How to design a net zero energy building: proven strategies that work
Recent podcast episodes
- Season 6
- Episode 2
- Architecture, Governance, Urbanism
As land in cities becomes scarce and expensive, public spaces are bearing the brunt. Can new models of urban development reconcile communal needs with profit?
- Season 6
- Episode 1
- Architecture, Culture, Interior Design, Urbanism
In a warming, anxious world, can buildings heal both mind and planet? Unpack how wellbeing is reshaping sustainable architecture from the inside out.
- Season 5
- Episode 10
- Architecture, Practice, Urbanism
Think design competitions aren’t worth your time? Laura Viscovich, Executive Director of the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction, shares how competition entries can turn into career breakthroughs, even if you don’t win.
- Season 5
- Episode 9
- Architecture, Landscape, Urbanism
When it comes to extreme weather, our first instinct is to build higher walls and stronger barriers. Discover how sponge cities are turning convention on its head by embracing water instead of resisting it.
- Season 6
- Episode 2
- Architecture, Governance, Urbanism
As land in cities becomes scarce and expensive, public spaces are bearing the brunt. Can new models of urban development reconcile communal needs with profit?
- Season 6
- Episode 1
- Architecture, Culture, Interior Design, Urbanism
In a warming, anxious world, can buildings heal both mind and planet? Unpack how wellbeing is reshaping sustainable architecture from the inside out.
- Season 5
- Episode 10
- Architecture, Practice, Urbanism
Think design competitions aren’t worth your time? Laura Viscovich, Executive Director of the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction, shares how competition entries can turn into career breakthroughs, even if you don’t win.
Limited webinar series
- Webinar 10
- Architecture, Carbon emissions, Construction
Timber is having its moment in the global sustainability discourse. Will it replace concrete and steel, or be used in combination to usher in a new era of low-carbon construction?
- Webinar 8
- Architecture, Carbon emissions, Landscape, Regenerative development, Urbanism
In many cities today, there is a striking disconnect between people and nature. Can biocentric urban landscapes help integrate social functions with natural systems?
- Webinar 6
- Architecture, Construction, Practice
A hyperlocal building taps into the knowledge, skills, and resources indigenous to a place. How can the very act of constructing it engage and positively transform a community?
- Webinar 5
- Adaptive reuse, Architecture
In resource-constrained places, small can be powerful. How can a building, acting strategically as an acupunctural node, transform its neighbourhood socially, economically, and ecologically?
- Webinar 10
- Architecture, Carbon emissions, Construction
Timber is having its moment in the global sustainability discourse. Will it replace concrete and steel, or be used in combination to usher in a new era of low-carbon construction?
- Webinar 8
- Architecture, Carbon emissions, Landscape, Regenerative development, Urbanism
In many cities today, there is a striking disconnect between people and nature. Can biocentric urban landscapes help integrate social functions with natural systems?
- Webinar 6
- Architecture, Construction, Practice
A hyperlocal building taps into the knowledge, skills, and resources indigenous to a place. How can the very act of constructing it engage and positively transform a community?
Recent blog posts
- Greenbuild 2024
Greenbuild International Conference & Expo is the world’s leading green design and construction event today. Ecogradia’s report on the 2024 edition comes directly from its expo and conference halls in Philadelphia, USA.
- Tone Wheeler
Despite post-war research into passive solar house design, Australia’s sprawling suburbs are today dominated by non-climate-adaptive dwellings. But Tone Wheeler believes sustainability is finally becoming a desirable asset.
- Surat Diamond Bourse
Surat Diamond Bourse in India’s Gujarat state hosts the most sizeable community of diamond workers on the planet. The vast office building designed by Morphogenesis boasts a strong agenda for reducing energy consumption.
- Singapore Pavilion, Expo 2020, Dubai
At Expo 2020 Dubai, WOHA’s Singapore Pavilion was a prototype for a lush and sustainable built environment of the future. This three-dimensional tropical garden functioned as a self-sustaining ecosystem.
- Greenbuild 2024
Greenbuild International Conference & Expo is the world’s leading green design and construction event today. Ecogradia’s report on the 2024 edition comes directly from its expo and conference halls in Philadelphia, USA.
- Tone Wheeler
Despite post-war research into passive solar house design, Australia’s sprawling suburbs are today dominated by non-climate-adaptive dwellings. But Tone Wheeler believes sustainability is finally becoming a desirable asset.
- Surat Diamond Bourse
Surat Diamond Bourse in India’s Gujarat state hosts the most sizeable community of diamond workers on the planet. The vast office building designed by Morphogenesis boasts a strong agenda for reducing energy consumption.
Recommended podcast episodes
- Season 3
- Episode 3
- Manufacturing
As we aim to ‘do good’, we often wrestle with what to buy. Which materials are less harmful to the planet? But can a product also be net positive? Could manufacturing help reverse global warming?
- Season 5
- Episode 2
- Culture, Energy, Regenerative development
The solarpunk movement in fiction, art, fashion, and activism imagines a sustainable civilisation and considers how we get there. After gaining traction for a decade, how does it align with the latest thinking in regenerative design?
- Season 2
- Episode 8
- Landscape, Urbanism
Water is a pressing design challenge of the climate crisis. Too much or too little and we struggle to survive. What is the sweet spot where we, our cities and the ecosystems that we rely on, can thrive?
- Season 2
- Episode 4
- Architecture, Interior, Landscape
As a species, we seek closeness to nature. Designing for well-being, therefore, aims to bring nature to the heart of the built environment. But what do these ‘biophilic’ spaces feel like? And how do we set the stage to reap their benefits?
- Season 3
- Episode 7
- Architecture
Can necessity unlock greater innovation? How to create an architecture of delight and renown when the climate is harsh, resources are scarce and budgets tight? Can less ever become something more?
- Season 5
- Episode 9
- Architecture, Landscape, Urbanism
When it comes to extreme weather, our first instinct is to build higher walls and stronger barriers. Discover how sponge cities are turning convention on its head by embracing water instead of resisting it.
- Webinar 1
- Architecture
Each building is a nexus of multiple systems ‘talking’ to each other. This integrated approach is often key to optimising performance. But how does integration work? How do you rally stakeholders and negotiate trade-offs?
Listen & share,
review & follow
Just head to these podcast directories or listening apps to hear Ecogradia episodes, share them, write a review and click to follow the show.
Subscribe to our newsletter
and be the first to know
Sign up to find out who’s next on the show, which ideas and solutions are moving sustainability forward. Get our newsletter in your inbox once every two weeks.