BIO-CONSTRUCTION
Bio-construction or Bio-architecture is a concept of multidisciplinary architecture whose main objective is to maintain the residents comfort and preserve their health through the place study (detection of geological anomalies), use of healthy materials, respect for the surrounding landscape, use of renewable energies, application of passive solar architecture, among others.
In addition, bio-architecture excels at designing the housing as part of the ecosystem, respecting and maintaining the connection with Earth and Heaven. This connection is extremely important for our emotional balance.
“Bio-architecture – quality and well-being in housing (…) through the construction of bio-ecological homes (judicious use of selected materials, guarantee of good solar orientation, use of technologies that avoid waste consumption or installation of clean technologies for energy production and reuse of rainwater).” Contributions to a NATIONAL HEALTH PLAN – Strategic Guidelines, Ministry of Health, Portugal http://www.dgsaude.pt
The strategies considered in this type of architecture are capable of ensuring more energy efficiency (e.g.: a bioclimatic building can consume 10 times less energy in heating than a conventional building), environmental comfort and sustainability well above conventional construction. These constitute a set of general rules or measures influencing the shape of the building and its processes, systems and building components.
A huge number of passive solar solutions can be incorporated into new buildings or rehabilitate at a reduced cost. The additional cost of a bioclimatic building is around 3-5% for new buildings. In cases of rehabilitation, this cost may rise a little, but will be amortized in a few years, so even in economic terms, BioClimatic buildings are rewarding.