Current building strategies in Greenland

Eva B. Møller*, Tove Lading

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalConference articleResearchpeer-review

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    Abstract

    Most buildings in Greenland are built within the last 70 years. Within this relatively short period, the building styles have often changed; from small wooden houses in the 50ties to also encompass more industrialised buildings in the 70ties, and later more diverse technics. This paper describes the major tendencies in building construction of today. Apart from an extreme climate, one of the challenges in Greenland is the lack of building materials; almost everything has to be imported. Greenland is an island-operated community, with no interlinking road grid between towns and settlements. Therefore, everything must be transported by ship or plane. Furthermore, severe mould growth is a big problem. Consequently, three building strategies are currently prevailing. 1) In-situ concrete gables and partitioning walls, and facades with wooden studs. 2) Focus on non-organic material and therefore concrete structures with exterior insulation. 3) Strategies focussing on the process e.g. mainly using prefabricated elements. The paper describes the pro and cons for the different strategies seen in a Greenlandic context. The harsh climate makes Greenland a good test site for assessing new building designs. Furthermore, assessment of sustainability might be very different in Greenland from countries where resources and transportation is very different.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number19004
    JournalE3S Web of Conferences
    Volume172
    Number of pages8
    ISSN2267-1242
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2020
    Event 12th Nordic Building Physics Conference - Tallin University of Technology, Tallin, Estonia
    Duration: 7 Sept 20209 Sept 2020
    Conference number: 12

    Conference

    Conference 12th Nordic Building Physics Conference
    Number12
    LocationTallin University of Technology
    Country/TerritoryEstonia
    CityTallin
    Period07/09/202009/09/2020

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