
business activity manner supplemented with the
wind-pump, or build as a solar structure whose
power could push water on; the best place for windpump is on the contact point of the canal and the
main embankment;
b) Open playgrounds for recreation, with restaurants
and entertaining contents for children in both sports
parks (already planned);
c) Riding school and a small zoo, for instance;
''Wetland'' next to the fisherman-club, skating rink
and swimming beach is obligatory.
Use of the public space will include obligation of
construction and keeping the main footpath and bicycle
lane, vegetation care and control of water current.
At last, but not least, the physical development of
Bistrica could experience the highest level of
attractiveness. Unexpected network of decorative canals
with waterfalls from fountains would go through the
vacant vegetation of interiors and edges of the multifamily residential blocks [8 and 9]. In the future, it could
go through the atriums and halls of the public and
business structures on Bistricas deserted main roads.
That will definitively justify its name - clear river.
Unexpected network of decorative canals with waterfalls
from fountains would go through the vacant vegetation
of interiors and edges of the multi-family residential
blocks (Figure 9).
Figure 9. Canal in Stockholm
3.8. Identity of urban periphery

Meaning of the presented idea about harmonized
economic, social and physical development of the urban
periphery hides in a reality and possibility of promoting
Figure 10. The quality of life - the world of satisfaction
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
78
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Reviving the ideas about the West Edge

This entry was sent to the 10th IFHP International
Student Competition [11] on a theme "Recycling Urban
Networks and Architecture" related to the IFHP
International Congress in Barcelona, September 2001.
The author thanks the courtesy of Ph. D. Atila Salvai
(University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Agriculture, Institute
for Water Management) to the technical authorial
induce and overall help. Unfortunately, the competition
jury didn't find it to be of interest. Ten years later, the
conditions from overall started changing.
The conditions of the competent institutions were
obtained because of the preparation of the new Master
Plan of Novi Sad. The Institute for Nature Protection,
pointed to the need to protect wildlife in the marsh
canals and reclamation of system "Sajlovo", The Institute
for Protection of Cultural Monuments pointed to the
newly discovered precious archaeological site in the
zone of the former high bank of the Danube (the
northern part of Jugovicevo), and Public Water
Maintenance Centre required the retention of the local
embankment.
Terms of the institutions and persistent criticism of
obsolete urban solutions that have ignored the existing
reclamation canals, resulted in a change of zoning plans
along the western boundary of the construction area of
Novi Sad:
Archaeological park is proposed in the north of
Jugovicevo, at the intersection of the newly
constructed boulevard and planned protective green
belt;
The route of the planned road is altered - through
Jugovicevo to the bend in the direction of the northeast to south-west, following the existing
reclamation canal "Sajlovo" and planned protective

green belt and it joins the existing road network;
The elaboration of urban space proposals for the reanalysis of the current barracks Jugovicevo is
initiated;
The retention of the local dike is conditioned and
after implementation of the new traffic model, the
idea of a cultivated green promenade in the area of
single-family housing has become part of the new
urban plan (Figures 11 and 12).
"The battle" for pedestrian and bicycle path initiated the
change in city development strategy. However, a battle
for convincing the institutions responsible for planning
and development remains they should be persuaded
that the desirable defence against excessive internal
waters should be connected with the use of
environmental benefits of small streams. The costs of
construction such small, cautious steps towards the
meaningful and worthy aim are negligible. The gradual
development would be the best way because it is made
in a sustainable way. For the implementation of "from
strategy to path" long struggle is ahead.
5. The controversial location of barracks

The condition for the realization of the northern part of
the green-way and future needs in the area of the
present barracks (230 ha) is moving out of the army to
new location, which should be obtained by the city.
Space planning of expansion under the conditions of
demographic and economic recession demands a
sustainable approach, which, in this case, means that the
space might be used for: health and rehabilitation
Figure 11. Starting point of the new urban plan of Sumska Street
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
79
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Figure 12. The first idea of the new urban plan of Sumska Street
centres, scientific and technological parks and green

architecture residential district of lower density,
combined with the services, recreation and renewable
energy solutions.
Suggestions for a way of capitalization of land after the
eviction of barracks involve the application of
knowledge of numerous highly educated persons. That
means that they should be spirited to make a creative
breakthroughs in the development of science, in
addition to provide commercial services and the use of
modern living, where principles of sustainable
development are applied.
(10 km) through residential neighbourhoods. Executive

authority in the province of Vojvodina supports this
intention of public-private partnerships, as well as
development of the economy. Apart from that,
authorities announced amendment of the law on the
exploitation of mineral resources within national parks.
That would allow the expansion of non-metal mines,
which is in direct conflict with the efforts which people
from the nearby settlement have made for many years.
On this occasion, we point out that the reconstruction
of the railway would cause the following hazards to city:
However, the proposals for the new location of the

barracks are controversial, because the planned location
on the left bank of the Danube is in the far eastern part
of the construction area of Novi Sad (Figure 13). It is on
land which is exposed to the extreme of underwater.
The restoration would require too much funding.
Therefore, there are several years of unsuccessful
negotiations on moving the army. In recent years, half of
the site intended for the army has been suggested to the
purpose of the location of logistics centre for
multimodal transportation (125 ha, hub for road, rail
and water transport).
At the same time, on the right bank of Danube, on the
west of the borders of the construction area of Novi Sad
[Figure 13], the army intends to sell and leave the
barracks (10,5 ha) with docks, oil stocks and long
precious infrastructure which the obsolete doctrine
used for the state defence of the country. Nowadays the
barracks are partially rented to a private oil company.
This company, along with foreign owners of cement
plants and quarries nearby Fruska Gora, and along with
truck company, have offered to Serbian Railways to
revitalize the abandoned railroad. The line passes mostly
Figure 13. Locations of barracks and the Structure Plan

of Novi Sad to 2030
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
80
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
It would allow the transport of goods through an

exclusive metropolitan area which contradicts
sustainable development; thus, the relocation of
such transport to the periphery should be obligatory;
That would allow the establishment of private
logistics centres for intermodal transport in the
upstream part of the Danube and outside the
territory of the city, which has applied to the city's
interest to form a new logistics centre in the
downstream part of the river Danube.
6. Some proposals for barracks relocation

Instead of this scenario, the proposal is the following:
Large savings in the city budget would be obtained
by moving the barracks from Jugovicevo to the
existing location of the barracks on the right bank of
the Danube, on the west side of the borders of the
construction area of Novi Sad; its extension may be
in an area of 30 ha; thereby the problem of
unreachable costly construction of a new complex
(130 ha) at the proposed location on the east where
it conflicts with the planned logistic centre could be
overcome;
There is no need to revitalize abandoned single-track
railway for freight transport; we should transform
the track railway into a longitudinal park (10 km),
which would include walkways, bicycle paths,
jogging, horseback riding, exercising areas; area of
family housing on the right bank of the Danube is
missing such an attractive public space; such
greenways should be linked to recreational trails of
Fruska Gora National Park;
Economic development in a national park should be
limited to the common interest of environmental
protection; the transport of goods, to a greater
extent, should be directed to the river and the
existing ports and harbours.
It is necessary the administration of Novi Sad to indicate
the risk of further degradation of Fruska Gora.
Preservation of the national park is the largest goal of
the citizens of Novi Sad, especially of the residents of
high quality family housing areas on gentle hilly right
bank of the Danube.
The relocation is related both to new location of the
transport of goods and logistics centre for multimodal
transport and to the defence of national park from
further exploitation of mineral resources. Emigration is
necessary in order to achieve the presented vision on
connecting the canals as well as to build the facilities for
evacuation of inhabitants from other ''vulnerable'' yet
valuable areas of the city. In addition, it is associated
with a significant improvement of tourist potential of
the city and creation of a general vision of economic

development: from path to strategy and back,
supporting sensible and designed ideas towards
realization.
7. Conclusion: The future is in supporting

sensible and designed ideas
The idea of transformation of the west edge of a city is
based on adapting the new system to the existing
physical structure of spatial coverage and its
environment. Transformations based on respecting the
context, the character of the area, and the aspirations of
the local community (Sumska Street) to keep the same.
The goals are to preserve the local identity through the
reconstruction of the secondary embankment and
revival channels, and to activate the open space along
the axis. By applying the principles of reconstruction and
rehabilitation, planning solution aims at enabling revival
and restoring identity a neglected part of the periphery.
What remains to be done is following: to make a
connection between the negligible financial cost of the
defence against the excessive inland waters and the use
of benefits of the environment of small watercourse; to
make proposals for the relocation of military barrack
(new mixed uses, science and technical centre). In the
future, development of the whole area to the line centre
could propose lot of various forms of revitalization,
reconstruction, new construction, landscaping and the
introduction of energy-efficient and self-sustaining
systems.
Sustainable architecture as a first-rate set requirement
for new construction in urban expansion would bring
higher quality to the entire area. It is essential for urban
planning, concerning the purpose of adaption to
climate change, and if we take into account the
negative demographic trends it is also reasonable; its
feedback would be an initiative to reconstruct the
existing structures. Insisting on green building implies
realistic approach of planners and close monitoring of
economic developments.
City-construction should be performed in a creative
manner by discovering motifs and themes, exploring
external influences, going deep into details, always
bearing in mind both broad and narrow context. It is
necessary in each specific case to link urban planning
with strategic planning in detail. This would harmonize
political interests at the local, provincial, and national
level.
Bureaucratic approach to the task is obligatory;
seemingly it frees of responsibility and concern for the
common good, yet it moves the urban planner away
from the core of the altruistic aspirations of the
architectural profession. Transformation of a city
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
81
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
towards a sustainable future is led by creative effort

which avoids the pitfalls of bureaucratic approach.
Acknowledgement
The author acknowledge Ph. D. Atila Salvai (University of
Novi Sad, Faculty of Agriculture, Institute for Water
Management). The author acknowledge the support
from Urban Centre Urbanizam Novi Sad for helpful
discussion with colleagues, assistance providing starting
material and reference samples, data and services,
providing language help and proof reading the article.
Funding source
Urban Centre Urbanizam Novi Sad provided financial
support for the conduct of the research of the
manuscript, without any decision to submit the
manuscript for publication. It consist theese sources:
1. The Structure Plan of Novi Sad to 2021,
http://www.nsurbanizam.rs/?q=gpns (accessed 2nd
February 2014);
2. Documents of the Waterpower Engeneering Office
Sajkaska Novi Sad, Serbia;
3. Other documents of the Public Office Urban Centre
Urbanizam - The Office for Urban Planning Novi
Sad, Serbia.
Footnotes
[1] More about theories of urban planning,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_planning#The
ories_of_planning (accessed 26th September 2014)
[2] More about variables by which the effects of
alternative planning patterns can be evaluated in
hydro-logic terms, Leopold, B. Luna Hydrology for
urban land planning: A guidebook on the
hydrologic effects of urban land use (1968),
http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1968/0554/report.pdf
(accessed 2nd February 2014)
[3] Project Flussbad, urban renewal and swimmingpoll precint", as a quality example of urban renewal
proposals neglected area in the center of the
reactivation of the channel with the use of
biological measures in Berlin. The project is guided
by sustainable urban development and planning,
with the aim to preserve the ecological integrity of
the river Spree. Move the channel length of 1.5 km
is divided into three segments. The first segment of
A with shaped stairway approach channel is
designed to relax, sit and relax by the pool for a
swim. Purified water comes from a wetland located
in the upper segment. The last segment is

transformed into a green oasis, which aims to
transform the channel into a natural river habitat
while preserving the flora and fauna,
http://www.flussbad-berlin.de/ (accessed 11th
September 2014)
[4] The most beautiful images of vegetation belts
along canals that sustainably contribute to the
development of a city I have experienced in Boston
Emerald Necklace, where the vision of landscape
architect Frederick Law Olmsted is realized after a
long struggle, and it continues to inspire with its
modern complex design,
http://www.fredericklawolmsted.com/boston.htm
l (accessed 2nd February 2014)
[5] The most beautiful image of the elevated
promenade which is the result of the optimal
cooperation of private and public interest - public
park built on a historic freight rail line elevated
above the streets on Manhattans West Side, High
Line, New York,
http://www.thehighline.org/about/high-linehistory (accessed 2nd February 2014)
[6] PPS,
http://www.pps.org/
(accessed
28th
September 2014) made two community
workshops in Novi Sad in 2004. Placemaking I
experienced as a member of NGO "Zelena mreza
Vojvodine" (Green Network of Vojvodina),
http://www.zelenamreza.org/ (accessed 28th
September 2014)
[7] The realized ''longing'' for a promenade along the
artificial watercourse, the promenade which first
becomes the mark of the periphery and then of the
city, became vivid to me at a gathering place for the
young people along the canal that was dug long
ago, the Canal Saint Martin in Paris,
http://www.paris.fr/english/heritage-andsights/canals/canal-saint-martin (accessed 2nd
February 2014), which is a continuation of Basin de
la Villette and the famous contemporary park
which has the same name.
[8] Experiences from a rich-in-ideas project on
sustainable development held in Malmo,
http://www.dac.dk/en/dac-cities/sustainablecities/all-cases/master-plan/malmo-bo01---anecological-city-of-tomorrow (accessed 2nd February
2014); adequate planning always makes profit.
[9] Stroll and introduction to the overall experience in
creating and life control in multi-family residential
blocks in Stocholm,
http://www.futurecommunities.net/casestudies/hammarby-sjostad-stockholm-sweden1995-2015 (accessed 2nd February 2014), assured
me that the realization of the ideal of urban
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
82
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
planners is possible with a clear and effective

process organization that involves the whole life
cycle of buildings.
[10] Everything about hhe edge I dreamt is necessary
for my city, I experienced at city-fortification in
Lucca, Toscany, Italy,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_walls (accessed
2nd February 2014)
[11] At the University of Novi Sad and the University of
Belgrade, the late professor Ranko Radovic was a
great honest propagator of the idea that

architecture students participate in the
International Student Competition which has been
organized by The International Federation for
Housing and Planning for year. And now, the
competition for young planning professionals in
Europe is favoured,
http://www.ifhp.org/event/international-youngplanning-professionals-award-yppa2014#.U38SadJ_t8E (accessed 5th May 2014)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
83
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DOI: 10.14621/tna.20140203
Dynamics and Aesthetics of Urban Change

in PostSocialist Osijek, Croatia
Dina Stober1*, Branko Cavri2
1
*Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Osijek

Drinska 16a, 31000 Osijek, Croatia, dstober@gfos.hr
2
Department of Architecture and Planning, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, University of Botswana
Abstract
1. Introduction
There are significant differences between urban changes

affecting large, medium and small size cities in the postsocialist world of Eastern Europe. The regional centre of
Eastern Croatia, the city of Osijek, is one of the examples of
shrinkage showing declining trend and the most concerning
demographic one. This paper introduces the dynamics and
processes of change that have affected the urban area of
Osijek, defined as functional shrinkage of the Osijek city core
since the arrival of the new economic and political system. It
combines an overview on the structures of decision making
and quantitative indicators of changes in construction
industry. It charts intensive reconstruction and new aesthetic
of central public places and degradation of the street areas
with the intensive housing emanating from the power of free
market. The study is based on data obtained from a review of
the literature on shrinking city studies as a platform for critical
review. Official documents, statistical censuses, maps,
authors and historical photos have also been utilised in the
field work. The paper brings forward some key challenges
facing the urban planning profession in post-socialist Osijek:
how to ensure balanced and coherent changes in urban fabric
among misbalanced interests.
The cities of Eastern Europe are facing the same kind

pressures as their Western instances such as
environmental
pressures,
globalization,
deindustrialization, privatization, gentrification etc.
They are under the same risk to become alike all the
other cities in the world, to lose their identity. Inertia of
the spatial changes puts them behind political and
economic shifts so the turbulences in the first ones are
presented as abrupt changes in city space and the city
identity. What kind of identity is post-socialist city
searching for? What are the values of the post-socialist
city that should be emphasized and remained? And what
is the period and dynamic within post-socialist city can
accomplish goals that are so fuzzy and blurred?
Keywords:
Postsocialist city, Shrinking, Public

places, Streets
Article history:

Revised: 10 September 2014
Accepted: 17 September 2014
The literature clearly claims that the new structure of

economic activities has an impact on a new spatial
order; a new urban hierarchy is no longer based on
territorial or national boundaries, but based on
networks and connectivity. Some authors advocate the
theory that material aspect is no longer the core issue of
the city and that the digital networks and hyper mobility
of markets become more dominant over the physical
space [1-3]). Castells [1] ascribes to the city changes shift
from a space of places to a space of flows, a concept
in which flows of capital, flows of information, and flows
of organizational interactions are taking place through
electronic circuits, that are connecting between nodes
and hubs cities. Sassen [3] claims that older hierarchies
of scale are destabilized and are going through dramatic
rescaling. As the national scale loses significance along
with the loss of key components of the national states
formal authority over the national scale, other scales
gain strategic importance. The Western planning
culture [4] accepted new actors and roles in planning
so urban development decisions are not solely made by
local government any more, but in association with
other private organizations, public arena and individuals
[5]. Local governments are no longer playing an
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
D. Stober, B. Cavri: Dynamics and Aesthetic of Urban Change in PostSocialist Osijek, Croatia, pp. 8492
84
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
exclusive role as the leading policy-maker; they are

merely one of the many actors involved in the multiactor policy-making process [6]. The actors involved in
planning the Eastern city are trapped with its
endeavours and goals [7] in the gap between frozen
image of the developed western city and the western
city that already made a shift to globalized and network
society. There has always been competition between
cities, but today, under the growth-oriented economic
demand currently followed by most European countries,
competition between cities in Europe has become more
intense than ever. The city is accepted as the frontier
zone of the world [8] as engine of the economy, as
place of connectivity, creativity and innovation, and as
centre of services [9] or more dramatically city is all we
have [2] so its role in a global sense has much
importance so the continuity of rethinking the changes
of the post-socialist city is needed (see [7], [10-14]) after
the vast literature on socialist city [15-16].
This paper focuses on new appearances in urban fabric
of the post-socialist city of Osijek as the representation
of different actors and interests through the critical
analysis of its identity and discontinuity. It will be
concentrated on urban morphology and urban design of
two most construction productive socialist period as
well as post-socialist period trying to depict the dynamic
and aesthetic of the changes of the main city squares
and city streets in the peak periods. In the first part of
the paper some most influence processes on urban
fabric of Osijek will be discussed functional,
morphological and aesthetic changes and actors
involved in urban planning.
2. Contemporary realities and trends:

What is and what it should be
In final texts of the Cities of tomorrow: Challenges,
visions, ways forward [17] one can find comprehensive
vision of the future European city elaborated and
explained. The preferred urban territorial development
pattern is, among other demands, characterised by a
compact settlement structure with limited urban sprawl
through a strong control of land supply and speculative
development and by improvement of the urban scene,
landscape and place where local residents identify
themselves with the urban environment.
The other discourse is the pressure pulled or pushed by
growth or the decline [18]. As contributing factors for
the negative dynamics might occurs in economy crises,
deindustrialization, strong centralization, natural or
human-induced disasters, an ageing or low-fertility rate
population, or additionally as in the cities of Eastern
Europe war and the dissolution of socialist systems.
Among other things, it is about the way of looking at
issues - a positive mark of spending the new, and a
negative mark of reducing demands, are something that
planners will have to overcome. Reconstruction and

reuse will have to be a sufficient challenge to satisfy the
appetite that seeks progress. A few authors have called
for a shift in paradigm when it comes to planning for
shrinking cities [19].
In 2004, the consensus definition of a shrinking city was
coined by Shrinking Cities International Research
Network (SCIRN) that said it is a densely populated
urban area with a minimum population of 10,000
residents that has faced population possess in large
parts for more than two years and is undergoing
economic transformations with some symptoms of a
structural crisis[ 19]. The definition for shrinking cities by
Pallagst [19] states as follows: A shrinking city is
defined as a densely populated urban area with a
minimum population of 2,500 residents that has faced a
population loss in large parts of it for more than two
years and is undergoing long-term or cyclic economic,
societal or cultural transformations causing symptoms
of a structural crisis. The qualities of place are often
ascribed to physical characteristics as size, scale, and
relative proportions of various elements. Understanding
the physical complexities of various scales, from
individual buildings, plots, street blocks, and the street
patterns that make up the structure of towns helps us to
understand the ways in which towns have grown and
developed. The question is for what purposes? Why do
we need to look back or at the present situation if we
need and plan new structures in the city?
The city structure has always been somewhat dynamic,
expanding and shifting, with certain elements
disappearing over time making place for the new one,
presenting economic and social shifts in physical
appearance. The architecture of a city includes not only
the visible image of the present built environment, but
also traces of its construction over time (Table 1).
Aesthetic continuity and strive for better living
conditions are permanent characteristics of urbanism,
which remind us of the close relationship between the
form and history of cities.
3. Dynamics of urban changes in Osijek

City of Osijek, the regional centre of Eastern Croatia,
with 83,496 inhabitants and area of 169 km2, located
longitudinally along the Drava River, is the fourth largest
city in Croatia. Demographic trends during 60s and 70s
optimistically predicted a large expansion of the city to
the other bank of the Drava river, but the current
negative balance as well as the qualitative structure of
the population do not predict population growth of the
city [20] (Figure 1). According to Pallagst [19], Osijek can
be defined as shrinking city for the declining
demography and structural changes that will be
presented here.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
85
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Table 1: Overview of the main urban processes, agents and land management and planning tasks
following different periods
Source: Authors compilation based on Cavri [7]
PERIOD
URBAN PROCESS
KEY AGENTS
LAND MANAGEMENT AND

PLANNING TASKS
1963-1976
urban renewal, fast

urbanization, illegal individual
houses at the urban fringe,
rural-urban migration
urban planners at the

national level,
individual construction,
adaptation
deep spatial analysis, master

planning, city core planning, district
planning, construction permit
1977-1990
urban development,
development of public
facilities, city districts
shopping malls
urban planners at the

national and local level,
architects
master planning, public building

construction permits, not illegal but
unrecorded residential building
1991-1995
war devastation, exodus,

rural-urban migration, ethnic
decomposition
civil engineers, architects
renewal construction permits
1996-2008
urban renewal, decomposition

of the city street, scattered
residential high building infill,
unbalanced demand,
deindustrialization
real estate companies,

landowners, building
companies, regional and
local government,
architects
all level planning (national, regional,

local, urban, detailed), building
construction permit
2009-2014
economy crisis, city shrinkage,

gentrification
regional and local

government, architects, IT
experts
public squares renewal,

infrastructure investments, building
construction permit
the main squares. The development of the urban fabric

of the three original nucleuses took place around
transport links Strossmayer Street, Martin Divald
Street, Vukovar Street and Vinkovci Street for the newly
established urban areas (Figure 2). Authors Pegan and
Juki [21], and Njega et al. [22], [23], distinguished
themselves with the integral scientific researches on
changes in the spatial organization of Osijek, among
other sector, thematic or historical period specific works
on issues concerning Osijek [e.g. 24-26]. Current urban
trends in Osijek have been associated predominantly
with the following four processes:
Figure 1: Number of Inhabitants in the City of Osijek

during the period 1961-2011
Source: compiled from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics
Censuses, http://www.dzs.hr/default_e.htm
Osijek, as a whole, emerged by linking functionally

dependent but physically separated settlements of
Fortress, Upper and Lower Town, whose focuses were
(1)
Social and functional shrinkage of the Osijek

urban area followed by inter-urban growth of
brownfields and retail developments at the fringe;
(2)
Reconstruction and new aesthetic of central

public places, squares;
(3)
Decomposition and degradation of the street

areas with the intensive housing and mixed land
use;
(4)
The status quo of the intra urban green

infrastructure conservation as well as existing
socialist housing neighbourhoods.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
86
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The aim of this paper is to show the basic morphologic

changes in the urban fabric of the city, with special
reference to the squares and the main street between
the Lower and Upper Town.
The historical unit of Fortress is not included in this

paper since it has not experienced significant
transformations of tissue during the period of social
regime. The contribution of this paper is a comparison
of planning approaches during the '60s and '70s and
contemporary planning documents as well as the
presentation of the medium city.
The method of independent field research, photography
and mapping, analysis and processing of maps and
analysis of statistical data was used. The paper dealt
with the spatial framework set of Osijek area of the
Master Plan for Osijek in 2006. Reviews on presented
urban changes are to be found at the end of the paper
in the context of previous introduction.
3.1. Public squares and tangential urban fabric

in socialist and post-socialist regime
The identity of the whole city is often marked by
aesthetics and content of the town squares and their
perimeter. The three main squares of Lower and Upper
Town in Osijek: Ante Starevi Square and Square of
Freedom in the Upper Town, and Josip Jelai Square in
Lower Town were the focus of transformation during
the two observed periods. During the socialist regime
these areas experienced different levels of
transformation.
Figure 2: The growth of the city of Osijek area from

medieval to modern city
Source: Authors adaptation of Mievi, R.(1965) Osijek
historical area analysis
Ante Starevi Square (Figure 3) was defined by a

peripheral structure during the 18th and 19th centuries,
and the reconstruction of the area in 1976, that was
carried out under the authorship of the city's urban
planner Radovan Mievi, involved its surface and
underground, without interfering in peripheral
historically valuable edge. Construction of the bifunctional - shopping and sheltering underground space
beneath the square potentiated the pedestrian
shopping zone. Another situation occurred on the
territory of today's Liberty Square (Figure 4) which
underwent a wide reconstruction of the entire area of
the centre replacing small structures by new forms of
housing and building of business commercial facilities on
nationalized land. The area went through an
infrastructural reconstruction, traffic regulation was
introduced, and a worlds trend of pedestrian zones was
implemented in the very centre of Osijek. Lower Town
Square Josip Jelai Square (Figure 5) in Lower Town
followed the Upper reconstructions but the
reconstruction has not been as consistent as in the first
two cases. The square was partially redesigned
according to the 1975 plan, while the peripheral
structure discontinuously changed. Nevertheless, the
square fell behind in significance compared to the Upper
squares with its park decoration and late joining of the
shopping centre. The peripheral urban structure
changed along the eastern part of the southern part
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
87
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Figure 3. Ante Starevi Square

Source: Up: National Archives in Osijek,
Down: Author: Topi, M.
Figure 4. Freedom Square

Down: Authors photo
while the north side has been kept until today. The
urban design plan Vladimir Nazor Square from 1965,
planned activating the historical part of the city with a
small morphological structure of ground-family houses,
and to create micro-rayon structures. In the area
southwest of the square, a residential area with
skyscrapers and ground service peripheral function
facilities was built during the '80s, as well as a
reconstruction of the northern block and part of the east
block, and even wider, was made.
The urban-architectural competition for the main
square held up during 1997 but it was repeated in 2004.
It redesigned the public place and introduced several
controversies around financial and symbolic features
but did not bring the revitalization of the city core. Today
the main city square is the point for occasional city music
concerts, trade festivals and daily pedestrian and tram
traffic. Present prevailing empty commercial spaces
dominate by the main public city space in spite some
innovative urban accessories and aesthetics.
One of the processes in East European capitals that
occurred in the historical core since 1990 has been
commercialisation the increase of commercial
functions such as business offices, retail, restaurants,
hotels, etc. in the total and use of the area [11]. Sykora
[11] defined the most common mechanisms of
Figure 5. Square banus J.Jelai,

Down: Authors photo
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
88
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
commercialisation as (1) the change from residential to

commercial use within the existing building stock; (2)
demolition of existing structures with residential and
commercially less intensive uses and their replacement
by new taller and larger buildings and; (3) land use
intensification through new commercial developments
on vacant land and densification through additions, such
as filling in the court yards within blocks of buildings. In
1996, the following urban and architectural competition
for the central square in the Lower Town was carried
out, and with the following objectives: decorating the
surface, proposing contents for the north side of the
square, as well as for the north and south street
structure surrounding the square. Accidental fire that
took part in 2009 in the shopping mall, forced the
reconstruction of the building but its still remaining
empty for the half of its area. The pedestrian zone is vital
while upper floors remain underused.
In Osijek, post-socialist and post-war time brought the
need for a redevelopment or better say, redesign plus
renewal of obsolete infrastructure in a manner of
reaction to the former periods and events. Furthermore,
the public places were the land that still had clear public
domain in a new free-market economy and blurred
public-private interests and responsibilities During the
period of 15 years after the war, the three squares in
Osijek went through redesigns and infrastructure
renewals invoking modern, viable, inclusive city centres
as they sometimes existed, hoping that new look will
attract excluded people with their public opinion as well
as economy sector with whom communication was not
established and control vanished with former regime.
The lack of strategic planning and the weak economy of
the medium, shrinking city at the periphery of the
country were presented in a worse sense when
shopping malls grew up at the city fringe and absorbed
all of the potential retail infill from the city cores. In
developed countries, the decision makers are
increasingly becoming aware of the importance of
enhancing the resilience of city cores and streets to
eliminate this domination, thus relevant retail planning
policies are in effect [27].
3.2. Streets
The residential identity of the city of Osijek presents two
distinctive units: Art Nouveau street built in the early
20th century in the city centre, and a micro-rayon
residential settlement Sjenjak built during the '70s and
'80s. The first example finds its value not only in
architectural assembly, but also in the integrity of the
street space and preventability of its gardens in front of
the houses, while the socialist settlement Sjenjak
profiled its multifunctional structure and contents of
public space. Built in the high construction wave, these
spaces have their stable, unchanging structures and with
their forms they confirm the value of a coherent
constructed space (Figure 6).
Figure 6. Postcards from Osijek from 1980s, presenting

socialist residential dwellings as spatial values
Source: National Archives in Osijek
According to the 2011 census, there were 41,384

apartments in the city of Osijek (www.dsz), 39,159
privately owned, and 2225 owned by some other party.
Data from the Central Office for Housing point to about
1896 apartments in some form of state ownership, while
1531 housing facilities are the exclusive property of the
Republic of Croatia. The low share of state ownership in
housing indicates a small role and control of this
important city function. The production of housing that
reached its peak in the years after the adoption of the
document used exactly this very determinant, while the
law of the market marked spatial growth of the city.
Apartment buildings have sprung up in altitude and
density un-zoned city, in all its parts, not following
communal, social and green infrastructure (Figure 7).
Criticism of the 1988 General Urban Plan points to lack
of clear vision of urban development [21], and the same
could be applied for the Master Plan from 2006.
Architectural swing that took place before the crisis, on
both, national and local level, was not used for the
transformation of the city, but the degradation of the
urban fabric primarily one of the streets, occurred. The
lessons of morphological analysis of the socialist era
have been forgotten, and urban design became the
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
89
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Figure 7: Transformation of street urban fabric with scattered new residential high buildings
Source: Authors photo
architectural design. Parts of the city increased their

density by creating a negative identity of discontinuous
building. With such morphological characteristics, in
terms of the shrinking city, a task scheduler for tissue
reconstruction faces a difficult task that requires
exceptional creativity and involvement of all
stakeholders in the change process. The study of
identity-morphological structure of the city represents a
key to finding solutions.
4. Discussion
The question that emerges is how urban planners will
deal with shrinkage of the city as well as with his
deconstructed fabric. Two big tasks are set in front of

them. The concept of shrinking smart [28] argued two
key models for reconfiguring settlement patterns in
response to persistent population declineurban
islands versus de-densification. The urban islands model
is a more traditional planning framework that requires
extensive land use regulations and public intervention to
configure the city into a pre-conceived pattern. The
authors find difficulties in distinguishing viable from
nonviable areas within a city and public policies to direct
resources and development to the nodes deemed to be
viable. The benefit, however, would be the preservation
of development densities and physical characteristics
traditionally considered to be urban. Broadened view
of population changes also implies that political goals
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
90
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
should not be defined in terms of population size, but

rather, in terms of human capital available for providing
the best possible quality of life for all citizens[29]. Having
that in mind, we should consider revitalization of urban
morphology to accomplish the city identity and
indirectly the city potential lure. In Planning shrinking
cities Pallagst [28] states that a healthy city always
grows in population and that only unhealthy ones
shrink, but it is not only the number of people that
counts; it is also the skills, abilities and satisfaction status
of the people that are the main actors of the city area.
Osijek obviously needs a new generation of analytical
planning documentation to take back the control over
urban development. The city of Osijek is going through
population decline, abandonment of industrial places
and faces the problem of empty new residential
buildings, and at the same time develops as regional
centre of different functions (trade centre, educational
centre, sport centre etc.). The new set of functional and
morphological analysis should rely on following:
Determine zones of the city based on periods of
emergence,
scattered investments. The new post war generation of

master plans of the city of Osijek lost a linkage between
urban morphology and urban design what resulted in
disintegrated structure of the city. New generation of
analytical
documentation
should
bring
the
transformation from the urban planning controlled by
real estate market back to urban planners.
References
[1]
Castells, Manuel, The Rise of the Network Society:

The Information Age: Economy, Society, and
Culture, Volume I., Blackwell Publishers, Oxford,
1996.
[2]
Koohlhaas, Rem et al., S,M,L,XL, OMA, The

Monicelli Press, New York, 1995.
[3]
Sassen, Saskia, The city: Its return as a lens for

social theory, City, Culture and Society, Vol.1,
(2010), pp.311 doi:10.1016/j.ccs.2010.04.003.
[4]
Pallagst, Karina, The planning research agenda:

shrinking cities a challenge for planning cultures
Town Planning Review, Volume 81, No. 5(2010),
pp.1-6, doi10.3828/tpr.2010.22.
[5]
Van Kampen, Ronald, Divided cities in the 21st

century: challenging the importance of
globalisation, Housing Built Environment, Vol.22,
(2007), pp.13-31, doi10.1007/s10901-006-9064-3.
[6]
Healey, Patsy, The Project of Strategic Spatial

Planning for Urban Areas, In Urban Complexity and
Spatial Strategies Towards a Relational Planning
for our Times, Eds.(Cliff Hague, Tim Richardson,
Robert Upton) Library Series, Routledge, New York,
NY, 2007.
[7]
Cavri, Branko, Nedovi-Budi Zorica, Urban

development, legislation, and planning in postsocialist Zagreb, The Post-Socialist City, The
GeoJournal Library, Vol. 92, (2007), pp.385-410,
doi10.1007/978-1-4020-6053-3_19.
[8]
Sassen, Saskia, When the center no longer holds:

Cities as frontier zones, Cities, Vol.34, (2013),
pp.6770 x.doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2012.05.007.
[9]
INTELI, Creative-based Strategies in Small and

Medium-sized Cities: Guidelines for Local
Authorities,
URBACT,
2011,
http://urbact.eu/fileadmin/Projects/Creative
_Clusters
/documents_media/URBACTCreativeClusters_TAP
_INTELI_Final.pdf
Define zones of different residential identities and

densities,
Determine the typology and the building height less
flexible within the zone,
Define morphological structures that should be
consider as a hole for deconstruction or new
construction,
Determine the main traffic streets and identity of
their public places.
As a result, the urban development of the city should
result in emphasizing existing spatial values as well as
producing the new one not allowing the real estate
market control (or better say not control) urban fabric
and build city space without identity.
5. Conclusion
The evidence presented here indicates that a mid-size
city at the Eastern periphery of Croatia has significant
differences in urban post-social changes compared to
internationally presented transition for post-socialist
capitals. The economy based changes of the mid-size
Eastern Croatian city put rather weak intensity of new
appearances and links that did not create a new identity
but deconstructed old ones or just put the new cover on
it. The former main actor-public administrative
presented their concentrated control and investments
in limited areas. Forgotten public interest and
responsibility for the city as a whole disintegrate city
projects in two scales: large public investments in
infrastructure and squares and small real estate
[10] Tsenkova, Sasha, Managing change: the come back

of post-socialist cities, Urban Research & Practice,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
91
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
doi:
mechanisms? Borderlands, the Journal of Spatial

Planning in Ireland, Vol. 3, (2012), pp.43-53.
[11] Sykora, Ludek, Changes in the internal spatial

structure of post-communist Prague, GeoJournal,
Vol.49,
pp.7989,
1999,
doi10.1023/a:1007076000411.
[20] Andrakovi, Verica, Juki, Marijan, Dinamika

stanovnitva grada Osijeka od 1857. do 2001.
godine, Anali Zavoda za znanstveni i umjetniki rad
u Osijeku, Vol. 25, (2009), pp 23-46.
[12] Hamilton, F.E.I., Dimitrowska-Andrews, Kaliope,

Pichler-Milanovi, Nataa, Transformation of cities
in central and Eastern Europe: Towards
globalization, The United Nations University Press,
Tokyo, New York, 2005.
[21] Juki, Tihomir, Pegan, Sreko, Prostorni i

urbanistiki razvoj Osijeka, Kritika i prijedlozi,
Sveuilite u Zagrebu, Arhitektonski fakultet,
Zagreb, 2001.
[13] Stanilov, Kiril, Urban development policies in

Central and Eastern Europe during the transition
period and their impact on urban form, The PostSocialist City, The GeoJournal Library, Vol.92,
(2007), pp.347-359, doi10.1007/978-1-4020-60533_17.
[22] Njega, Draen, Gaparovi, Slaven, Stipeevi

Zvonimir, The Changes in the Functional and
Spatial Structure of Osijek after 1991, Hrvatski
geografski glasnik, Vol.72, (2010), pp.101-121.
Vol. 1:3, (2008), pp.291

10.1080/17535060802476525.
310,
[14] Hirt, Sonia Whatever happened to the

(post)socialist city? Cities, Vol.32, (2013), pp.29
38.
[15] Richard Anthony French, F. E. Ian Hamilton The
Socialist City: Spatial Structure and Urban Policy,
Wiley & Sons, 1979.
[16] Sailer-Fliege, Ulrike, Characteristics of postsocialist urban transformation in East Central
Europe, GeoJournal, Vol. 49, (1999), pp.716, doi:
10.1023/a:1006905405818.
[17] CEC, Cities of Tomorrow. Challenges, visions, ways
forward, Commission of the European
Communities,
Brussels,
2011,
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/
sources/docgener/studies/pdf/ citiesoftomorrow/
citiesoftomorrow_final.pdf
[18] Wiechmann, Thorsten, Conversion Strategies
under Uncertainty in Post-Socialist Shrinking Cities,
In The Future of Shrinking Cities: Problems,
Patterns and Strategies of Urban Transformation in
a Global Context Eds. (Karina Pallagst; & et al.),
2009,
pp.
5-17,
http://escholarship.org/uc/item/7zz6s7bm
[19] Pallagst, Karina, The planners toolkit: can we plan
for new tasks using existing processes and
[23] Njega, Draen, Gaparovi, Slaven, Stipeevi

Zvonimir, Changes in the Morphological Structure
of Osijek after 1991, Acta Geographica
Croatica,Vol.38, (2010. 2011.) 2012, pp.5974.
[24] ivakovi Kere, Zlata, Urbanizacija i promet grada
Osijeka na prijelazu stoljea (1868.-1918.), I.dio
Osijek: Drutvo za hrvatsku povjesnicu, 1996.
[25] Si, Miroslav, Pan-European Transport Corridors
and Development of the Osijek Region, Hrvatski
geografski glasnik, Vol.74, (2013), 2, pp.53-67.
[26] mit, Krunoslav, Garden and Park Architecture in
Osijek on Historical Maps, Prostor: znanstveni
asopis za arhitekturu i urbanizam, Vol.5, 1(13),
(1997), pp.97-120.
[27] Ozuduru,B.,Varol,C.,Ercoskun Yalciner, O.(in press)
Do shopping centers abate the sustainability of
shopping streets? The Dilemma in Ankara, Turkey,
Cities,
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pi
i/S0264275112001801>.
[28] Hollander, B. Justin, et al., Planning shrinking cities,
in Shaken, shrinking, hot, impoverished and
informal:Emerging research agendas in planning,
Eds. (H.Blanco, M.Alberti) Progress in Planning,
Vol.72, (2009), pp.195250.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
92
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DOI: 10.14621/tna.20140204
Energy Efficiency and Renewal of

Residential Buildings Stock
Milica Jovanovi Popovi*, Jasna Kavran
Faculty of Architecture, University of Belgrade
Bulevar kralja Aleksandra 173, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia, milicajp@arh.bg.ac.rs
Abstract
1. Introduction
The most part of national building stock of Serbia are

residential buildings and more than 90% of them are single
family houses. As construction and installation systems of
these buildings are rather simple, compared to other types of
buildings, it can be concluded that, through the process of
rehabilitation and renewal of residential buildings, large
savings in energy can be achieved. This process mainly consist
of improvement of building thermal envelope in the first step
and afterwards further energy savings are possible through
heating and hot water systems improvement.
According to the national building typology, based on the
Tabula project methodology, residential building stock in
Serbia needs annually, only for heating, about 65 million MWh.
About 76% of this consumption pertains to single family
houses and 24%, for multifamily houses. Up to 70% of these
buildings were built before the first "Regulations on thermal
protection of buildings" were introduced in everyday practice,
thus having no thermal insulation in the envelope. It is
estimated that through a rehabilitation process (insulation of
walls, roofs, and ceilings, installation of new windows), it is
possible to reduce energy needed for heating by 65-70%. The
remainder of energy needed for heating can be obtained from
renewable energy sources (such as the biomass), significantly
reducing the CO2 emission.
In this paper, the possibilities and ranges for reconstruction
and renewal of residential building stock of Serbia are
presented in order to achieve better energy efficiency in
residential building stock as well as to prepare input data for
development of road maps for the nZEB strategies.
After three years of research, based on previous R&D

projects [1] [2] [3], and Tabula project [4], during which
developed methodology for national typologies was
approved as official for EU countries [5], research team
from Faculty of architecture University of Belgrade
published the National typology of residential buildings
in Serbia [6]. Within the framework of typology,
calculations of energy characteristics, energy needed for
heating and CO2 emission were calculated for chosen
representative residential buildings giving the basis for
development of possible road maps for energy
efficiency improvement and national definitions for
nearly zero energy houses. Two scenarios for energy
efficiency improvement were suggested. Based on
these calculations, different strategies for renewal of
national residential building stock can be developed and
long-term plans created. It is necessary to emphasize
the importance of these plans, especially in the moment
when Serbia has started the process of negotiations with
EU, since they are obligatory part of various EU
regulations concerning energy efficiency of buildings
and nearly zero energy buildings (nZEB) [7].
Keywords:
National typology, Residential buildings,

Energy efficiency, Energy renewal,
Nearly zero energy buildings
Article history:

Revised:
2. National typology
For the purposes of national building typology
development, field survey was conducted and almost 20
000 residential building were listed and assessed based
on the specially prepared questioner and using software
developed for these purposes. Basic principles for
developing this typology were based on urban and
architectural characteristics of residential buildings in
Serbia but also on historical and socio-political national
development. Those basic principles were:
1. Year class defined according to historical and
economic development, type of building
construction technique, introduction of thermal
protection regulations period,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
M. Jovanovi Popovi, J. Kavran: Energy Efficiency and Renewal of Residential Buildings Stock, pp. 93100
93
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Type of building according to their urban

characteristics, position on the lot and position
relative to other buildings, defining six typical
types: two for family housing (detached and row
house) and four types for multy-family housing
(detached, row house, row house type lamella,
high rise),
3. Architectural characteristics, compact or jagged
shape, percentage of windows in total facade area,
use of attic or cellar,
4. Characteristics of envelope elements.
After cluster analysis was conducted, 40 buildings out of

20,000 were chosen as real representatives of model
buildings (Table 1). For each adopted year class/building
type the following items were defined:
Typical elements of the thermal envelope and heat
transfer coefficients (U values);
Characteristics of the heating and domestic hot
water systems;
Frequency and area of the building type in the total
national housing stock (Table 2, Table 3),
Energy needed for heating, present state (Table 4).
Table1. National residential buildings typology
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
94
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Two levels of refurbishment measures for reduced

energy needed for heating: standard (Table 5) and
advanced (Table 6) were proposed. Standard level is
according to new regulations, when through the process
of refurbishment energy class of the building must be
raised for one class [8] and is mostly typical of our
market in case of refurbishment, while the second level
was defined as the maximum energy improvement that
the building can reach depending mostly on the shape
of building and its volumetric characteristics, requiring a
rather large scope of investment.
3. Differences of architectural characteristics

and characteristics of heating system
In Serbia there is significant difference in the
architectural characteristics between family houses and
residential buildings. Single family house are usually one
to two stories high, with cellar and attic not used for
living. They are usually built without building
permissions based on everyday practice and knowledge.
The construction system is usually with small spans, and
Table 2. National typology, type distribution by number of buildings (items)
Family housing
1
items
< 1919
117 985
17 394
183
40
345
135 947
6.05
1919-1945
194 546
10 937
1 530
170
1 663
208 846
9.30
1946-1960
286 259
12 034
2 013
1 175
1 344
34
302 859
13.48
1961-1970
376 057
23 328
5 624
2 113
1 661
242
409 025
18.21
1971-1980
454 893
20 636
8 104
4 337
1 876
415
490 261
21.83
1981-1990
386 958
19 768
7 837
4 176
2 024
163
420 926
18.74
1991-2011
252 884
12 567
6 757
2 971
3 277
278 456
12.40
items
2 069 582
92.13%
116 664
5.19%
32 048
1.43%
14 982
0.67%
12 190
0.54%
2 246 320
100.00%
100
m2
B
C
D
E
F
G
Multi family housing
854
0.04%
Table 3. National typology, type distribution by area
Family housing
1
< 1919
8 812 918
1 641 759
181 255
128 836
319 202
11 083 970
3.83
1919-1945
14 060 213
871 044
1 056 060
343 833
1 829 417
18 160 567
6.27
1946-1960
19 797 175
951 208
1 419 450
2 699 971
1 591 895
127 540
26 587 239
9.18
1961-1970
27 080 821
1 858 685
6 464 054
6 207 704
2 226 913
1 031 502
44 869 679
15.49
1971-1980
38 021 616
1 921 639
10 176 303
17 481 251
3 154 044
2 418 507
73 173 360
25.26
1981-1990
34 331 187
2 121 357
10 867 713
15 936 685
3 401 177
815 053
67 473 172
23.29
1991-2011
23 129 363
1 449 853
8 362 188
10 410 747
4 987 582
48 339 733
16.69
165 233 293
10 815 545
38 527 023
53 209 027
17 510 230
4 392 602
3.73%
13.30%
18.37%
6.04%
1.52%
289 687 720

100.00%
100
57.04%
B
C
D
E
F
G
m2
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
95
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Table 4. National typology, type distribution by energy needed for heating
Family housing
B
C
D
E
F
G
Multy family housing
< 1919
2 317 797
512 229
38 064
21 129
52 988
2 942 206
1919-1945
3 402 572
284 831
196 427
75 299
272 583
4 231 713
1946-1960
4 969 091
232 095
322 215
491 395
348 625
20 151
6 383 572
1961-1970
6 824 367
667 268
1 111 817
987 025
420 887
121 717
10 133 081
1971-1980
12 433 068
253 656
1 943 674
2 394 931
498 339
324 080
17 847 749
1981-1991
11 638 272
462 456
1 369 332
2 023 959
397 938
101 882
15 993 838
1991-2011
5 551 047
230 527
652 251
884 913
473 820
47 136 215
2 643 062
5 633 780
6 878 652
2 465 179
567 830
65 324 717
72.16%
4.05%
8.62%
10.53%
3.77%
0.87%
100.00%
MWh/a
%
MWh/a
7 792 558
and the construction material used is as a rule brick or

later brick block with slabs also with clay blocks. The use
of thermal insulation in building envelope started
approximately twenty years ago, its thickness does not
exceed 5cm. lately, old wooden windows, which were
used as a rule, are exchanged with plastic windows with
insulating glass.
existing heating plants are using gas (60% of the

capacity), 20% is using oil fuel and 20% is still using coal.
Because of the air pollution, as old heating plants that
use coal are in the central part of towns due to its
growth, it is planned that, through their modernization,
switch from coal to gas.
On the other hand, apartment buildings were built

according to present regulations existing at that time
they were designed, building techniques used were
advanced, with application of concrete and very often
prefabrication in the period 1960 to 1990. Average
number of stories is 5 (cellar not included and by the law
not used as a living space).
4. Energy efficiency improvement measures
The characteristics of heating system used in single

family houses also differ from those used in multi family
houses.
Almost all single family houses have individual heating
system, the number of units attached to district heating
system is negligible. Single family houses are attached to
district heating only in some settlements in suburban
area of big towns, built in the period 1960-1970, were
the investor was the state and flats were privatized
later. In houses built in earlier periods, single stoves are
installed using wood or single electrical stoves. In houses
built in later periods, central hot water heating system is
usually used with boilers on wood, gas or coal.
Multi family residential buildings are usually attached on
district heating system. At the moment it is about 27%
of total number of flats that are connected to district
heating with the constant expansion net. In Serbia,
The suggested measures for improving energy efficiency

and CO2 emission reduction were given for each building
in the typology. Those measures included:
Construction interventions on the building thermal
envelope;
Improvement in the heat supply system; and
Improvement in the domestic hot water supply
system,
Although according to the existing regulations [9] it is
obligatory to calculate only energy needed for heating
and other types of energy are not included in definition
of energy class of the building construction measures.
As mentioned before, two types of potential building
renewal, in order to improve their energy efficiency and
reduce CO2 emission are suggested and defined:
standard and advanced.
The aim of the first level of improvement was defined in
accordance with the current regulations as improving
building energy performance for at least one energy
efficiency class. Thus, the first level of improvement
includes:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
96
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Replacement of the existing windows with new

packages, the characteristics of which comply with the
current Regulations or are close to the given values.
Despite their poorer performance, installation of
wooden windows was suggested in order to preserve
the visual identity of the buildings.
apply; in this case it is possible to use special market

ready systems in which ceramic cladding as the final
faade layer has integrated thermal insulation.
Improvement of thermal properties of walls and floor

constructions by adding layers of insulation, usually
10cm thick, where applicable. The walls are typically
refurbished using a contact faade system since this
method of energy rehabilitation is common in our
practice as the most economical and least technically
demanding. An exception will be the buildings with
faade brick cladding, which is technically difficult to re-
It is important to say that, when planning energy

improvement; economical aspect was not taken into
account. It means that, for high buildings, especially high
rise, planned measures for the first level of
improvement, sometimes are not economically
justified. Scaffolding and the process of construction can
be so expensive, that only second level of improvement
can justify invested assets.
Floor constructions, also have layers of insulation added

either in subsequent interventions or integrated into the
existing structure.
Table 5. National typology, savings in energy needed for heating after standard improvement MWh/a
Family housing
B
C
D
E
F
G
Multy family housing
< 1919
1 427 693
270 890
19 757
11 209
21 067
MWh/a
1750 616
1919-1945
1 841 888
166 369
108 774
49 512
144 524
2 311 067
1946-1960
2 771 605
98 926
197 304
294 297
206 946
11 989
3 581 066
1961-1970
4 468 335
410 769
756 294
509 032
224 918
57 764
6 427 113
1971-1980
9 315296
117 220
1 210 980
1 031394
242861
198 318
12 116 069
1981-1990
7 964 835
305 475
521 650
653 404
91 832
54 609
9 445 432
1991-2011
3723827
71 043
234 141
176 983
99752
MWh/a
31 513479
1 275 471
3 048 900
2 725 830
1 031 901
4 286 898
322679
39 918 260
Table 6. National typology, savings in energy needed for heating after advanced improvement MWh/a
Family housing
B
C
D
E
F
G
< 1919
1 683 267
357 903
26 282
14 172
31 920
2 113 545
1919-1945
2 362 116
189 017
129 895
56 389
188 430
2 925 846
1946-1960
3 187 345
142 681
235 629
361 796
262 663
14 540
4 204 653
1961-1970
4 928 709
479 541
872 647
689 055
302 860
90 772
7 363 585
1971-1980
10 075 728
157 574
1 465 388
1 346 056
353 253
251 525
13 649 524
1981-1990
9 097 765
305 475
912 888
1 179 315
163 256
70 910
11 729 609
1991-2011
4 024 509
71 043
367 936
426 841
154 615
MWh/a
35 359 440
1 703 235
4 010 665
4 073 623
1 456 997
MWh/a
5 044 944
427 746
47 031 706
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
97
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The second, advanced level of energy improvement

includes specific measures to raise the building energy
efficiency class to the maximum. Not typically used,
these measures include installation of top quality
windows available on the market and thick insulation
layers in the thermal envelope.
4.1. Improvement in the heat supply system

For individual heat supply systems, the first level of
improvement involves a change of fuel source (where
applicable) or modernization of the heating system; the
second level of improvement considers the use of the
latest technology available on the market in each
particular case, depending on the availability of fuel
source. For systems with stoves using wood, coal, or
electric power, either as single units or as part of the
central (alternatively, independent per floor) radiator
heating system, the improvement includes the shift to
central heating with a wood gasification boiler with a
buffer tank, a low temperature gas boiler, or a biomass
boiler for pellets or logs.
The advanced level of improvement uses central heating
with condensing gas boiler (alternatively biomass boiler
for pellets or logs), or central heating with air/water
heat pump.
In multi-family buildings with individual furnaces and
radiator heating (regardless of fuel source), it is
recommended to connect to district heating wherever
possible, or otherwise switch to a more environmentally
friendly fuel source.
In fossil fuel district heating systems, the first
refurbishment measure involves improving control and
efficiency of the existing system by installing
thermostatic valves on radiators and upgrading the
substation for heat supply control based on external air
temperature. In accordance with the current legislation
on energy efficiency, it is necessary to install equipment
for heat supply metering in order to adopt consumptionbased billing.
4.2. Improvement in the domestic hot water

supply system
The survey found that most domestic hot water systems
include individual electrical, storage and, occasionally,
non-storage water heaters.
The first level of improvement measures involve central
combined domestic hot water and heat supply
connected either by the boiler itself or by the heat
exchanger in the substation storage tank in case of
district heating systems.
In addition, the second level of improvement also

includes the use of an auxiliary solar hot water system.
5. Nearly zero energy buildings

During 2013, Ministry of energy, development and
environmental protection of Republic of Serbia
prepared the Action plan, Strategy for development of
energy of republic of Serbia by 2015 with projections by
2030 [10]. It is stated that, among other obligations,
Serbia is accepting all the obligations from Energy
community treaty and Directive 2009/28/EU as its basis.
In this document national energy sector was analysed in
details and requirements and goals concerning energy
are defined including energy efficiency of buildings. As
one of the principles and goals for the development of
Serbia, further harmonization with EU regulations was
established.
When renewable energy sources are in question, it is
planned, according to the scenario that takes into
account the measures of energy efficiency, that by 2018
in housing, public and commercial sector, transportation
and industry could save up to 9% final energy. It is
estimated that the participation of renewable energy
sources in gross final energy consumption can reach 27%
by 2020 and that, by full applications of energy efficiency
measures in new buildings and in major rehabilitation of
building stock, up to 16% of final energy consumption
can be saved. Although in National typology, the use of
renewable energy in buildings was not calculated, it
gives sufficient data as the basis for nZeB scenarios.
5.1. National definitions of nZEB

As there is no unique definition for highly energy
efficient buildings, generally it is considered that the
term indicates the buildings with higher performances
than standard buildings built according to national codes
and regulations. In order to make the national definition
of nZEB and prepare sustainable road map for Serbia, it
is necessary to identify several parameters that can be
classified in following groups: location, calculation
methodology, building stock characteristics, technical
possibilities and economy.
Parameters deriving from the location itself are climate
and renewable energy sources. Introducing the
Regulations on energy efficient buildings, the old
standard JUS.U.J5.600 which defined climatic zones, is
not any more in effect. According to new Regulations, all
calculations are taking into account the exact values for
the location of the building for: HDD, insolation, external
temperatures. For nZEB definition only one set of
climatic data should be calculated representing the
whole country. For RES, based on the present
investigations, the estimation or mean values for whole
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
98
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
country should be prepared taking into account solar,

wind, geothermal and biomass energy.
for heating and up to 50% by renewal of single

family houses stock
Calculation methodology in Regulations on energy

efficient buildings is already based on EU standards and
EPBD Directive (2002). As our present regulations give
the method for calculating final and primary energy and
CO2 emission, it is necessary to upgrade those standards
to EPBD recast (2010) and include calculations for other
types of energy spent in the buildings as obligatory.
Further tightening of benchmarks and allowed levels of
needed energy as well as allowed levels of CO2 emissions
are necessary in a very short period of time.
Through standard level of improvement is possible

to reach more than 72% savings of energy needed
for heating and up to 57% by renewal of single
family houses stock.
The quantity and quality of building stock has been

evaluated to some extent through the National Census,
but more information is available in National building
typology elaborated in accordance with principles of
TABULA project.
Technical possibilities depend on existing state of
knowledge and systems applied in everyday practice.
While the first is absolutely up to date and is possible to
develop and implement all the new products available
on the world market, the second is mostly developed in
the past century and rehabilitated to a small extent.
According to the EBBD (recast) every EU member state
has to make its own definition of nZEB, according to the
local economy status and to make calculations that
prove that initiatives are sustainable, and that industry
is possible to produce new materials and elements that
could lead to energy efficiency and nearly zero CO2
emission in buildings. For Serbia, the moment for
introducing those standards is very difficult because of
the economy crises, and it can influence the position of
the benchmarks to lower standards.
Although the calculated values are theoretical and do

not include the fact that energy consumption is different
from calculated energy needed due to different
behaviour and habits of residents, it gives enough space
and potential to reach defined national strategies of
16% saving in building sector. Especially if RES are
included in energy efficiency improvement.
It can be concluded that the first rational step in
residential building stock energy rehabilitation planning
is to start the process with single family houses. The
process should include:
Formulation of strategy
Preparing architectural designs and descriptions as
well as bill of quantities and estimation of the
rehabilitation costs
User friendly software, publicly available and free,
based on typical buildings from national typology
that will enable the owners to calculate energy
potential savings and costs for their own buildings
and find the best and feasible solution
Prepare financial support and lawns, including state
support and commercial banks,
Promote the use of RES especially for preparing
domestic hot water and use of heat pumps for
heating and cooling process.
6. Discussion of the results and conclusion
For this conclusion the argumentation can be found in

following reasons:
From the tables presenting characteristics of residential

building stock and total energy demand for heating it
can be concluded that:
Single family houses are rather small, with small

number of floors what gives the advantages in simple
construction process and use of scaffolding,
The net area of apartments in single family houses

is 61% from total net area of Serbian residential
building stock while the rest of 39% is in multi
family houses,
97% of number of residential buildings are single
family houses,
From total number of apartments in Serbia,
approximately 73% is in single family houses,
More than 76% of energy demand for heating of
residential building stock is needed for singly family
houses heating.
Through standard level of improvement is possible
to reach more than 60% savings of energy needed
Legally, the process is also simple: there is no need

for agreement of assembly of tenants or long and
tiresome procedures for getting of building permit,
the owner decides by himself when and what to do
and usually they can do that by themselves. It must
be stressed that financial support through the
banking system must be solved on national level.
References
[1]
Jovanovi Popovi Milica et all, Energy building

optimisation in the context of sustainable
architecture - part 1: Analysis of building stock
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
99
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
structure, ed Jovanovi Popovi Milica ( in Serbian:

- 1:
, .
(:
, 2003).
[2] Milica Jovanovi Popovi, Ana Radivojevi, Duan
Ignjatovi and Martin Elezovi, Attic extension
and thermal renovation of the residential building
-case study, Spatium No 13-14 (2006): 41-6.
[3] Milica Jovanovi Popovi, Duan Ignjatovi, Nataa
ukovi and Ana Radivojevi, Rehabilitation
project of an appartment building in Belgrade,
Serbia, Spatium No 15-16, (2008): 60-6.
[4] www.building-typology.eu
[5] European Commission, Notices from European
union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies.
Guidelines accompanying Commission Delegated
Regulation (EU) No 244/2012 of 16 January 2012
supplementing Directive 2010/31/EU of the
European Parliament and of the Council on the
energy performance of building by establishing a
comparative methodology framework for
calculating cost-optimal levels of minimum energy
performance requirements for buildings and
building elements, Official Journal of the

European Union, C 115 (2012): 1-28.
[6] Jovanovi Popovi Milica, Ignjatovi Duan et all,
National typology of residential buildings in Serbia,
Belgrade, Faculty of architecture, University of
Belgrade, GIZ- Deutche Gesellschaft fur
Internationale Zusammenarbeit, Belgrade, 2013.
[7] Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 19 May 2010 on the energy
performance of building (recast), Official Journal of
the European Union, L 153/13, 13-35.
[8] Republika Srbija, Ministarstvo ivotne sredine,
rudarstva i prostornog planiranja, Pravilnik o
energetskoj efikasnosti zgrada(Regulations on
energy efficiency of buildings), Slubeni glasnik
Republike Srbije br. 61, 2011.
[9] Republika Srbija, Ministarstvo ivotne sredine,
rudarstva i prostornog planiranja Pravilnik o
uslovima, sadrini i nainima izdavanja sertifikata o
energetskim svojstvima zgrade Slubeni glasnik
Republike Srbije br. 61, 2011.
[10] Ministry
of
energy,
development
and
environmental protection of Republic of Serbia,
Strategy of energy development of Serbia by 2015
with projection by 2030, Draft version.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
100
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DOI: 10.14621/tna.20140205

Architecture Engineering Department, Engineering Faculty, Tanta University
31515 Tanta, Egypt, dinaelmelegy@yahoo.com
Abstract
1. Introduction
In different parts of the world, natives and todays communities

are protecting and trying to save their Identities, sometimes
reviving and rescuing old traditions by reproducing ancient
architectural methods, using their original elements of design.
Although in many conditions it is a very expensive process, which
makes producers trying to avoid working with this issue. Therefore
it is clear that no-one should underestimate the challenges
involved in reviving many of our heritage concepts, and applying
them in different types of buildings. But at the same time, to save
those cultural heritages, rigorous instructions must be identified
leading communities towards valuable movements.
With the absent of cultural heritage from the sustainable
development debate, despite its crucial importance to societies
and its wide acknowledgment at national level, it has been done
many studies through the last decades dealing with that issue, but
without revealing on its own identity from the humanizations
perspective. For that reason innovative Sustainable design will
significantly add unique value to the heritage employment.
This paper provides an up-to-date overview of the relationship
between protection of the cultural heritage and innovative
sustainable technologies, which will describe strategies which can
lead to cultural sustainable development as a key factor.
Comparing between different sustainable values appeared in new
trends, such as figuring out the impact and benefits of newly
introduced techniques in the architectural applications, thus will
point out how architectural development cooperation can play a
crucial role in this process. As a final statement the research will
demonstrate what can be achieved with an innovative technology
approach that makes the most of the local historic environment,
even against the backdrop of the economic aspects.
The word heritage caught worldwide attention

particularly in the mid-1980s in association with the
UNESCO World Heritage Convention [5].
In developing countries, heritage includes not only the
built heritage but also the oral and the living traditions,
so that relationships between heritage and local
communities include much more than merely built
structures and matters of employment and income [20].
Due to their worth. It is necessary concern of heritage
revival with different trends. But economic factor has
brought social challenges: countries are advancing at
different speeds, and people within countries are living
with vastly different quality of life. In many countries the
gap between the rich and the poor is increasing rather
than shrinking with economic growth. Therefore it must
be reduce this gap and the innovative sustainable
technologies are the best techniques to achieve this.
Therefore, when it comes to sustainability, heritage
conservation or revival has been ignored. Despite it has
a great potential to improve the quality of life, improve
our understanding of the past and contribute to any
culture. [7], as well as cultural heritage specifically can
have the value to the well-being and quality of life to
communities and can help prevent cultural globalization
sustain cultural diversity and positively affect economic
development. Therefore, Heritage revival can play an
important role of sustainable development strategies.
Also, it can be included in strategies set for using
renewable resources and savings of energy [8].
2. The importance of heritage revival

Keywords:
Innovative studies, Cultural heritage,

Heritage revival, Sustainable
technologies and historical architectural
features
Article history:

Revised: 27 July 2014
Heritage is almost always related to the concept of

territory as both a geographical and cultural entity. It is
also related to social and community organizations,
which are often formalized today as territorial
administrative units. In many traditions, nature, or some
of its components, are perceived as having a soul, and
this fact must always be taken into consideration.
Heritage can be divided into two main categories see
Table.1 [6].
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
D. A. A. Elmeligy: Innovative Sustainable Technologies in Heritage Revival, pp. 101111
101
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Table 1. Different Categories of Heritage [Source: UNESCO and ICCROM. 2003]

Cultural Heritage
Tangible Heritage
Architectural works
Monuments Archaeological sites
Historic centres Groups of buildings
Cultural landscapes
Museum
collections
Libraries
Archives Etc.
Historical parks & gardens
Natural Heritage
Intangible Heritage
Tangible & Immoveable
Music, Dance,
Literature, theatre,
local, traditions.
Natural and maritime parks

of ecological interest
Know how: Crafts

Religious
ceremonies Etc.
Botanical gardens Industrial

archaeology Etc.
Geological & physical

formations
Landscapes of outstanding
natural beauty Etc.
3. Innovative sustainable technologies

Modern buildings hence became self-contained units
isolated from the immediate environment [13].
Therefore, the trend has been to use sustainability in the
application of technology, because it is a process that
binds the well-being of people and the ecosystem into a
mutually supportive whole [2], [4]. Sustainability is
comprised of three dimensions that if achieved, will
result in human well-being (see Figure 1). Because the
balancing of economic, environmental and social
objectives is the need to balance the needs of current
and future generations [18], [22].
Figure 1. A diagram illustrates the main components
of sustainability
http://www.arch.hku.hk/research/BEER/sustain.htm#1.3
by Sam C M Hui. 2002
The study of heritage makes it possible to better

understand todays world and to better prepare for the
future. However, for various reasons, the value of this
heritage has not always been recognized. For a long
time, this heritage was deprecated, and its owners and
holders were sometimes even encouraged to forsake it.
Moreover Built heritage faces two risks today emanating
from one sourceclimate change and our efforts to
cope with and mitigate its effects [9].
Therefore, the reviving of heritage value not only
because of their historical worth but because they offer
the important design inspirations and tangible promise
for a holistic approach to the crises of built environment,
in addition to generate and nourish a sense of
community and common social bonds.
3.1. The concept of sustainability in the

heritage revival
The heritage sites and buildings for centuries survived
and developed a sense of symbiotic relationship with
their surrounding ecology. Their sense of sustainability
emerged from having found resonance with nature, its
pace, and cyclical progression [3]. As well as in the words
of S. Bianca, the new patterns of development should
be based on an integrated vision of society shared by the
community as a whole, and produce creatively a
sustained interactive and participatory environment
[3].
Accordingly depending on physical, social and economic
contexts, the exact meaning of sustainability of a World
Heritage site may vary from one site to another. Where
that the sustainability in the context of cultural heritage
sites generally means adequate and long-term
protection of cultural values of a site by using minimum
resources [23]. So it is important to know the key factors
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
102
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
that can enhance sustainability In order to revive the

heritage [19].
3.2. The funding necessary for sustainability
One of the ways that used for protecting world heritage

site/ building which are already existing in heritage
regions, but the other way which depends largely on the
support of taking the past and extending it into the
future, Old ideas can use new buildings. New ideas
must come from old buildings [10]. Therefor this paper
offers the methodology of reviving heritage buildings
using innovative sustainable technologies that depends
on two strategies as the following (see Figure 2):
First through reviving the heritage buildings which
already exist in heritage region/area.
Second through the addition of newly sustainable
techniques of the architectural applications that reflect
the heritage of the country and the character of the
society.
Environment
Society
Unspecified
Saving
different types
of energy
which differs
from one
region to
Specified
Specified
Taking into account

environmental
factors and their
impact depending on
Preservation of
the existing
vocabulary of
the heritage
and rerenovated
+
Reviving
the
heritage
buildings
which
already
exist in
heritage
Unspecified
Unspecified
Specified
Taking into account
Saving different
Choosing the
environmental
types of energy
proper vocabulary
factors and their
according to the use
of heritage to
impact depending on
of vocabulary as a
confirm the
Affect the environment on
tool to achieve
identity of the
the choice of the proper
sustainability
society
vocabulary, which in turn
affects how to save energy
Use the heritage

vocabulary as a tool to
achieve sustainability to
revived the heritage
Reviving
the
heritage
buildings
which
already
exist in
heritage
Economy
Preservation of what
is already exist with
saving the energy
The main components of sustainability
The entity of the heritage product

From : [ the location and the society ]
Cultural Heritage : Tangible Heritage (Architectural works )
As indicated in this quote Governments face the

complex challenge of finding the right balance between
the competing demands on natural and social resources,
without sacrificing economic progress [18].
Furthermore public funding for cultural heritage sites is
very limited. For that reason the sustainability is a more
realistic approach to view heritage through inexpensive
economic vision [9]. After all, the strategies described
below are introduced to facilitate a move toward
sustainability in the sense of increasing the benefits and
decreasing the costs of heritage revival.
4. Achieving innovative sustainability

technologies in heritage revival
Figure 2. Illustrated diagram of the methodology which used in this research
4.1. First strategy

The Reviving of heritage buildings which are already
existing in heritage regions can depend on reformulating
due to the new energy efficiency requirements put
forward. Energy efficiency measures are considered key
actions within sustainability work.
For example: Dick Hellofs & Karli Gillespies houses. In

1984 this building and others in the Union Street were
included on the heritage resource inventory as a part of
the larger awareness of the importance of Vancouvers
heritage that arose during that era. By 2010 the Union
Street Eco-Heritage project proposes to maintain these
character defining features and the project will reflect
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
103
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Existing
Dwellings
Density
Value
Energy use/
inhabitant
Proposed
Character houses
High performance Houses
Figure 3. The preliminary concept of the project proposed [Vancouverheritagefoundation.org], 2010
todays aesthetic and social priorities and in turn

transmit them to future generations of Strathcona
residents [24].
As proposed from the owners, this project serves as a
demonstration of how to achieve density, affordability
and high performance while still respecting the value of
our built heritage.
property and keeping the absolute density as before [24]

(see Figure 4).
Balancing between high performance &character:
Table 2 shows the methods has been used passive
design techniques as an innovative sustainable
technologies to get the certificates of The Union Street
ECOheritage project (see Figure 5).
4.1.1. The project proposed

The Concept: Both the architects, shape architecture,
and the owners of this project understand that the built
heritage needs to be preserved, but it also need to be
creative and realistic. Smart preservation is about
preventing razing and rebuilding by evolving buildings
rather than demanding the creation of museum pieces.
In addition to need to mark the present and preserve the
past while still building towards the future (see Figure3).
Adapting Heritage: Shape architecture proposed a
micro-topography of outdoor spaces unique to each unit
with porches, decks and patios. Each unit has a private
outdoor space, yet these spaces are connected to the
streetscape in the same way as the porches of the
existing buildings. This will allow the inhabitants to
interact with their community, while still feeling like
they have their own outdoor space. This outdoor space
will be based around a central courtyard, allowing
inhabitants to casually interact with each other. New
units are added, while respecting the existing pattern,
by removing the garage and additions to existing
structure and lifting/excavating underneath. Units are
inserted underneath, and a new laneway house is built.
The new configuration reflects the original pattern,
while allowing new, more affordable units on the
Union st.
Exist configuration
Proposed configuration
Figure 4. Proposed configuration
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
104
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Table 2. A time line illustrates historical sequences for the Strathcona neighbourhood
Using Passive design techniques in the Union Street ECOheritage project*

Energuide rating
Built green: builtgreencanada
For homes shows a standard

measure of its energy
performance. It shows the
owner (and future buyers)
exactly how energy efficient
your home is. The rating is
calculated based on standard
operation assumptions so the
energy
performance
is
compared of one house
against another.
It benefits the homebuyer, the community and the environment and is an

opportunity for everyone to choose a "green" future.
passive design meets privacy requirements

The large, south-facing windows of the new units behind the heritage
structures will look at the north side of the laneway housing, where
passive design dictates few windows. Similarly, the south-facing
windows on the laneway house will be looking on to the laneway and
impressive southern views of the city, rather than into their
neighbours windows.
Vegetable
patch to fork
Access to Union
street bike route
Unit heating
Laneway
View
Union Street
Solar hot
water panels
Bike lockers
Proposed street front elevations
Rooftop
rainwater
capture Rainwater
cisterns
Interior+ exterior quick

charge for electric car
Figure 5. Using passive design techniques as an innovative sustainable technologies [Vancouver,2012]
The Project Cost: The total amount of energy consumed

in a year will not exceed the amount of energy produced
by the project , these technologies and design strategies
can come with an innovators premium; in terms of
initial construction premiums, the projected costs are
not more than 10-12% above normal costs for a similar
type of project. However, higher capital costs will mean
that the projects operational costs -- the annual cost to
live in the project -- will be much reduced. Additionally,
the owners have identified a potential demand in the
market for energy efficient housing.
Another example: Stephanie Maingot & John Flipses

house.
Like many homes in 1636 Charles street Vancouver, it
started out as an upper-class residence, then in 1951 this
home was converted into a duplex, a common trend in
many large single family dwelling of the time; often a
necessary adaptation to the increased demand for
housing and higher cost of living in Vancouver postworld war II [24] (see Figure 6).
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
105
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Average size of North

American Suburban
single family dwelling
1636 Charles St. is

constructed as a single
family dwelling
Single family dwelling is

converted to duplex
Inside renovation to
upper apartment
Basement renovated and

occupied student/guestroom
added to main floor
Figure 6. Heritage flexibility for Stephanie Maingot & John Flipses house, [24]
Installing hydronic systems
Hydronic , New batt insulation

Existing forced
air system is radiant heating and ceiling in
system
installed
removed.
Choosing radiant heat
Basement
Main
Under the floor boards
Forced air raises the

ambient air temperature
to make you feel warm.
Radiant heat is
experienced directly
on the skin
Figure 7. Efficient energy systems in Stephanie Maingot & John Flipses house [24]
As shown in Figure 7, zoning allows heating and cooling

loads to be customized using individualized digital
thermostats for each room or areas. Because water
carries heat much more efficiently than air, smaller
zones are made possible than with an air-based system.
When combined with a digital thermostat, heat can be

directed exactly where it is needed, saving on heating
costs and energy use. As well as the owners replaced
two inefficient hot water tanks and two old furnaces
with one high grade boiler system. The introduction of
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
106
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
this efficient energy system has halved their heating bill

making the mostly uninsulated home cosy even in the
coldest months of the winter [24].
4.2. Second strategy

Heritage can be revived through re-using the Heritage
elements of architecture in new buildings according to
new technological applications, especially there are
several architectural heritage elements that are
reflecting different images of sustainability, [16]. In that
way the technical image forefronts measurable
environmental facts of resource consumption along
with economics, operating costs, efficiency in material
use and systems Through designs elements [20].
Therefore the most important vocabularies / elements
of architectural heritage [17] which propose for building
designs through civilizations and reflect different
innovative technical images of sustainability appear
commonly in Arab world such as the courtyard, he wind
towers, roofs (domes and vaults), Mashrabia and
Taktaboush.
Now the focus will be on the one type of these
vocabularies to highlight their distinctive characteristics
in addition to how to use them in new buildings with
new trends which depends on the innovative
sustainable technologies. So the case studies were
chosen to be inspirational and demonstrate how
practical and approachable sustainable development
can be.
4.2.1. The court yard
History: the courtyard commonly used in old Egyptian,
Greek-Roman-Coptic and Islamic Architecture, which
served for several purposes. Although there were socio-
cultural differences in each region, the design of

different buildings retained a common architectural
language that responded to both the common hot arid
zones climate and the common religious needs such as
providing privacy repressing social and cultural images
[16] (see Figure 8).
New technological applications of sustaining heritage
in new buildings: For example the New Parliamentary
Building, 2000 (London, England), features a ventilation
system that is historically referential and provides an
environmentally sensitive form of air-conditioning. A
series of towers, which recall the site's Gothic
architecture, draw air from ventilation ducts - pulling
cooler air through vents on lower floors and releasing
hotter air at the top [28] (see Figure 9).
Another example in Bamboo Lakou project for John
Naylor, who won Foster + Partners prize 2013. This
project merges a sustainable bamboo-growing
infrastructure with the development of the vernacular
"Lakou" communal courtyard typology. Initially the
'Lakou' courtyard house forms the fundamental urban
block and this itself is broken into four stages:
Occupational Strategy, Material Strategy, Structural
Strategy and Construction and Assembly Strategy.
therefor The courtyard offers air, light, and seclusion.as
well as It provides the desired privacy and peace, making
the environment an oasis of tranquillity, at the same
time as if creates a strong sense of territory. It is also a
place for contemplation .Humans are not only rational
beings, they are also contemplative [25] (See Figure 10).
The concept and realization of the new courtyard is
powerful and successful. It not only achieves high
density, but also has the capacity for communal facility
provision and good privacy and security control. The
courtyard creates a comfortable outdoor environment,
which is essential for the 21st century modern living [25].
Courtyard
Street
Fez (Morocco), sectional axonometric of house Lahlou

(Bianca, 1991)
Main entrance
Al-Suhaymi house, Cairo, 1648 (www.cdf.gov.eg/art2.htm)
Figure 8.: The courtyards in the Arab world

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
107
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Figure 9. The New Parliamentary Building, 2000 (London, Engand) [28]
Figure 10. Bamboo Lakou project for John Naylor [Dezeen, 2013]
4.2.2. The wind towers

History: A wind catcher is an architectural device used
for many centuries to create natural ventilation in
buildings. The function of this tower is to catch cooler
breeze that prevail at a higher level above the ground
and to direct it into the interior of the buildings. Without
the construction of such tall towers there would be no
possibility to take advantage of the prevailing winds and
breezes either from the shamal or from the on- and offshore breezes associated with developments located by
the sea. the wind towers in many countries around the
Arabian Gulf, were constructed on a square plan and
contained a cruciform device on the internal diagonals
which allowed air to funnel down into a space at the
bottom of the tower. This took place both through the
direct impact of breezes striking the exposed face of the
diagonals, as well as through the principle of convection
on the other three faces when the structure was
warmed by the sun and ambient air. The internal
partition allows the low pressure on the lee side of the
tower to suck air from inside the building [26 ], Figure

11.
New technological applications of sustaining heritage
in new buildings: For example :Iranian wind towers in
Yazd ,which have been recognized in varied forms and
plans where the wind tower is used to convey the wind
current to interior spaces of building in order to provide
living comfort for occupiers .In Iranian Architecture a
wind tower is a combination of inlet& outlet openings
(see Figure 12) [12].
Second example is Princess Nora Bint Abdulrahman
Universityin Riyadh, Saudi Arabia the design of this
university is rigorously arranged to form a series of
courtyards at multiple scales. The courtyards are
intended as usable outdoor space, even in a climate as
fierce as Riyadh. At the largest scale, Each of the 4
quadrants which shape a grand public gathering space
contains a large courtyard, serving as the primary shared
space between two schools. This courtyard is cooled
with large passive wind towers that catch the breeze and
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
108
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Wind catcher in Cairo
Iranian wind towers

http://maeresearch.ucsd.edu/lind
en/AFD/archfd.html
Plan& section of the Q'a of Muhib Ad-Din Ash-Shf'i AI-Muwaqqi, Cairo

(https://www.google.com.sa/search?q=Al Fust%C3%A3t+house,+a+courtyard+house,+Cairo)
Figure 11. Different old types of wind towers in the Arab world
Function of wind
tower with high
wind speed
Function of wind
tower with low
wind speed
Figure 12. Shots of Iranian wind towers in Yazd [12]
Figure 13. Shots of wind towers in Princess Nora University Riyadh, Saudi Arabia [by the researcher]
bring flowing air down to the level where people will

evaporation provided by plants and fountains increase
the amount of time the courtyard is comfortable by 30%
during the spring and fall. The arid conditions and
intense heat of the region promoted innovative
sustainable concepts including wind towers that

naturally cool outdoor courtyards. The campus is
remarkable not only for its size and speed of design, but
is exemplary in that all major buildings are pursuing
LEED certification [1], Figure 13.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
109
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Figure 14. Shots of wind towers in Masdar City Abu Dhabi, UAE [14]
Third example is Masdar city that is envisioned as the

worlds first carbon-neutral city development .which is
engineered to be a cold island in the middle of the
surrounding desert climate focuses on the science and
engineering of advanced alternative energy,
environmental ,technologies and sustainability through
a variety of innovative sustainable technologies like
using well-positioned wind towers [14], Figure14.
5. Concluding remarks
The revival of heritage buildings has a contribution to
make to achievement of environmental balance in
human affairs . There are many ovelapes between
heritage conservation and sustainable developement
where sustainability can serve as a tool to achieve
heritage conservation and at the same time heritage
conservation can serve as a tool to achieve
sustainability. Therefor the overall conclusions drawn
from the following:
1. Emphesize that there is a risk of losing historic and

architectural values due to energy measures being
carried out;
2. Aknowledge that the heritage trail is one tactic that
has the ability to relate different developmental
aspects within a comprehensive understanding;
3. Agree that a new strategic agenda is needed for

sustainable development of the heritage sector with
renewed focus on proactive work.
4. Highlight on the proposed methodology in this paper

where it can be picked as one of the introduced
strategies (the Reviving of heritage buildings which
are already existing in heritage regions or Heritage
Can be revived through re-using the Heritage
elements of architecture in new buildings ) to lead to
use innovative sustainable technologies to revive
heritage where it will not always be easy to
implement, and progress will not always be
dramatic, but at the same time it will be a successful
way to connect the past with the present and the
future in the framework respecting the
environmentally sustainable.
6. Recommendations
For sustaining heritage environments and to achieve the
goal of creating a balance between heritage revival
,innovative sustainable technologies and efficiency of
economy it must be do the following:
1. The need to identify the appropriate methodology

for each community or region to revive the heritage
depending on the type of heritage , how to revive it
and what are the available sustainable technologies
to take into account the least possible cost;
2. Need to focus on using innovative sustainable

technologies to revive heritage. Otherwise, historical
and heritage sites will either disappear because of
the uncoordinated efforts and the contradictory
approaches to conservation, or will turn into an open
air museum, perhaps physically pleasant, but socially
lifeless;
3. The need to develop a future plan that is intended

to revive the heritage through using innovative
sustainable technologies;
4. The conviction that every community is different

from the others in the way of reviving the heritage
Using what suits from the techniques of innovative
sustainable technologies.
References
[1] Allison G. Williams FAIA, Princess Nora Bint
Abdulrahman University ,Health Sciences and
Research Campus, Perkins+Will, 2012.
[2] Aref Y., The Conservation of Heritage as a Means
for Sustainability, The Case of the Ottoman Town,
Alexandria, Egypt, Conference On Technology &
Sustainability in the Built Environment ,King Saud
university - College of Architecture and Planning.
[3] Bashir A. Kazimee,Heritage and sustainability in
the Islamic Built Environment, Washington State
University, USA, 2012.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
110
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
[4]
Burntland, G.(ed.), Our Common Future, World

Commission on Environmental and Development.
Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1987.
[5]
Cheung, S. ,The meanings of a heritage Trail in

Hong Kong, Annals of Tourism Research, (1999) ,
26 (3), 570-588.
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
Christian Barillet & others , Cultural heritage &

local development, Published by Craterre-ENSAG /
Convention France-UNESCO], 2006.
Coleman
Victoria,
Conservation
and
Sustainability,NSW Heritage office, National Trust
of Australia, 2004 , p. 3, www.heritage.nsw.gov.au.
Girard, Luigi Fusco , innovative strategies for
urban heritage conservation, sustainable
development& renewable energy,Global Urban
Development, 2006,Volume 2 Issue 1.
Heidi Norrstrm, Sustainable and Balanced Energy
Efficiency and Preservation in Our Built Heritage ,
Department of Architecture, Chalmers University
of Technology, Sven Hultins gata 6, Gteborg,
2013, www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability.
[10] Jane Jacobs,The Death and Life of Great American

Cities,Vintage Books ,1993, Issue 3.
[11] Luis Jos ,Garcia-Pulido ,Architecture, History &
Culture, Bioclimatic Devices of Nasrid Domestic
Buildings , by The Aga Khan Program for Islamic
Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology , 2011-2012.
[12] Mahnaz Mahmoudi Zarandi , Analysis on Iranian
wind catcher and its effect on natural ventilation
as a solution towards sustainable architecture (
Case Study : Yazd ) , World acadmy of science ,
engineering and technology,2009.
[13] McDonough, W. Preface, Big and Green: Toward
Sustainable Architecture in the 21st Century,
Gissen, New York ,2002 , D (Ed.), Princeton
Architectural Press. p. 9.
[14] Phaidon , Vitamin Green, Phaidon Presss limited ,
NewYork, USA,2012.
[15] Reynolds, John S, Courtyards. Aesthetic, Social,
and Thermal Delight, John Wiley &Sons, Inc., New
York, 2002.
[16] Sheerer, Sulian, Vernacular architecture principles,

and examples with references to hot air climates,
Hassan Fathy, university of Chicago,USA, 1986,
press Lon.
[17] Steele, Sustainable architecture, principles,
paradigms, and case studies, McGraw-hill, USA,
1997.
[18] Tracey Strange & Anne Bayley, Sustainable
development
Linking
economy,
society,
environment,(OECD )insights Organization for
economic cooperation and development , 2008.
[19] UNESCO & ICCROM, Introducing Young People to
Heritage Site Management &Protection, UNESCO
and ICCROM, Amman, 2003, p.8.
[20] Williamson, Radford& Bennett, Understanding
sustainable architecture, New York , 2003, pressLondon & New York.
[21] Yunis, E. , The role of cultural tourism in social and
economic development in the local communities,
the international conference on cultural
tourism&local communities, UNWTO, Yogyakarta,
Indonesia, 2006.
Websites
[22] www. arch.hku.hk/research/ BEER/sustain, Hong
Kong University, by Sam C M Hui.2002.
[23] http://whc.unesco.org/documents/publi_brochur
e_en.pdf.&http://whc.unesco.org/en/home/2005,
Understanding UNESCO World Heritage Sites, by
Heritage Centre: World Heritage Centre.
[24] Vancouverheritagefoundation.org
[25] http://www.dezeen.com/2013/06/28/bamboolakou-by-john-naylor-wins-foster-partners-prize2013/
[26] http://www.solaripedia.com/13/205/2096/wind_
tower_qatar.html
[27] https://www.google.com.sa/search?q=iranian+wi
nd+towers+in+Yazd&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=
X&ei=Q[28] http://www.dainst.org/en/project/hama?ft=10
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
111
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DOI: 10.14621/tna.20140206

Haris Bradi
Department for Architectural Construction and Building Technology, Faculty of Architecture, University of Sarajevo
Patriotske Lige 30, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, harisb@af.unsa.ba, haris_bradic@yahoo.com
Abstract
1. Introduction
This Paper is a presentation of an energy autonomous residential

villa near Sarajevo. The house is located in Niii, a plateau ca. 30km
from Sarajevo. The parcel lies on an altitude of 951m, with longitude
of 1830'38.14'' and latitude of 4404'23.17''. It is a 30-dunum southwest oriented plot, located within natural environment dominated by
beautiful scenery with coniferous and deciduous trees and wild
pastures. In spring, a natural lake is formed here thanks to
accumulation of rainfall. The house is a residential unit that provides
comfortable living, resting and recreation. The total area of the house
is 420m2, which is functionally laid out into public and private zones
across three floors: partially buried basement, ground floor and first
floor. This forms playful architecture, materialized with nearby wood,
stone and white plaster. Use of nearby autochthonous recyclable
materials in construction of both the exterior and the interior is very
important. All visible wooden elements are made of fir/spruce wood
and coated with biological oils to preserve the wood structure. The
same wood is used in the interior (for floors and walls). Besides the
visual and technical characteristics of this house, special attention was
also given to the relationship between the house and its microlocation, that is, its potential in terms of exploitation of renewable
energy sources. The idea was to develop a concept of energy
autonomous structure that will completely rely on renewable energy
sources. The concept of adjusting a house to fit the location requires
proper orientation of its transparent parts towards the south to allow
the house to absorb the solar energy during winter periods. The north
side is completely closed, with the U-value below 0,10W/m2. The
external envelope has been designed to exploit the renewable energy
potential of the site. Micro-climate analysis was carried out based on
the on-site measurements and the data from the Hydrometeorological Institute of FBiH. All of the above resulted in a unique
energy concept that uses several energy sources, including the sun,
wind and ground, to meet the energy needs of the house. The total
simulated energy need of the house is 14kWh/m2/year. A network of
mutually related energy sources was established, complementing each
other throughout the year and constantly providing energy to the
entire house. Electricity surplus (especially the one generated from the
sun) is to be sent to the grid for local purposes.
This Paper elaborates the Author's idea of designing

energy autonomous residential villas. The idea emerged
from the already known achievements in the field of
energy efficient architecture, the already known
concepts of use of renewable energy sources, energy
potential of the environment and the energy savings
generated by a building itself. The design defines the
usable area of the interior and the volume. Local
environment offers a great variety of renewable energy
sources, especially wind, solar and ground energy. The
concept presented hereto shows how and in what way
different energy sources complement each other,
satisfying the energy needs of the building, while
sending the surplus energy to the grid.
Keywords:
Architecture, Autonomy, Environment,

Man, Renewable energy sources
Article history:
Received: 8 October 2014

Revised:
The shape, the envelope structure and the orientation

of the house were the key factors that conditioned the
outcome of the project. The entire envelope was
designed in line with the passive architecture standards
and the entire house has been interpolated within the
environment in the best possible way.i
2. Theory of space and form

The house is located in the Niii plateau (at the altitude
of 951 m, latitude 440424.38'', and longitude
183037.35'', Figure 1), ca 35km away from Sarajevo
(towards Tuzla). The plot is ca 1km away from the main
road. It is accessed via a macadam road. Electricity is the
only energy generating product on the site.
The natural environment surrounding the plot is
dominated by coniferous trees (fir trees, spruce trees
and pine trees) and green pastures (Figure 2) for
growing and production of organic vegetables and fruits.
The sloped part of the plot is west-oriented, while its flat
part enabled orientation of the major part of the house
towards the south (Figure 3).
In winter, the location is under the influence of the
continental climate, and in summer, for a short period
of time, the location is subject to the Mediterranean
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
H. Bradi: The Autonomous House, Sarajevo, pp. 112118
112
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Figure 2. (a) view towards north

(b) view towards west
Figure 1. Google Earth snapshot of the plot
Figure 3. Panorama view from the east
Figure 4. Form and shape analysis of the of the urban villa in Niii
climate. However, details about microclimateii indicate

that this area (apart from certain zone on the Igman
mountain) is the coldest zone in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, where winter temperatures can drop to as
low as -30C. In summer, temperature rises: weather
data show that in August morning temperatures can be

0C, and then rise in the afternoon up to 33C. The Niii
plateau is a territory exposed to high amounts of solar
radiation. This is corroborated by the number of sunny
days vs. the number of rainy/foggy days.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
113
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Architectural design
Inspiration for this particular architectural design comes
from an analysis of forms of the nearby local greenery
(Figure 4). A new organic form was creatediii, which
follows the contours of the terrain and whose shape
does not disturb the natural ambience, but becomes a
part of it by adjusting to the existing terrain morphology
(Figure 5). The form comprises five circles, cut
horizontally with cubes that separate the functional
zones within the house. Most of the house is southoriented with large glazed surfaces (Figure 6).
4. Functional concept of the residential villa

The interior has a net usable area of 327.9m2 and
volume of 1,168.9m3. The house has a ground floor,
basement and the first floor. The interior is divided into

three functional zones: public zone includes the
entrance hall, study room and a unique circular space
housing the living room, the dining room and the
kitchen. Other two zones are accessed from the
entrance hall. The second zone is a private zone, with
bedrooms spreading over two floors. The master
bedroom is located in the loft with all the necessary
amenities. The third zone is the basement, housing
recreation and service rooms. The occupants can use all
three zones and their amenities independently.
Dimensions of the house are 27.50m x 25.00m, located
at the farthest part of the plot, ca 90m away from the
access road. The highest point of the house is 7m against
the terrain. Figures 710 display the playfulness of the
interior (horizontal and vertical), overall functional
zoning and mutual indirect relationship between the
different functions.
Figure 5. Southern facade of the autonomous residential villa
Figure 6. Northern facade of the autonomous residential villa

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
114
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Figure 7. Ground floor of the autonomous villa
Figure 8. First floor of the autonomous villa
Figure 9. Secction A-A
Figure 10. Secction B-B
5. Envelope structure
The aim of this project was to design and build an energy
autonomous house, whose envelope would satisfy all
the requirements of the Building Physics.iv All nontransparent parts of the house have the U-value below
0.15W/m2K, and transparent below 0.8W/m2K [13].
Table 1 shows the transparent vs. non-transparent ratio.
We clearly see that transparent parts are southoriented, whereas the rest of the envelope is nontransparent. Total area of the facade and walls in ground
is 474.8m2, of which 24% are external openings. Heat
gains in summer depend on the glass structure and
position of the openingsv. The shape factor of the house
is 1.18. Large envelope compared to volume increased
this factor, and further complicated the energy
observations of this house.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
115
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Table 1. Geometric properties of the envelope

FAADE STRUCTURE (TRANSPARENT AND NON-TRANSPARENT SURFACES)
FLOOR
Ground floor
Basement
First floor
TOTAL
Ground floor
First floor
TOTAL
Ground floor
First floor
TOTAL
Ground floor
First floor
TOTAL
TOTAL ENVELOPE
SOUTH ORIENTATION
Transparent
35.7 m2
23.2 m2
20.7 m2
79.6 m2 (49.8%)
159.9 m2
EAST ORIENTATION
5.6 m2
1.6 m2
7.2 m2(7.1%)
101.2 m2
NORTH ORIENTATION
8.5 m2
0.0 m2
8.5 m2(8,2%)
104.5 m2
WEST ORIENTATION
18.4 m2
0.0 m2
18.4 m2(16,8%)
109.3 m2
2
113.7 m (24,0%)
474.8 m2
Chart 1. Ratio between transparent

and non-transparent parts
6. Energy needs and use of renewable energy

sources
Total
energy
need
simulations
stand
at
25kWh/m2/yearvi, which include heating, cooling,
ventilation, artificial lighting and other electrical
appliances. Total annual energy needs are 8,197.5 kWh.
This is a result of solar energy use (appropriate physical
orientation of the house) and adequate facade
structure, i.e. its high level thermal insulation on all
positions. Renewable sources of energy include three
Non-transparent
44.2 m2
0.0 m2
36.1 m2
80.3 m2(50.2%)
56.0 m2
38.0 m2
94 m2(92.9%)
61.0 m2
35.0 m2
96 m2(91.8%)
73.9 m2
17.0 m2
90.9 m2(83.2%)
361.2 m2(76.0%)
Chart 2. Envelope structure in percentages
types of energy generators: wind, sun and ground,

Figure 8.
1. Kinetic energy of the wind [5] is converted into

electrical through a 2.5 - 3.0kW wind turbine.
Depending on the wind amountvii, these turbines
can generate between 2000-2500 kWh of
electricity.
2. Solar energy [11], [5] is collected through a small

solar energy plant, whose maximum capacity under
certain weather conditions can reach
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
116
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Wind energy
Solar energy
Ground energy
Own energy
Energy sustainability
ENERGY AUTONOMOUS ARCHITECTURE
Figure 11. Concept of energy autonomous architecture
38.42kWh/m2/year (area: 100-150m2), depending

on the number of photovoltaic cells installed.
Furthermore, the design also forecasts installation
of solar collectors on the roof for production of
energy for hot water preparation.
3. Ground energy [10], [12] is exploited by means of a

surface loop. Given that the landscape in no way
prevents insolation, its potential would stand
between 15 and 40 W/m2 if installed at the depth of
1.5-2.0mviii.The system also enables passive cooling
of the interior (the need for cooling may rise in July
and Augustix).
7. Conclusion
This Paper presented a model of energy autonomous
architecture on a specific example, i.e. a residential villa
located on a pre-assessed location. Its final goal is to set
grounds for future relations between the man and the
nature through design and architecture. The presented
design highlights two important segments of this
process:
1. Smart and highly insulated envelope,
2. Maximum energy potentials of the environment.
Modern and energy treated envelopes are the first step
in creating energy efficient architecture. Therefore, the
role of architects designers is crucial in this process.
Besides the envelope, overall design must be carefully
studied to define the proper ratio between transparent
and non-transparent parts of the envelope and their
materialization in terms of energy transfers. This means
that architects need to estimate the future energy needs
and offer solutions in form of concepts that incorporate
the use of renewable energy sources. The above results
will help future creators of architectural works
understand that relation between a building and its
environment (in terms of energy) is a challenge
observed from several aspects: architectural design,
materialization, functionality, etc., but also that every
architectural form (complex in terms of the shape
factor) can be treated and converted into an energy
efficient, passive or energy autonomous architecture.

This Paper presented the design of a residential villa,
which is currently being analyzed from the aspect of
cost-effectiveness, which results will help develop the
main project and prepare the documentation for
construction and realization. It is assumed that the initial
investment will be high and that implementation of the
project will greatly depend on the amount of the initial
investment and the payback period, which will be
extensively analyzed.
References
[1] Daniels, K., Tehnologija ekolokog graenja,
Osnove i mere, Primeri i ideje, NK Jasen, Belgrade,
Serbia, (2009.), ISBN: 978-85337-66-6.
[2] Duran, S., C., Architecture & Energy Efficiency,
LOFT Publications, Barcelona, Spain, (2011.), ISBN:
978-84-9936-206-9.
[3] Hadrovi, A., Arhitektonska fizika - drugo izdanje,
Faculty of Architecture, Sarajevo, BiH, (2010.),
ISBN: 978-9958-691-20-1.
[4] Hadrovi, A., Bioklimatska arhitektura, traenje
puta za Raj, Faculty of Architecture in Sarajevo,
Sarajevo, (2008.), ISBN: 978-9958-691-05-8.
[5] Hegger, M., Fuchs, M., Stark, T., Zeumer, M.,
Energy Manual, sustainable architecture, Institut
fur internationale Architektur-Dokumentation
GmbH & Co KG, Munich, Germany, (2008.), ISBN:
978-3-7643-8830-0.
[6] Henning, H.M., Solar-Assisted Air-Conditioning in
Buildings, Springer-Verlag/Wien, Vienna, Austria,
(2005.), ISBN: 978-3-211-73095-9.
[7] Hootman, T., Net Zero Energy Design, John Wiley
& Sons, Inc. Hoboken, New Jersey, USA, (2013.),
ISBN: 978-1-118-01854-5.
[8] Jodido, P., Green Architecture now, Taschen
GmbH, Cologne, Germany, (2009.), ISBN: 978-38365-0372-3.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
117
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
[9] Muovi, F., Vjetroelektrane u Bosni i Hercegovini,

TKD ahinpai, Sarajevo, BiH, (2005.), ISBN: 995841-115-6.
[10] Radakovi, M., Geotermlna energija, AGM Knjiga,
Belgrade, Serbia, 2011., ISBN: 978-86-86363-30-5.
[11] Radosavljevi, J., M., Pavlovi, T., M., Lambi, M.,
R., Solarna energetika i odrivi razvoj, Graevinska
knjiga, Belgrade, Serbia, (2004.), ISBN: 86-3950405-9.
[14] Wines, J., Green Architecture, Benedikt Taschen

Verlag GmbH, Koeln, Germany, (2000.), ISBN: 38228-6303-3.
Web pages:
www.passiv.de
www.fhmzbih.gov.ba
[12] amalovi, S., Toplotna pumpa, tehnologija

odrive proizvodnje energije, Savez mainskih i
elektrotehnikih inenjera Srbije (SMEITS),
Belgrade, Serbia, (2009), ISBN: 978-86-81505-49-6
www.avinc.com/engineering/architecturalwind1
[13] Uffelen V.C., Passive Houses, energy efficient

homes, Braun Publishing AG, Salenstein,
Switzerland, (2012.), ISBN: 978-3-03768-106-0.
www.energis.ba
www.wind-works.org
www.elektroprivreda.ba
www.schueco.comwww.koenigsolar.at
Bearing in mind the theories on architecture compliant with the "green design" principles [8], [14], the Author tried to create a
unique and personal vision of architecture interpolated within its environment.
ii
Measurements were taken by Mr. H. Hadi from his measurement station located on the neighboring plot, at altitude of 951 m,
latitude 440424.38'' and longitude 183037.35''.
iii
Organic architecture is a result of observations of natural forms and shapes to define new visual identities. The first one who
used this term was Frank Lloyd Wright.
iv
The observed parameters are: heat movements within the envelope, water vapor movements and thermal stability to the
summer regime. All parameters need to be satisfied so that the envelope could be positively assessed [3], [4].
Import data on the energy inflow, non-transparent 5-35W/m2, transparent up to 250W/m2 [5].
vi
Calculated using ENSI EAB 8.1 vBiH.
vii
Data about the wind amount and its quality (speed and frequency) were taken from the Meteorological Institute of FBiH, Source:
www.fhmzbih.gov.ba
viii
The energy potential of the heat pumps with underground surface collectors range between 15 and 40 W/m2 [1]. The potential
depends solely on the soil composition, thermal conductivity, density and specific thermal separation of heat.
ix
See Location for climate conditions.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
118
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DOI: 10.14621/tna.20140207

Vesna Lovec*, Milica Jovanovi Popovi
Faculty of Architecture, University of Belgrade
Bulevar kralja Aleksandra 73/II, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia, sunjkicvesna@gmail.com
Abstract
1. Introduction
Traditional single-family houses account for a considerable

part of the total building stock in Vojvodina. The importance
of their transformation in the contemporary context is
twofold. Primarily, the structure of the house should be
transformed to fulfill functional requirements of modern life.
At the same time, the transformation should improve the
energy performances of the house, as one of the vital
concerns.
The study topic was the traditional single-family house in
Vojvodina. It is considered a unique architectural phenomenon
that developed until the early XX century across the entire
province, accounting for nearly 40% of the total building stock
of Vojvodina today.
In the first part of the study, the traditional house in Vojvodina
was analyzed to establish its main characteristics and the basic
house types. The second step of the study considered
possibilities for structural transformation in the context of
energy efficiency.
The theoretical study shows that the house is flexible and that
it could be adapted to meet contemporary needs and
requirements. The process of transformation follows the
elements of passive design that the house already has,
emerging from the interaction between the house and its
environment. The basic transformation element is the porch,
in the aspect of both functionality and energy efficiency.
Traditional single-family houses account for a

considerable part of the total building stock in
Vojvodina. The issue of their transformation is very
important in the contemporary context. Traditional
Vojvodina houses were built throughout the period
between the second half of the eighteenth and the first
half of the twentieth century; today, they constitute
about 40% of the building stock in the northern Serbian
province [1].
Keywords:
Article history:
Transformation, Traditional singlefamily, Porch, Vojvodina, Contemporary

needs
Revised: 4 August 2014
The large building stock comprising the traditional

Vojvodina houses across the province, with all their
types and subtypes, is in relatively poor condition.
Although most of the houses are occupied, many of
them are not properly maintained so they deteriorate.
The inhabitants are motivated neither to save the
architectural and cultural heritage nor to live in the
countryside at all. The homeowners often resort to
demolition, and build new homes without being aware
of the quality of the traditional house and the
opportunities it offers in terms of extending the living
space as well as improving its energy performances.
The research topic discusses the potential for
remodeling the houses to meet the modern
requirements for functionality and the ensuing
improvements in energy performance. As the building
stock is large, the issue of rehabilitation and renovation
of the houses has a significant potential at the national
level. Besides, considering life cycle assessment of
materials and buildings, it should be emphasized that
the only right decision is to reconstruct the buildings.
2. The paper's objective, research methods

and research questions
The paper's objective is to analyze possibilities of the
traditional Vojvodina house transformation which
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
V. Lovec, M. Jovanovi Popovi: Adapting the Traditional House in Vojvodina to Contemporary Needs , pp. 119126
119
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
would improve functional as well as energy

performances of the houses, and manage to maintain
the authentic architectural appearance of the house
street facade. This would be the contribution to the
traditional house integration in contemporary flows. In
the most general sense the research tends to strive in
promoting the architectural heritage in Vojvodina as a
cultural resource in the process of planning sustainable
regional development. The research objective is also to
give the answer to the general research question: what
are the possibilities of traditional Vojvodina house
transformations which would adjust the house to the
contemporary needs?!
The paper preceded the theoretical research of
traditional Vojvodina houses, numerous historical
analyses were conducted, also analyses of the archive
documentation available in numerous institutions as
well as in site analyses and collecting of photo
documentation.i The existing building stock has been
examined and typological classifications of houses has
been made. Numerous case studies were conducted to
analyze the house characteristics, functional structure
and building materials. Technical performances were
analyzed as well. Afterwards the potentials for
remodeling the houses to meet the modern
requirements for functionality were discussed. Along
with the functional transformation the improvements in
house energy performance were analyzed.
3. The traditional Vojvodina house

The architecture of Vojvodina, with its numerous
variants, is one of the most commonly encountered
forms within the Pannonian geographic and cultural
zone. The large territory, the long period of
development, and the complex historical and political
factors all led to a relative lack of uniformity in terms of
the structure of the house and the building materials
used. As a result, the numerous types and subtypes
Figure 1. Street facade.

Three-part house, also recognized as the house
along the furrow . View from the street, Kovilj
increased the diversity in the entire building stock of

traditional architecture. The present study discusses the
basic type of the three-part house, its features, its
development and the historical circumstances in which
it was created.
3.1. Vojvodina architecture in view of

historical circumstances
Throughout the period from the eighteenth to the midtwentieth centuries, Vojvodina was the territory that
staged intense historical and political events, which left
an important mark on every aspect of life, including
architecture, and also have defined its primary
characteristics [2]. In the eighteenth century, the
Pannonian Plain came under the administration of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, an organized system with
clearly defined rules governing all spheres of life; they
regulated the development of the settlements and of
the houses themselves. The Empire carried out an
intensive planned settlement policy in the second half of
the eighteenth century, resulting in the development of
entire settlements. A great number of Vojvodina villages
date back to this period. Urban rules were strictly
defined:
extremely wide street profiles (up to
40meters), the strict geometric street pattern and
buildings set along the street line in a strict rhythm. Such
complex historical and political circumstances
influenced the development of the house as well. As
with urban rules in terms of house construction rules
were also clearly defined and all the houses were built
in accordance with them.
3.2. The traditional Vojvodina house: its origin

and development
The question of the origin of the traditional Vojvodina
house, which developed in this region for centuries, is
Figure 2. he porch.
Three-part house with a porch positioned longitudinally
along the side of the house. View from the yard, Kovilj
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
120
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
very complex and theoretically incongruous. Some

authors believe that it appeared as a unique
combination of German and local architectural
traditions [3]. Historical data confirms that the local
population lived in rammed earth single-space houses
long before the arrival of the Germans in this area [4].
With the arrival of the Turkish administration the whole
area was devastated and became sparsely populated
during the sixteen and seventeen century.
Redevelopment of the area began with the arrival of
Austro-Hungarian administration at the beginning of the
eighteen centyry with colonization of the German
population [5].
In the beginning, the colonist house developed parallelly
with the indigenous architecture; however, due to the
intensive admixture of influences, the later stages of the
evolution are observed as a unified process that resulted
in the development of the unique architecture of the
region as the architecture of the concrete place, greatly
influencing and being influenced by its surroundings [6].
The development of the house went on chronologically
from the simple structure to the highly complex forms
of the early XX century. It can be concluded that the
structure and the size of the house as well as the
ultimate selection of building materials were primarily
dependent on the financial status of the farmer, that is,
the colonist.
3.3. The traditional Vojvodina house: its basic

features, spatial organisation, and building
materials
The traditional Vojvodina house designed for occupancy
is usually located in villages although it can be found in
towns as well. This house belonged to a family whose
primary economic activity was agriculture. In the
complex process of its evolution, the house underwent
transformations in terms of structure and building
materials, resulting in the development of numerous
types and subtypes.
The development of the three-part house is identified as
the basic type in the diverse rural architecture of
Vojvodina [7]. A unique blend of colonist and local
building traditions [3], this house type prevails across
the region and is recognized as the house along the
furrow. It is characterized by a regular geometric shape
and its three-part structure: the kitchen with the
fireplace positioned between two adjacent rooms; the
average width of the house is 5-6 m, and its length is 1518 m (Figure 1).
Considering the form, it clearly demonstrates the

characteristic standard elements: a steep pitched roof
with the gable wall along the frontage line, two windows
in the room, and the longitudinal porch to the yard
faade. The house nearly always had a porch, positioned
longitudinally along the side of the house, it was a place
for daily activities from April to October [8]. It is always
a single-storey house, even in its most complex forms,
so that communication between the indoor spaces,
porch and back yard was the most efficience for the
agricultural daily activities.
Such architecture creates a unique, highly distinctive
ambience of the settlement: the vast plains, villages
stretching along the long straight main street, the strict
geometric street pattern, and buildings set along the
street line in a strict rhythm. Many settlements in
Vojvodina, or some of its parts, are protected as a
unique ambience entity and street facades must remain
authentic, which makes an additional request in terms
of the reconstruction of the houses.
At a later stage, the development of the basic house
type gains complexity, at the same time conforming to
the established order and geometric characteristics of
the base type. The complexity of the structure is
invariably achieved by simply adding another room, and
the house always develops perpendicularly, so that the
floor plan forms the letter L, or in the most complicated
forms, the Cyrillic letter the house athwart. The
houses with more complex structures first appeared in
Vojvodina in the second half of the eighteen century,
built by both the local population and the colonists. The
house structure developed gradually and sporadically,
under the influence of a number of factors and in
accordance with the actual needs and economic
situation of the family that occupied it.
The building materials used in the loadbearing wall were
invariably based on earth or its products. The evolution
in the application of building materials was continuous,
with the use of rammed earth at the beginning, through
unbaked brick to baked brick in the final phases. For
rammed earth walls, earth from the site was used as a
building material, wall thickness was reaching up to
70cm. Along with the industry and railway development
and also with strengthening the financial status of
population bricks has started to use massively at the
beginning of the twentieth century. Most of the houses
from this period with the more complex structure were
made of bricks. Brick walls were reaching a thickness of
40 to 50cm. [9] As for roofing, the cheapest and most
accessible materials used in the earliest stages were
reed and thatch, succeeded by shingle. With the advent
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
121
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
of baked clay brick, ceramic tile came into use as the

roofing material [10].
3.4. The porch in the traditional Vojvodina

house
The porch in the traditional Vojvodina house was open
and roofed, positioned longitudinally along the side of
the house perpendicular to the street line. Traditionally,
it served as the contact zone between the open space of
the yard and the enclosed space of the house,
functioning as the entrance zone and potential
communication between the rooms (Figures 1 and 2).
The porch had wooden or brick columns; usually, it was
fully open or, very rarely, enclosed with a low parapet
wall. The floor was covered with rammed earth or paved
in brick. This was the space where the occupants used to
spend the summer months [10].
The form of the porch and its relation to the enclosed
part of the house have changed over the centuries and
evolved as a distinctive element of the traditional
Vojvodina house. At the same time, the structure of the
house has evolved, keeping up with the needs of the
family who lives in it. Regardless of the complexity of the
house structure and the period of building, the porch
has developed as a typical element of the studied
architecture. As a result, most houses today have this
functional and decorative element, which the present
study treated as the main element of integrating the
traditional Vojvodina house into the contemporary
trends of functionality and energy efficiency.
4. The transformation of the traditional

Vojvodina house
The environment dominated by traditional architecture
is not static; it is subject to change and adaptation to
modern trends. As the question of the transformation of
the house is very important in the modern context, the
present study concentrated on its two key aspects.
Firstly, it is necessary to transform the structure of the
house to meet the functional requirements of modern
life. In addition, the transformation should provide the
improvement of the energy performance of the house,
as one of the key aspects of modern development.
4.1. The transformation of the house and the

aspect of functionality
For a successful transformation of traditional
architecture, it is essential to understand the nature of
the house, its functions, and its relationship with the
environment. The fact that the traditional Vojvodina
house was designed for the life of a family whose
primary economic activity was agriculture resulted in
the development of the house and its curtilage, which in

functional terms were adjusted to agricultural activities.
The house regularly developed as a single-storey
structure to facilitate the functionality of the
relationship between the house and its surroundings,
and to improve the efficiency of agricultural work.
Nowadays, the occupants of such houses also are usually
engaged in agriculture to a greater or lesser extent. The
spacious lot is still well suited for agricultural activities.
However, the problem of adaptation to the needs of
modern life focuses on the house, with two distinct
issues regarding the functional aspect of the traditional
house in the modern context:
lack of space; and,
functional deficiencies: the residential zone (usually
the kitchen) is accessed directly from the outside.
The analysis of potential adaptation of the houses in the
region suggests the porch as a functional element
suitable for the transformation and development of the
functional organization of the house and its adaptation
to the changing life conditions and lifestyles.
Enclosing the porch would enable better integration of
functional units and further extensions to the living
space to cater for the familys needs. It would also
remedy the key functional deficiency, as the residential
zone would no longer be entered directly from outside.
Enclosing the porch provides a unique common area
that could serve as a communication area and also as
area for daily activities.
First diagram discussed the volumetric scheme of the
house transformation which indicates the possibility of
the house extension (Figure 3). Lack of spaces is a very
distinct problem in the process of adapting the house to
the needs of modern life. Within the process of
transformation it would be possible to keep the existing
spatial organization of the house and upgrade its
function. Additional rooms are added linearly in the yard
part of the house, following the existing constructive
logic and the logic of building materials (Figure 3).The
day zone could be extended to integrate with the porch
area (Figure 4). The rooms would remain spacious (sizing
up to 6 meters). If the need arose, new windows could
be opened to the yard or to the neighbor, with a high
parapet. The interventions would not disturb the street
appearance of the building.
Along with volumetric, the functional transformation of
the house is analyzed as well. The diagram shows the
functional organization of the floor plan and the options
for its transformation (Figure 4). The presented options
are proposed for the transformation of a three-part
house but developed functional organization schemes
also can be applied to multi-part structures, all of which
have a porch. The following options were considered on
the ground floor plan diagram (Figure 4):
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
122
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Figure 3. Perspective view of the house transformation

0 The traditional Vojvodina house (the three-part house with the porch)
I Glazing the porch of the three-part house
II Adding a room and a work/living area + glazing the porch of the three-part house
III Adding a room in the yard section of the house and a work/living area + glazing the porch of the three-part house
Figure 4. Floor plans

I. / II. / III. Review of functional transformation of the house:
closing the porch of the existing house and possibilities of further extension
intervention: glazing the porch of the three-part
house;
intervention: adding a room and a work/living area
+ glazing the porch of the three-part house; and
intervention: adding a room in the yard section of
the house and a work/living area + glazing the porch
of the three-part house.
As presented the traditional three-part Vojvodina house

with the porch gives numerous possibilities functional
transformations. Basics principles are discussed, and
those could be applied also on other house types.
Further on, the opportunity for energy performance
improvements would be analyzed.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
123
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4.2. The transformation of the house and the

aspect of energy
The above options for a functional transformation of
the traditional Vojvodina house would also provide the
opportunity for significant improvements in its energy
performance. It was demonstrated that enclosing the
porch could provide such functional organization that
would meet the needs of modern life. If this
intervention involved the use of appropriate materials,
the transformation would also have an important
effect on energy efficiency.
As the porch is always positioned along the entire
length of the house, its glazing would turn it into a
greenhouse, thus enabling the effect of passive solar
heating (Figure 5). In addition to significant energy
gains, the common enclosed space formed in this way
would become very comfortable for living.
Maximum energy gains would be achieved only with an
advantageous orientation of the house. It would be
necessary that the longitudinal side of the house was
along the east-west axis, so that the longitudinal side
faced south or southeast [11]. In the traditional
Vojvodina house, there would be several possible
orientations. Due to the configuration of the porch,
and the fact that there would be glazing surfaces on
three sides, most houses would have, at least partially,
southern orientation of the glazed section of the porch.
The proposed model of the transformation would not
have a significant effect only in case the longitudinal
side of the porch faced north; however, even then the
greenhouse would function as an insulated buffer
zone. Therefore, if the house was positioned so that

the porch faced south (up to 45 dip to the west or
east), glazing the porch would achieve the effect of
passive solar heating of the house.
During the winter, when the sun shines at a low angle
of incidence, sunrays penetrate directly through the
glass and heat the interior space. The effect is greater
if the thermal mass of the wall or floor further absorbs
the heat during the day, as is the case with the
traditional Vojvodina house. The massive walls are
built of rammed earth or brick (Figure 6) whille the
porch floor is almost invariably paved in brick (Figure
7). At night, when the air temperature falls, the heated
surface emits heat and thus contributes to the comfort
of the interior space by maintaining its temperature.
This effect could be enhanced by the methods
commonly used in modern greenhouses, such as
applying the elements of the Trombe wall, or
improving heat accumulation with phase change
materials.
In the summer, the sun is high in the sky for most of the
day so the south side is not directly exposed to sunrays
(Figure 5). The pitched roof of the house overhangs the
porch by 30 to 50 cm, preventing direct penetration of
sunlight in summer, when the sun is high. It would be
advisable to ensure adequate protection on the glazed
surfaces of the porch to protect the areas exposed to
high summer sun from overheating.
So far, several recent studies have shown that the
traditional builders sought to implement measures that
would improve the energy performance of the house;
Figure 5. Cross-section -
The transformation of the house and the impact on energy efficiency: closing the porch with the existing brick
pavement, providing additional solar gains with wall or pavement thermal mass
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
124
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
these were not mere technical applications but they

were derived from the interaction between the house,
its environment and the lifestyle of its prospective
inhabitants. The massive earthen or brick walls (with
thickness up to 60 cm), the ventilated reed roofing, and
the double frame windows are just some of the
elements that have always characterized the house in
farmers experiences as preserving freshness in the
summer and heat in the winter [12]. In this regard, it
should be noted that the house has great potential and
that the proposed transformation method is an energy
efficiency upgrade. Additionally, further modern
methods could be used to enhance building energy
performance, such as improving the heating system,
heating domestic hot water, or replacing inadequate
windows and doors; however, these are not the subject
of this study.
5. Conclusion
The theoretical study shows that the house is flexible
and that it could be adapted to meet contemporary
needs and requirements. The basic transformation
element is the porch, in the aspect of both functionality
and energy efficiency.
The suggestions for the potential functional
transformation of the traditional Vojvodina house were
mostly concerned with extending the living space, which
could be done by adding rooms to the existing building,
and their functional integration with the porch area. At
the same time, the functional transformation would be
accompanied by the improvement in energy
performance that could be achieved with adequate
enclosing of the porch, and the resulting passive solar
gains.
Figure 6. The thermal mass of the wall

Section of rammed earth wall between the indoor
spaces and the porch. Abandoned and devastated
house in Ivanovo
The research results could be elaborated in the next step

of the further researches in order to make a book of
references-guide which would cover all the
transformation possibilities, and provide general
directions for the house functional and energy upgrade,
all with the objective to stimulate preservation of the
existing building stock.
Considering the possibilities that would transform the
traditional Vojvodina house to satisfy the needs of
modern life and that would contribute to its improved
energy efficiency, the architectural heritage of
traditional architecture in Vojvodina becomes an
important resource. Thus, the houses transformed to
adjust to the development of agriculture, ecological
agriculture and rural tourism can become an important
impetus to the process of planning for sustainable
regional development.
Figure 7. The thermal mass of the brick pavement in

the porch. House in Pancevo
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
125
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
References
and
Architectural
Expression],
Doktorska
disertacija, Arhitektonski Fakultet, Beograd, Srbija,
1989.
[1] Jovanovic-Popovic, ilica; Ignjatovic, Dusan; R., .;

A., R.; L. D.; N., C.-I., M., N., Atlas of Familu Housing
in Serbia, Faculty of architecture University of
Belgrade and GIZ-Deutche Gesellschaft fur
Internationale Zusammenarbeit, Belgrade, Serbia,
2012.
[7] K, ,
, [Rural
architecture and ruralism: Theory and Elements],
, , , 1973.
[2] , ,

[Traditional Architecture in Vojvodina],

(1978-1979), VIII-IX, . 351- 357.
[8] , , I,
[Folklore Architecture I, The
Old Rural House],
, , , 1968.
[3] , o, :

[The timeless every day life: The German
Contribution to Popular Culture in Vojvodina],
,
(2008), 34, .214-224.
[4] Grizelini, Francesco, Pokuaj prouavanja politike
i istorijske prirode temivarskog Banata u pismima
upuenim nekim vienijim osobama i naunicima
[Atempt of studying the political and historical
nature of Temisvar Banat in letters intent to some
respected people and scientists], Istorijski arhiv,
Panevo, Srbija, 2008.
[5] , , [Banat], Istorijski arhiv,
Panevo, , 2003.
[6] Radovi, Darko, Arhitektura i podneblje: Uloga
klime u formiranju regionalnosti urbanog i
arhitektonskog izraza [Architecture and Climate:
The Role of Climate in Creation of Regional Urban
[9] , , O
[Preservation and Maintenance
of Vojvodina House].
(2010), 34, . 254257.
[10] , ,
,
[Traditional Architecture in Vojvodina: House as a
Monument of Culture],
, , ,
1994.
[11] Pucar, Mila; Pajevic, Milan; J-P., , Bioklimatsko
planiranje i projektovanje, urbanisticki parametri
[Bioclimatic Planning and Design, Urbanistic
Parameters], IP ZAVET, Beograd, Srbija, 1994.
[12] , ,
XVIII XIX [Review of
Colonisations in Vojvodina], ,
, , 2005.
The paper is an extract from a research with the title: Energy Performances of The Traditional House in Vojvodina. Research is in
progress with the in site measurements and the final result would be the PhD thesis.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
126
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DOI: 10.14621/tna.20140208

Apartment, Salamis Yolui, Famagusta, Northern Cyprus
Soolmaz Abdali Hajiabadi*, Alireza Jahanara, Aref Arfaei
Architecture Faculty, Eastern Mediterranean University
Via Mersin 10, Famagusta, North Cyprus, Turkey, soolmazabdali_ha@yahoo.com
Abstract
1. Introduction
These days, buildings use energies a lot so they have the most
influence on climate changes or global warming. This paper is
an investigation of windows energy saving capability as a result
of energy loss through windows in Halil Raif zmuhtar
Apartment so a survey is done on different kinds of solutions
in order to reduce energy wasting such as windows material,
new types, and kinds of window insulation. First of all, there
was some information window which leads us not only to
understand rules of windows design in hot-humid climate, but
also discover the importance of windows in building for
reducing usage of energy in it.
These days, energy is an important subject all around

the world. The price of energy is high globally, so there
has been a forcing to decline the using fossil fuels and
afterward energy consumption [1]. Moreover, using the
fossil fuels cause many problems including; climate
change and global warming which have a considerable
impact on the designing and details of buildings.
The method used in this paper is problem solving, and data

analysing of observations, and interview with residents are
basis of data collection method to realize the general problem
of windows in this apartment. There are many problems about
windows in this building such as; size, proportion, orientation,
insulation, sealing, and single glaze. Finally, recommended
strategies such as renovation windows with double glaze, it
helps to reduce energy consumption and makes more suitable
conditions for people. Moreover, it can help in energy saving
and reducing costs, as well as helping the environment.
Keywords:
Energy saving, Window insulation,

Window material, Thermal comfort
Article history:

Revised: 26 September 2014
Not only some of the scientists and researchers try to

find new solutions for saving energy, but also it is the
important topic in Architecture. One of them is;
adjusting materials depend on Cyprus climate. Scientists
examine materials which has the important role in
energy saving. The subject of Material is clearly the
foundation of architecture, said William Morris in 1982,
and now over a century later, with a far wider range of
materials at the designers disposal and more awareness
of the environmental impact of materials, the statement
has added significance [2]. Material should have all of
these characteristics like: cost of production, insulation,
usage, climate, technology, beauty, and structure. Also,
the materials in window should have these features for
being beneficial. Other ways are to consider insulation,
sealing, size, and direction of the windows.
This article includes two parts such as (1st) how window
can help to improve energy saving which is about
window characteristics, and importance of insulation
including insulation definition, and glazing; (2nd) second
one explain importance of materials has some part such
as characteristics, and strategies.
There are numerous new techniques for improving
energy saving through windows like Smart windows,
Electrochromic, new intelligent materials by scientist
researches are preferred.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
S. Abdali Hajiabadi, A. Jahanara, A. Arfaei An Investigation of the Energy Saving of Windows in Halil Raif zmuhtar , pp. 127133
127
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Windows characteristics
Windows are one of the major parts of the building for
controlling indoor environment, thermal comfort, and
energy use [3].
Energy flows that occur through windows are classified
into three major types:
1. Non-solar heat losses and gains as conduction,
convection, and radiation;
2. Solar heating gains in the form of radiation;
3. Air flow, both intentional (ventilation) and
unintentional (infiltration) [4] (Figure 1).
After increasing the energy consumption, the amount of
studies on the lessening of energy usage to make
building warm and cool has increased Major of them
examine influence of every part such as; window type,
frame type, orientation, climate, and so on. Further to
these studies, scientist understood that; the most
amount of energy wasting is through windows [5].
As the envelope building is well connected and
technology of coated double-glazing windows has
installed, the heat losses are drop [6] which have
increased energy benefits and comfort for people.
Therefore, architects, owners, and designers notice to
select variable windows depend on the climate issues,
type of building and so on [4].
Figure 1. Three main kinds of energy movements

through windows [4]
3. Importance of insulation in windows

Insulation levels have been used from the past and it is
principal for saving energy. There are many aspects that
must be considered for choosing the suitable kind of
insulation; environmental consideration, durability and
build ability [2]. It is obvious that; The durability of
materials specially their optical properties, through
losing of their surface quality and colour changes [7].
4. Glazing
Glazing depends on high-energy materials but provides
the priceless possibility of views and the more easily
priced potential for passive solar gain and day lighting
[2]. Designers use sealing and insulation windows which
have high - efficiency glazing system to reduce the cost
of energy consumption [2] (Figure 2).
It is obvious that building should be constructing and
apply with new windows technologies to decline the
infiltrations impact on cooling load [8]. Double-glazing
window result in reduce the energy consumption [9].
Triple glaze is the other types of glazing that has better
result than double glaze with gas between sheets of
glass.
Figure 2. Performance comparison of energy and

economy beside a payback period of the investigated
double-glazed units [5]
5. Importance of windows and frame
materials and installation

The subject of Material is clearly the foundation of
Architecture, said William Morris in 1892 [2]. Glass has
a significant role in modern buildings [1].
Material should have all the characteristics like;
appropriate with its usage purpose, cost, mechanical
resistance, stability, safety, impact on health, and
environment. Besides, designer not only should use the
kind of materials in their buildings that are not harmful
for nature but also they should be recyclable. An
example of harmful materials is; the ODP of the CFC
known as refrigerant that can affect the Ozone layer. It
also contributes greenhouse effect, or global warming.
Therefore, Generally designers should consider how
their buildings will be constructed and deconstructed.
They should allow for upgrading of the building during
its lifetime [2].
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
128
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Furthermore, different types of windows frame are

Aluminium, Composite, Fiberglass, Vinyl, Wood, PVC,
and so on. For the proper selection of the frame,
material durability and features of the project climate
should be considered. In addition, the other important
issue is installation of the windows and its components
that have influence on decreasing the heat loss and heat
gain through the building windows.
6. Strategies
Figure 3. Surface with a periodic pattern of slots [10]
There are new strategies for making indoor warm such

as:
- Glass with two different surfaces, glass plus shadow

surface with some holes, control of wave
transmission in this window is high. It can be
single/double [10] (Figure 3).
- Smart window which has two parts (1) high

performance high reflective glass, (2) coated with
low emissivity (low-e) covering. The advantage of
this type of window is that can make enough day
lighting, and makes low energy efficiency [1].
Figure 4. Schematic Structure of Electrochromic

window [11]
- Electrochromic window: an original device was

made using complementary materials. The active
working electrode was tungsten trioxide, deposited
by r.f. sputtering onto k-glass. The storage counter
electrode was nickel oxide lithium doped,
electrochemically deposited. The solid ion conductor
was (PEGMA)ii, containing appropriate dissolved
salts [11]. This type of window has memory for
controlling daylight, loading, and thermal (Figure 4).
7. Case Study
(HALIL RAIF ZMUHTAR APT., SALAMIS YOLU,
FAMAGUSTA, NORTHERN CYPRUS Figure 5)
7.1. Observations
Figure 5. Site plan [12]
This building has four levels with six units; including a

single flat in basement and in first floor as well, plus the
second and third levels with two units (Figure 6 and 7).
Every unit in this apartment has five windows. Except
the sitting room where two windows are placed in
southeast and southwest of it, the other room (south),
W.C. (south), and kitchen (void) have just one window.
Depending on the observations, there are problems like:
- Simple windows without any insulation

- Unsuitable size and orientation
- Humidity
Figure 6. View of apartment outside (Photo by Authors)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
129
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Figure 7. Halil Raif zmuhtar Apartment plans (Drawn by Authors)
Figure 8. Mildew (Photo by Authors)
Figure 10. Satisfaction of windows (Source: Authors)
- Hard life
- Thermal comfort
- Mildew (Figure 8)
The Figure 9, is an analyse level of energy saving in
windows part [10].
7.2. Interview
This report provides an evaluation and a conclusion for
current situation of Halil Raif zmuhtar Apt. This
information is from analyzing the data which resulted
from interviews of people who are living in Halil Raif
zmuhtar Apartment which the level of their
satisfaction in every units and flats is considered.
Figure 9. As a symbol of loss of energy in windows [10]
Most of the people who are living in this apartment they

are students of the Eastern Mediterranean University
(EMU) including Males and Females. In every unit, 2-3
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
130
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
persons are living but underground floor because of

some problems such as moisture, mildew, and bad
condition is empty. Authors interviewed 12 people
during 15-20 minutes.
The line Chart (Figure 10) revealed that people how
much are satisfied with their windows function. Most of
the people who are living in West flats have problem
with their windows like; construction, insulation, and
sealed but they are satisfied with their windows function
in summer because of the suitable ventilation.
These column charts illustrate that every level and
situation of flats have important influence on the
weather of every flats. For example, the weather of
western flats is better than eastern flats in every floor in
cold days. Eastern flats have problem with the cold
weather during cold seasons but in summer seasons,
they have different idea about the weather of their flats.
One of the people told that they rent this flat because of
the good condition in the summer (Figure 11 and 12).
Size of windows percentage shows that they are agree
with the size of the windows and most of them more
than 50%. Depend on the hot-humid climate size of
windows choose with big size in terms of thermal
comfort and ventilation which helps to save energy.
Direction of the windows in one room with two windows
is suitable but in whole of flats is not suitable. Proportion
of windows to area is not enough (Figure 13).
In pie chart clarify that percentage of using air
conditioner in Halil Raif zmuhtar Apartment is high.
Therefore, usage of electricity is very high and depends
on electricity is expensive in Famagusta, it makes
problem for the tenant and owner should respect to
these strategies for their building (Figure 14).
Figure 11. Suitable weather in Cold season

(Source: Authors)
7.3. Discussion (Charts and Observations)

Finally, the differences between eastern and western
units of our examined building, cause many differences
in energy saving methods as well as thermal comfort of
them. For example, eastern units are colder than
western ones in regard with their position. However, it
is a good profit on the hot weather of summer, in cold
seasons, it causes many problems for making these units
warm and energy consumption is very high,
consequently. The other important factor for
temperature of the unit; is level of its floor. On this basis,
upper floors are hotter than the lower ones. Therefore,
designer should use some strategies for saving energy in
upper levels. The first
noticeable problem of this
building is lacking of windows insulation and its relevant
sealing. Secondly, in spite of this fact that residences of
this building were agreed with measure of windows, it is
not enough for Cyprus climate. Thus, proportion of
windows is not suitable. Thirdly, materials of windows
need to be improved since they could not help to save
energy in this building.
8. Conclusion
At the end, windows have the main role in saving energy
in a construction, but designers and owners do not
respect to this part of building as they think it is an
ordinary part of building. Depends on the researches
through articles and books; windows are the blind spot
in terms of energy saving issues. There are many
strategies, which not only help to save energy but also
improve thermal comfort in apartments. Designer
should respect to materials and appropriate selection of
windows material, insulation, size of windows, onsite
Figure 12. Suitable weather in hot season

(Source: Authors)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
131
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
direction or side of faade and designers should revise

dimension of windows, on base of this investigation.
Figure 13. Windows satisfaction in terms of direction,

size, and proportion to every part (Source: Authors)
The other matter is about the material of windows.

Window has some components which its two special
elements are; material of frame and glass. As the first
element; Aluminium is the appropriate material for
frame for wet climate according its characteristics of
stability and anti-corrosion (ferrous oxide), or
combination of aluminium and wood but from now by
inventing new materials and importance of energy
saving in building, it is not suitable for hot-humid
environment. Therefore, it should be adjusted it with
new material that can optimize the usage of energy in
apartment. The other principal matter of windows is
glass that has a significant role for daylight, view and so
on. Designer can use double and triple glaze windows
with argon gas between the panes. Furthermore, some
of the designers and architects agree to use double glaze
windows in Famagusta, North Cyprus due to double
glaze may is cheaper than triple glaze and they may
believe that there is not very much difference between
performance of double and triple glaze windows. The
proper type of glass should be used because it has the
most efficiency on reduction of building energy usage. In
addition, the importance of technology is explicit in
modern buildings these days. Many scientists are
searching for new ideas through energy saving of
windows and they try to invent new materials or tactics.
For example, they supposed that some strategies are
used like: Electrochromic, and smart windows. These
approaches boost improvement of condition in units.
Finally, the most important way for energy saving
through windows is size, orientation, natural ventilation,
insulation, sealing, onsite installation of windows,
proper selection of frame and glazing. All of them have
a positive influence of energy consumption in buildings.
Figure 14. Ventilation devices in hot months

(Source: Authors)
installation of windows, and direction of building

according to the noticeable effect of them on the energy
saving of apartment buildings.
Authors found that there are many problems in
selection of windows material in Halil Raif zmuhtar
Apartment and they are not suitable for saving energy in
apartment building. The other essential issue that may
have influence on the increasing energy consumption is
heat loss and heat gain of the windows. Furthermore,
windows of traditional houses in the past were larger
than windows in new constructions. Moreover, they had
a vertical shape and their length was longer than the
width, which is more appropriate regarding the Cyprus
climate. The other issue is the size of windows on every
Acknowledgement
This article provided by corporation of people who are
living in Halil Raif zmuhtar Apt. We are thankful from
guidance and supports of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yonca Hrol
and Dr. Nicholas Wilkinson in Faculty of Architecture,
Eastern Mediterranean University.
References
[1] Sekhar, S. C. & Lim Cher Toon. (1998). On the study
of energy performance and life cycle cost of smart
window, Elsevier. 28. pp. 307-316.
[2] Thomas, Randall, Environmental Design: an
introduction for architects and engineers, London
and New York, (1996).
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
132
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
[3] Rijal, H. B. and Tuohy, P. and Humphreys, M. A. and

Nicol, J. F. and Samuel, A. and Clarke, J., Using
results from field surveys to predict the effect of
open windows on thermal comfort and energy use
in buildings, Energy and Buildings, Vol. 39, (2007),
pp. 823 836.
[4] U.S. Department of Energy, (2004). What is new in
building energy efficiency: selecting windows for
energy
efficiency.
Available
from:
http://windows.lbl.gov/pub/selectingwindows/wi
ndow.pdf [Accessed 7 April 2013].
Famagusta, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,

(2007).
[8] Hamza, Neveen, Double versus single skin facades
in hot arid areas, Energy and Buildings, Vol. 40,
(2008), pp. 240 248.
[9] Milne, Geoffrey, and Boardman, Brenda, Making
cold homes warmer: the effect of energy efficiency
in improvements in low-income homes, Energy
Policy, Vol. 28, (2000), Issues 67, pp. 411424.
[5] Yaar, Yaln, and Maka Kalfa, Sibel, The effects of

window alternatives on energy efficiency and
building economy in high-rise residential building
in moderate humid climates, Energy Conversion
and Management, Vol. 64, (2012), pp. 170 181.
[10] Widenberg, Bjrn, and Rodriguez, Jos Vctor

Rodrguez., Design of Energy Saving Windows with
High Transmission at 900 MHz and 1800 MHz,
Department of Electroscience and Electromagnetic
Theory, Lund Institute of Technology, Lund,
Sweden, (2002), pp. 114.
[6] Persson, Mari-Louise and Roos, Arne and Wall,

Maria, Influence of window size on the energy
balance of low energy houses, Energy and
Buildings, Vol. 38, (2006), pp. 181 188.
[11] Pennesi, A. and Simone, F. and Barletta, G. and Di

Marco, G. and Lanza, M., Preliminary test of a large
electrochromic window, Electrochimica Acta, Vol.
44, (1999), pp. 3237 3243.
[7] Sadeh, Mohammad Hossein, Selected of glazing

materials for transparent building envelope, Thesis
(M.S.), Eastern Mediterranean University,
[12] Google Maps, (2013), [Salamis Yolu, Gazimausa]

[map]. Available from: http://maps.google.com/
[Accessed 08/05/2013].
Road
ii
Poly Ethylene Glycol Methacrylate
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
133
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Journal
e25
About the Journal
e26
e28
Advertisements
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e24
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ABOUT THE JOURNAL

Aim and Scope
International Journal of Contemporary Architecture The New ARCH publishes research articles and studies on
solutions to architectural projects and urban planning. Papers that are multidisciplinary and/or address new or emerging
areas of architecture are particularly encouraged. Thus, the scope includes but is not limited to the design process and
case studies with performance evaluation, buildings for tomorrow, transforming cities towards the future, course of
adapting architecture, challenges of buildings refurbishment, energy efficiency and savings including building
technologies, design in-line with environment associated with ecological impact of materials.
The New ARCH is committed to publishing original papers communicating both recent research findings and
innovative new practice. Thus, it provides an active interface between theory, science and practice serving both
researches and practising professionals. The accent is on the architectural quality demonstrating different approaches
of relations between good architecture and environment, without focusing only on technical aspects of building. So, the
sustainability and great design does not exclude each other in the process of creating architectural spaces. Joined, they
provide contemporary pillar to architecture.
Language
The New ARCH is published in English and accepts contributions written only in English.
Frequency
The New ARCH is a thrice yearly open-access electronic journal.
Contributions
Two types of contributions are expected:
- Original Article - must either be of a current general interest or of a great significance to readers,
- Review - introducing a particular area through a concise overview of a selected topic by the author(s).
Responsibility
Submission of a manuscript implies that the work described has not been published previously, that it is not under
consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and that, if accepted, it will not
be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the
copyright holder.
The author(s) should provide a statement attesting to the originality of the work submitted for publication. Exception is
an abstract or part of a published lecture or academic thesis.
Peer Review
The New ARCH is a peer-review journal. All submitted manuscripts, which follow the scope of the journal, are read
first by the editorial stuff and only those that meet editorial criteria are sent for formal double-blind peer review process.
Both the referees (at least two independent reviewers selected by the editors) and the author(s) are kept anonymous.
Authors are obliged to follow remarks and comments of reviewers, instructions for preparing manuscripts, reference
list specification as well as remarks and corrections of the Editorial Board.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
About the Journal
Instructions
for Authors
e25
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

General Information
Procedure
The authors are obliged to submit papers only in English and free of
typing errors. The manuscript should not exceed 14 pages (A4 format),
including figures and tables. For the review process the manuscript
should not exceed 14 pages and should be submitted in electronic
form only as MS Word file.
All titles listed in the reference list have to be in English, or translated
in English with indication of the original language.
Full name and affiliation have to be given for each author. Last name(s)
has to be written in capital letters. The corresponding author should
be indicated, with full postal and e-mail address.
margins of 20 mm from left/right and top/bottom papers edge, with

spacing one line after.
Illustrations (graphics, pictures) and tables have to be also separately
prepared. The width of the Illustrations/tables has to be either 7.5 cm
or 16.5 cm.
Authors may submit a manuscript of maximum 14 A4 pages containing
plain text (including nomenclature and references) and
illustrations/tables.
Checklist
1.
Title page as a separate MS Word document (one A4 page)

including:
- Title
- Author(s) and affiliation(s)
- One author labelled as the Corresponding Author with full
postal and e-mail address
2.
Plain text (without illustrations/tables) as a separate MS Word

file including all sections stated above in Manuscript Structure
3.
All illustrations/tables as a separate MS Word file
4.
Numerated captures of all illustrations as a separate MS Word

file
Manuscript Approval
5.
Numerated captures of all tables as a separate MS Word file
After computer lay-out of the paper, corresponding author will

obtain text as .PDF file for approval.
Title
Submission Declaration
By submitting the manuscript the author(s) declare that the work
described has not been published previously (except in the form of an
abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis or as an
electronic preprint), that it is not under consideration for publication
elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors, and that, if
accepted, it will not be published elsewhere including electronically in
the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written
consent of the copyright holder.
Manuscript Structure
Only English and Greek alphabet must be used in preparing the whole
manuscript.
There are no strict formatting requirements but all manuscripts must
contain the essential elements needed to convey your manuscript and
should be written according to following order:
Title
Author(s)
Affiliation(s)
Abstract
Keywords
Introduction
Body of the text with numerated sections and subsections
Conclusions
Acknowledgement
Funding source
Nomenclature
References
All pages must have page numbers.
Conflict of Interest
All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of
interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with
other people or organizations within three years of beginning the
submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived
to influence, their work.
Referees
If you want, you can submit, with the manuscript, the names,
addresses and e-mail addresses of three potential referees.
Note that the editor retains the sole right to decide whether or not the
suggested reviewers are used.
Copyright Transfer Agreement

A properly completed and signed Copyright Transfer Agreement must
be provided by author(s) for each submitted manuscript.
Manuscript Preparation
General
Text has to be separately prepared as Microsoft Word plain text
document (without illustrations and tables) using Arial 10 font, with
Maximum 3 rows title (ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, bold, centred, with

spacing one line after) has to concisely, informative, clearly, accurately
and grammatically correct reflect emphasis and content of the
manuscript. Abbreviations and acronyms should be avoided.
Author(s) and Affiliation(s)

Author(s) Personal (First) Name(s), initial (optional) and FAMILY (LAST)
NAME(S) (bold, centred, with spacing one line after) of all who have
made substantial contributions. At least one author must be labelled
with an asterisk (*) as the corresponding author.
Affiliation(s) of author(s) must include Institution, City and Country
(regular letters, centred, with spacing one line after).
The full postal and e-mail address of the corresponding author should
be placed on a separate line below the affiliation.
Abstract
The paper must have an Abstract supplying briefly general information
about the purpose and objectives of the paper, techniques, methods
applied, significant results, and conclusions. Abbreviations and
acronyms should be avoided. The optimal length for the abstract is one
paragraph with 100 to 200 words, justified, with indent 20 mm from
left and right margin, with spacing one line after.
An abstract may also be presented separately from the article, so it
must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References should be
avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s).
Keywords
Maximum 8 characteristic words (regular letters, with indent 20 mm
from left and right margin) explaining the subject of the manuscript
(for example, of, and ... have to be avoided) should be provided
directly below the abstract. Be sparing with abbreviations: only
abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These
keywords may be used for indexing purposes.
Introduction
It should place the work in the appropriate context and clearly state
the purpose and objectives of the contribution.
Body of the Text

Authors are obliged to use System International (SI) for Units
(including Non/SI units accepted for use with the SI system) for all
physical parameters and their units.
Titles of sections and subsections have to be written in bold, left,
numerated (decimal classification) in Arabic numbers, with spacing
one line before and one line after.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e26
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ensure that each graphics/illustration has a caption. A caption should
comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the
illustration.
Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all
symbols and abbreviations used.
Figure captions should be placed below figures, in bold, justified left;
one line should be left blank below figure captions.
Table captions have to be placed above tables in bold, left justified
with the table; one line should be left blank above captions and below
tables. Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate
them with superscript lower-case letters.
All tables and figures must be referred in the text.
All equations, formulas, and expressions should be numbered in
parentheses, with right alignment, in the order of appearance in the
text, and must be centred with one line left above and below.
Also, equations, formulas, and expressions should be referred within
the text with Eq., or Formula, or Expression, with corresponding
number in parentheses.
The mark of variables with dimensions in brackets used and explained

only once in the text, do not include into the nomenclature.
References
References should be numbered in brackets in the order of
appearance in the text, e.g. [1], [3, 4], [7-11], etc. The full references
should be listed at the end of the paper (left alignment, hanging
indentation) in numerical order of citation in the text.
For references having two authors, names of both authors should be
given. For more than two authors, only name of the first author should
be given, followed by latin abbreviation et al.
Data in References should be given according to the Reference List
Specification, given in the next section.
Footnotes
Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively
throughout the article. Indicate the position of footnotes in the text
and present the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the
article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list.
Preparation of Graphics (Illustrations)

Graphics intended to appear in black and white or grayscale should not
be submitted in colour.
Graphics have to be submitted also in separated files in a JPG and/or
TIF format. Use of colour in manuscript graphics is encouraged when
it is important for clarity of presentation.
It has to be noted that the quality of the graphics published in the
journal depends on the quality of the graphic images provided by
authors.
Do not supply graphics optimised for screen, that are too low in
resolution or that are disproportionately large for the content.
Digital graphics should have minimum resolution of 1200 dpi for black
and white line art, 600 dpi for grayscale art and 300 dpi for colour art.
For uniformity of appearance, all the graphics of the same type should
share a common style and font. For scanned half-tone illustrations a
resolution of 300 dpi is sufficient.
Conclusions
Reference List Specification

Journals
Author(s)1, Paper title, Journal title, Volume number, (Year), Issue, pp.
xx-yy, DOI number2
Books
Author(s)1, Book title3, Publisher, City, Country, Year
Chapters
Author(s)1, Chapter title, in Book title3, (Editor(s) of the book)4,
Publisher, City, Country, Year, pp. xx-yy
Proceedings, Transactions, Book of Abstracts

Author(s)1, Paper title, Proceedings, Proceedings information5,
Conference, City, Country, Year, Volume6, pp. xx-yy
Thesis
Author(s)1, Thesis title, Thesis rank, University, City, Country, Year
Reports
Content of this section should not substantially duplicate the abstract.

It could contain text summarising the main contributions of the
manuscript and expression and idea for the work to be continued.
Author(s)1, Report title, Report number, Institution, City, Country,

Year
Acknowledgement
Literature or Data on web Sites and Documents without

Authors
May be used to acknowledge helpful discussion with colleagues,

assistance providing starting material or reference samples, data and
services from others who are not co-authors, or providing language
help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, or financial
support.
Funding Source
Author has to identify who provided financial support for the conduct
of the research and/or preparation of the manuscript and to briefly
describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design, as well as in
the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, as well as in the
writing of the manuscript, and in the decision to submit the manuscript
for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement then
this should be stated here.
Nomenclature
Author should use a systematic name for each compound. The
variables in nomenclature have to be written in alphabetical order
and, if exist, must have dimension in brackets. The Greek symbols must
be separated, and as well as subscripts and superscripts,
abbreviations, and acronyms.
Author(s)1,2, Title/Data/Institution, Link
Web
As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the
reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI,
author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should
also be given
Patents
Owner(s)1, Title of patent, Patent number, Year
__________________________________________
1
Last name, Initial (optional), First name
2
If exist
3
Title in original language or in transliteration, the English
translation in parentheses with the indication of the original
language
4
Editor(s)1 (in parentheses)
5
(Name(s) of the editor(s), if exist, in parentheses), Title of the
publication if it is not the same as the title of the meeting
6
Only for Transactions
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e27
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
THE NEXT ISSUE

THE NEXT ISSUE OF THE JOURNAL THE NEW ARCH IS SCHEDULED FOR APRIL 2015 !!!
Following will appear:
Article on recent work of STUDIO NICOLETTI ASSOCIATI from Rome, Italy
Exciting interview with Luca Francesco Nicoletti and Nikola Novakovic
ADVERTISEMENT
Reach your target audience online through advertisements in
The New ARCH journal. Expose your organization's message
and get access to a motivated and key target audience of
influential architects, professionals and researches, all of whom
share one thing: A passion for contemporary architecture.
So, if you have a product or service to show, or want to
advertise a meeting or event, or need to fill a position vacancy,
please contact us at the e-mail address: the-new-arch@get-itpublished.de
CALL FOR AUTHORS

PAPERS
FOR THE III ISSUE
SCHEDULED FOR APRIL
2015 !!!
The 2nd International Conference with Exhibition S.ARCH
Environment and Architecture

The 2nd International Conference with Exhibition S.ARCH with the Theme
of Environment and Architecture will be held on May 19-20, 2015, at the
Maestral Hotel, in the city of Budva, at the Adriatic coast of Montenegro.
The event consists of set of Lectures and accompanied Poster Session /
Exhibition.
Abstract Submission:
One A4 page Abstracts sent per e-mail (on s.arch@renecon.eu) as MS
Word file should include author(s) name with affiliation(s), summary with
or without graph/drawing/sketch, 5 keywords and selected Topic.
One Author is allowed to submit maximum 2 contributed works.
Deadline for Abstract Submission: 30 January 2015.
Poster Session:
Authors may also present their work as a poster without having to write a full paper.
All contributed papers will be evaluated for publication in the proceedings on the basis of the full paper.
Depending on relevance, importance and significance of studied theme, level of hearing interest, originality and
practical utility the authors of the best Contributed Works will be given a chance to present their work as oral
presentations (up to 20 minutes per presentation).
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Advertisement
e28
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Topics:
Important Dates:
T1 State of Affairs and Future Visions
January 30 2015
Deadline for Abstract online

submission
February 13 2015
Notification of Abstract
Acceptance
27 February 2015
Registration Deadline,
otherwise the work will not
be included in the
Programme for the
Exhibition
T2 Conceptual and Methodical Concepts

T3 Holistic Environmental Perceptions
T4 Interactive Structures
T5 Urban Ecology and Climate
T6 Bioclimatic and Cultural Sensitivity
T7 Materiality
For more information, please visit the Conference Web-Site http://www.renecon.eu/html/s_arch.html
Venue: Maestral Resort, Budva MONTENEGRO
Conference-Programme: http://www.renecon.eu/html/programme3.html
Contact: s.arch@renecon.eu
Registration: http://www.renecon.eu/html/registration1.html
S.ARCH on Facebook: www.facebook.com/S.ARCH.Conference
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Advertisement
e29
ISSN 2198-7688
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Advertisement
Copyright
by Get It Published Verlag e.K.
e30

The New Arch Vol1 No2 (2014)

Transféré par

Informations du document

Copyright

Formats disponibles

Partager ce document

Partager ou intégrer le document

Options de partage

Avez-vous trouvé ce document utile ?

Ce contenu est-il inapproprié ?

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

The New Arch Vol1 No2 (2014)

Transféré par

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

International Journal of Contemporary Architecture

The New ARCH

Vol. 1, No. 2 (2014)

Copyright by Get It Published Verlag e.K.

A WORD FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Founding Editor & EditorInChief

In this issue we are taking you to France. We would like

The EcoControlled Urban Density Interview with Mirco Tardio

Dana Krhlanko, Damir eler, Ana Penavi

Dina Stober, Branko Cavri

Milica Jovanovi Popovi , Jasna Kavran

Dina Ahmed Ahmed Elmeligy

Vesna Lovec, Milica Jovanovi Popovi

Soolmaz Abdali Hajiabadi, Alireza Jahanara, Aref Arfaei

About the Journal

Instructions for Authors

The Meteorological Architecture of Philippe Rahm

Philippe Rahm is architect, principal in the office of Philippe Rahm

VIEWS ON THE MATTER

What is the main reason for choosing these methods in

Is this decision your personal one or is it a conclusion of

Philippe Rahm: No, it is not my personal decision, it is a

Do you believe that certification is a good way to

What is the response to your methods from the clients,

What is more challenging for the design process: when

technique as it was linked to workflow and the airflow.

Philippe Rahm is working on several private and public projects in France,

THE LYON RESIDENCE

Insight in the Apartment

Insight in the Apartment

thermal and moisture gradients, airflow or other natural

necessary utilities are present and connected with each

For this apartment in Lyon, we used the most

The interior design indicates the importance of the

Insight in the Apartment

Insight in the Apartment

The interior design indicates the importance of the

The free plan and spatial continuity was

Another aspect presents the dependence of the

furnitures usages at particular heights, temperatures

residence is a unique space that emphasizes the

Between the infinitely small of the physiological

Thermal section of the Apartment

THE JADE METEO PARK

image of modern cities forever. The public character of

The public urban spaces were always the subject of

One of the examples of successful contemporary

Jade Eco Park

This is the project, which beautifully demonstrates the

This massive urban park will be a new meeting place for

The Taichung Jade MeteoPark project is based on

achieve necessary climatic variations through the space.

This had a consequence of defining three gradation

Cooling Lands named Northern Coolia, Western Coolia,

diminishing the heat, humidity and pollution. These

Night Light This device uses radiation and conduction

Cooling Devices location plan

Cold Light Similar approach was used in this shelter to

South-west winds bring more humidity into the city,

Dry Cloud If the air is oversaturated, it cannot absorb

As in most urban areas, the biggest air pollutants are

Dehumidifying Devices location plan

Depolluting Devices location plan

Devices for cooling, drying and depolluting