Green Triple Decker Pilot Program - the catalyst

we needed a catalyst, something to get us moving in the right direction or maybe something to get us to pull the trigger, to spend money, and to do the most sustainable project we could afford.  most great projects and ideas need a catalyst.  as you may recall, the Bo01 project in Malmo, Sweden used the European Housing Exposition as it's catalyst for masterplanning the Vastra Hamnen neighborhood and specifically constructing the European Village (note: if you are bored reading my description which was a combination of amazement, awe, and excitement, read this more down to earth, fact filled description).  our Jamaica Plain condo upgrade catalyst started out casual and became very real very fast.

a casual meetup on the front porch over a beer got the deeper conversation started about sustainable living and fixing up our house(s).  every one of the owners (one condo owner per floor) wanted to do something significant to improve each unit as well as the property overall.  this meant coming up with individual strategies as well as thinking about overlap and shared strategies.  in the end we wanted our individual condos to be more comfortable, efficient, and livable and we wanted the whole building to be a great place to call home.  we immediately started talking about the building envelope, about super insulation, and about reduction of energy needs and energy use.  everyone agreed that energy efficiency and sustainability were important, but we didn't know exactly how we would take it to the next level.

one of our crew stumbled upon an announcement from the City of Boston about a "Green Triple Decker" Pilot Program, orchestrated by the BRA.  this program was exactly the catalyst we were looking for to get us going forward.  the City of Boston (along with the energy utilities - NSTAR and NGRID) was offering up to $30,000 to deep energy retrofit approximately 5 triple deckers in Boston.  according to the rules, there would be a preliminary application to narrow down the candidates.  once selected, representatives from the City would work with the homeowners to develop a scope of work that attempted to achieve a HERS rating of 65 or better.

HERS is a system that started in California in 2006 and is now respected across the globe as a method to attach home value (price) to energy use and consumption.  HERS (home energy rating system) basically takes a baseline (bare minimum) typical, wood stud, pink insulation home from 2006 and calls that 100 (as in 100%).  that typical house uses 100% energy.  a worse house (energy wise) uses more than 100 and a better house uses less.  according to this scale, a zero energy house scores a ZERO on HERS and a typical 2006 house scores 100.  an energy star house is 85 (15% better than a typical 2006 home).  the program we were applying for through the City of Boston aimed at 65 (35% better than a typical 2006 home).  our house existing 1000 sf condo, built in 1905 without insulation, would eventually be measured by an official HERS rater.  our unit topped out at 135 (35% worse than a typical home).  going from 35% worse than a new home to 35% better must be a piece of cake, right?

HERS, a scoring system developing and implemented in California in 2006, is the first successful system to tie home energy use to home value.  the system scores 0 as a zero energy home and 100 as a new "typical" home in 2006.  according to the Green Triple Decker Pilot Program sponsored by the City of Boston, we needed to achieve a HERS rating of 65 or better to receive the grant (35% better than a new home built in 2006). 

as soon as we discovered this potential cash inflow to jump start our sustainable makeover and aim us toward specific energy goals, we flew into production mode.  we drafted an essay for the submission including resumes and appendices.  several members of our condo association had previous experience in sustainable design and construction both in practice and in theory.  in fact, half of us had worked on the 2009 Solar Decathlon project for the BAC/ Tufts zero energy 800 square foot solar home, called curio.  that project could be a blog all to itself, but if you are interested in learning more, check out the department of energy's description of curio.

we applied for the program, ended up on the short list, and eventually were awarded one of five grants to deep energy retrofit our 1905 Jamaica Plain condo.  the next part was the hardest part.  we knew the windows and doors were terrible, that there was virtually no insulation, and that the systems were old and wasteful.  we just needed to figure out what to do, how to do it, where to invest, and how to stretch as far as we could...


to be continued...

Turning Torso: the anchor of Vastra Hamnen

you can't spend several weeks in Malmo and not take pictures of the Turning Torso.  in fact, many would argue you can't spend several hours in Malmo and not take pictures of it.  you may even recall that I took a picture of it the first night I arrived in Malmo.  once the tallest apartment building in Europe, the Turning Torso twists upward 54 stories and 623 feet, the top floor at a 90 degree angle from the ground floor.  the Torso was envisioned by the government of Malmo as a new beginning, a fresh start, and a much needed strengthening of the skyline to the north of the city center.  it rises 2 times higher than Kronprinsen, the previous tallest building in Malmo.

the Turning Torso approached from the southern main access road to Vastra Hamnen from the city center.  the Torso, designed by Santiago Calatrava, rises 623 feet and 54 stories.

the Kockums crane (Kockumskranen) which was sold to a Korean company in the early 2000's was the last and highest symbol of the working class city of Malmo's shipbuilding industry.  it's last duty was to assist in the building of the Oresund Bridge, the lifeline connection between Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmo, Sweden.

looking up at the Torso from the street

in the years leading up to the decision to construct the Turning Torso, there were three major focused objectives of the city of Malmo, partly in an effort to move forward after the financial collapse caused by the shipbuilding industry abandoning the city (among other financial challenges), partly to jump into the 21st century, and partly to recreate and rebrand the city and its identity.  the three objectives were, at first blush, quite simple:

1. improve education and heighten the focus of the city on advanced education
2. strengthen connectivity and interconnectedness of Malmo within the region of Skane and beyond
3. use sustainability and sustainable initiatives as a method to advance the city and its planning

these three objectives were simultaneously addressed starting in the 1990's and moving into the first decade of the 21st century.  though the Turning Torso was not, in itself, a cornerstone of any of these three specific objectives, it played a significant role as a new symbol of Malmo, the city of the future.  the Torso is an excellent example of how cities use architecture (tall, unique, or important buildings, often designed by famous architects) to promote an agenda and "put themselves on the map" as Malmo has been doing for the last 15-20 years.

Turning Torso in Vastra Hamnen, Malmo as seen from the neighborhood

the three most obvious physical manifestations of the three objectives are quite powerful, and together have helped shaped Malmo as a growing, changing city with an eye toward the future.

1.  one of the brightest examples of the city of Malmo putting a new focus on higher education was the creation of Malmo's first University, Malmo Hogskola.  the University, now a central hub of the Dockans neighborhood adjacent to the central train station and Vastra Hamnen, has grown to more than 24,000 students in just over ten years of operation (the school opened officially in 1998).  the school has many disciplines and areas of study, including several in sustainability such as master's degrees in "Leadership for Sustainability" and "Sustainable Urban Management".

the style has been called "structural expressionism" and is most evident in the exposed structural elements on the building exterior 

2.  the most obvious physical manifestation of the idea of interconnection in Skane and beyond is the Oresund Bridge and the improvements in the train transportation into Malmo.  the Oresund Bridge, completed and opened in July 2000, has created amazing opportunities for growth in Malmo as well as the opportunity for people living in Malmo to commute easily to Copenhagen.  besides the construction of the bridge itself, Malmo created new and improved train stations and rail lines from the bridge through the city center (called the City Tunnel Project) that simplify, enhance, and speed up travel to and from Malmo as well as through it up the western coast of Sweden and beyond.

the Turning Torso sits in a pool of water at the base (the parking complex in the background contains a sustainable grocery store and restaurant on the ground floor)

3.  in terms of sustainability, the list, as you may have seen from earlier entries in this blog, is endless.  I would argue that the most notable catalyst for the physical manifestation of making sustainability part of the city's future is Bo01, brought about as part of the European Housing Exposition in 2011, and evidenced in the European Village as well as the surrounding neighborhood and corresponding infrastructure.  this neighborhood, anchored on one corner by the tallest building in Scandinavia, is a beacon of hope for the future of sustainable cities and neighborhoods.

the Turning Torso as seen from the neighborhood school.  the top is 90 degrees twisted from the base.

European Village in Bo01

I can't even tell you how awesome yesterday afternoon was.  I don't even think I can put it into words.  but since this is a blog I guess I have to try (but I will use pictures too).  and, I must warn you in advance, there is so much to say that this story will need to be broken into several parts.  the first part is the European Village in Bo01 in Vastra Hamnen.

european village in Bo01 in Vastra Hamnen, Malmo looking north along the canal

I must start my story by first thanking Roland Zinkernagel, EU Coordinator and Sustainability Strategist who works for the city of Malmo on Urban Development and Climate issues in the Envrionment Department.  Roland was my tireless tour guide and walked me through Bo01, Bo02, Bo03, and Bo04 which is most of Vastra Hamnen.  he showed me what has been done over the last decade and what is ongoing now.  he explained every little detail and answered all of my questions.  he did all of this in perfect english and with a smile for three hours!  he was an excellent tour guide and a great guy to talk with about the past, the present, and the future of Malmo and of sustainable cities and neighborhoods.

European Village looking south along the canal

Bo01 was dubbed "the city of tomorrow" by Malmo planners at the tail end of the 1990's as they prepared to showcase their new masterplan for Vastra Hamnen (the western harbor) and a tiny piece of it (called Bo01) developed as housing.  with it's narrow carfree streets twisting and turning like a medieval maze, water features cleaning rainwater and depositing it calmly back into the sea, and beautifully crafted houses of all shapes, sizes, and colors, Bo01 is a truly unique experiment.

European Village looking east

the goal of this neighborhood, sponsored in part by the European Union, in part by the country of Sweden, and in part by the city of Malmo, was to showcase how neighborhoods could be in the city of tomorrow, how comfort and convenience and healthy living could be primary and how sustainable design, practices, and systems could make it all possible.  the place was based on ideals and built with more unknowns than ever before.  the goal was to make this showcase a permanent fixture in the brownfield Vastra Hamnen, a windy, desolate, crumbling shipyard and industrial neighborhood more than 20 years past its dying days.

European Village looking west

this neighborhood, of course, had many unique features making it, as is always the case, different than many others interested in applying identical strategies.  first, and most importantly, the city had slowly bought back the land of Vastra Hamnen from the industrial and shipbuilding companies as they retreated or simply vanished.  so the land was mostly owned by the city.  because of this land ownership, the city had the opportunity to create a masterplan and develop the requirements for the request for proposals to be as they wanted, as strict and cutting edge as anything that had been done before anywhere in the world.  they created the masterplan and the RFPs with direct involvement of myriad of experts across many disciplines, including architects, planners, developers, land use specialists, engineers of all kinds, and landscape architects (just to name a few).

norwegian (?) house on the corner at the southeast end of the European Village.  inside there are moveable walls that can be adjusted by hand, dividing the house plan into a grid of four sectors.  the south wall is completely transparent.

what emerged was a grand vision, a new idea about how a city neighborhood could be, unique in style, in strategy, and in statement.  the statements were clear and strong.  this was to be a place of limited car access, an experimental neighborhood rich with untested ideas and methods.  it would be more holistic, integrated, and more energy conscious than anything that had ever been done in Malmo and beyond.  and they would sell these apartments at market rate to consumers looking to be part of something different, better.  looking for a chance to live in an undeveloped place, wanting to be part of the future instead of part of the past.

garden shed for each of the European Village houses.  people store bikes and gardening supplies in these little huts.  I was hoping that they were saunas!

the first piece in the heart of Vastra Hamnen and on the edge of Bo01, is the European Village.  in this area a famous or well known architect was selected from each of 15 countries to design a house/ apartment that showcased style, aesthetic, and architecture of his/ her country of origin.  the architects reflected regional characteristics from their homeland while adapting the buildings to the climate and conditions of the site and showcasing sustainable techniques and strategies.  each house was to have access to a view of the water and because this area was not on the ocean, a canal was built running through the village.

one of the "filler" houses (not one of the original 15 show houses)

because there were only 15 showcase houses built in the European Village, the empty plots in between were filled after the 2001 European Housing Exposition with series houses adjoining each other and connecting to the show houses.  finally, the north end of the Village was capped with a larger, more typical apartment building.  besides the houses themselves, each plot of land has a little yard facing the canal, a garden shed, and some outdoor amenities such as furniture, flowers, and in one case, a deck that sits out on the canal itself.

climbing vines along a more newly built "filler" building at the north end of the European Village

that's all the time I have now.  I will write more about other parts of Bo01 and the rest of Vastra Hamnen when I can.  oh, and just in case you were wondering what I think of this little area.  yes, I think it is awesome.