56 | AWARDS for Excellence 2010 OPP AWARDS WORDS | Geoff Hadwick
www.opp.org.uk | FEBRUARY 2011
Take a leading position
Every month OPP profi les the winners of last year’s OPP Awards for Excellence 2010 and gives you the real reasons why they scooped up the prizes. This month we look at the Best Innovation and Best Fractional Service categories. What was it that made these entries stand out from the crowd and what exactly does AlmaVerde Village and Spa mean when it talks about one of its cool houses?
AlmaVerde Village and Spa is a 12-year-old development in the western Algarve that set out, right from the start, to be “home to the development of radical and innovative low energy sustainable construction techniques and a unique architecture” says its director of architecture Jes Mainwaring.
101 privately-owned villas have been built to date and the site has become a popular family holiday resort with wellness and sports facilities. 18 staff support the villas, townhouses and apartments, as well as the spa, club and bistro.
The scheme constantly measures client satisfaction and tries hard to live up to the real meaning of its name AlmaVerde ... which translates as “green soul.”
Innovation:
Gold medal winner: The “Coolhouse” concept The starting point for the AlmaVerde Village and Spa was, says its developer, “the realisation that existing standards of construction are inadequate for the well-being of our changing planet.” “At least 50% of all carbon emissions are generated by buildings and their use,” says the company, and AlmaVerde recognised it had a duty to try and improve the situation. “Design and procurement have
a big role to play in alleviating the situation and, unless it is addressed, other environmental measures remain largely academic.”
The “innovative architecture at
AlmaVerde reconsiders how people today wish to live their daily lives” says the awards entry. “AlmaVerde’s British
architect Jes Mainwaring took a fresh approach to the layout, the nature of the spaces and the way these work together aims to enhance family life and lead the buildings beyond the usual solutions.” Interiors are open and permeable, bright with natural daylight. The villas feature dramatic double height spaces and galleries. However, it is in the unnoticed fabric of the buildings where the real work takes place and where new standards in energy effi ciency and sustainability have been set courtesy of AlmaVerde’s unique (and very simple) Coolhouse cooling system.
This eco-friendly cooling process is built into the heart of every building, and it has been proven by independent monitors to provide cooling at 95% less carbon cost than air conditioning. Making use of the capacity of
heavy materials to store both heat and cool, walls are built from site-made sun-baked clay adobe bricks and render. External insulation protects this ‘thermal mass’ from the effects of outside air temperatures and the heat of the sun.
As well as controlling internal
“Starting point: existing standards of construction are inadequate for the well-being of our changing planet”
humidity, this innovative combination ensures consistent and comfortable conditions with temperatures as much as 12ºC below the Algarve’s searing summer heat outside. High specification timber windows are carefully placed and shaded to keep out the heat of the summer sun but welcome its warmth in winter. Natural materials are used throughout, from the timber roof construction and high quality joinery to natural stone sills. This reduces the energy used in construction. The Coolhouse system, which was conceived by Mainwaring, is essential in this part of Portugal where, says AV, the villas experience 3,000 hours of solar exposure annually; where relative humidity reaches 95% and where diurnal temperatures can range from 0ºC to 21ºC.
How does it work? In summer, external air is cooled by passing through pipes laid 1.5m to 2m below ground where temperatures are relatively constant at around 14ºC. Cooled air is ducted into the sub-
Buried deep | External air is sucked in via pipes that fl ow through the cool soil beneath the site, where it is always 14ºC
fl oor plenum and enters the building through discrete perimeter slot outlets. The system is driven by a
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