Sustainable Buildings in Interaction

The first attempts to build sustainable buildings in Denmark were typically located on the countryside. The basic idea was to create buildings that were independent of the technical infrastructure. District heating has, however, been the dominating solution to heating in buildings in Denmark, and the focus on sustainable building have gradually turned from special houses on the countryside to normally looking houses in the urban fabric, integrated in the technical infrastructure. Some new built urban areas in Denmark will, however, not have to be supplied with district heating – these developments are going to consist of passive houses. The first sustainable buildings were built by their users, and the user – building interaction still play a decisive role for the performance of the present sustainable buildings. The users have to understand how the building functions. Urban design is essential for the possibilities of a sustainable building design: orientation and access to infrastructure are important factor. And the building design is decisive in making the city truly compact: dense in activities. In future, the interaction between the technical infrastructure, the buildings and their users will become even more complex, and the local authorities could play an essential role in finding solutions that reflect the specific local context.