Zero Energy House, Lokeren

Urbanism and preoccupation with private property have led to land being consumed to the point that Belgium is now one of the most dense and dispersed areas in Europe. BLAF have since long contributed to the general awareness of this 'genetic' condition by experimenting with its most basic component: the single family house.

This house is built in a typical Flemish sprawlarea, on the edge of an allotment, where the suburbs literally face the countryside. The allotment creates a condition that is both generic and specific, context and nontext. The house deals with this condition in an apparently indifferent way, whilst in fact it is questioning the allotment: it is reformulating the concept of the front, side and back facade by addressing the surroundings in equivalent ways, and it is consciously leaving any kind of fencing behind. Passive houses have unusually thick outside walls. Organizing staircases, furniture, storage, technical rooms etc. against these walls articulates their thickness even more. The house becomes a monolith, with a thick functional shell and an intimate, encapsulated center. Every window creates a niche, an abscissa, orchestrating the relations between the heart of the house and the exterior. From a 'passive house' point of view, the shell perforations are balanced between the maximization of solar heat gains and the reduction of heat losses.

Compactness:C1,63m Solid construction materials for heat accumulation, FSC-labeled hardwood facades Insulation level:K14 Air tightness:n50=0,14/h South oriented glass facades for solar gains Mobile sun screens Soil/water heat exchanger and ventilation unit with air/water heat pump Zero emission:C02 neutral Heating energy consumption 11 kWh/m²a, covered by solar panels PHPP certified Passive House and Zero Energy House