Some bases of bioconstruction
Suitable location
Avoid proximity to sources of electromagnetic radiation, chemical or noise pollution, such as factories, large communication routes, high voltage lines, substations and transformation centres. In another order of things, endangering any ecosystem or habitat must also be avoided.
Integration into the environment
Taking into account the morphology of the land, adjacent buildings, the traditional architectural styles of the area, including the local vegetation and harmony of construction forms, trying to integrate rather than occupy. Spatial proportions, as well as shapes and colors, have great importance in the harmonization of the place.
Custom design
According to the needs of the user, so that the home adapts to them and serves perfectly to develop their life in it. Bioconstruction tries to avoid excess rectilinear elements and angular corners and corners, as well as excessively rigid or stressed materials. The lights are saved with arches and vaults.
Distribution of spaces and orientation
The efficient distribution of services will be addressed as well as bioclimatic, energy saving and functional considerations.
Good guidance will be pursued whenever possible.
Appropriate glazing will be designed for maximum thermal and light use (with walls and floors with high thermal inertia)
Location of rooms with little use to the north: garages, pantries, stairs, and day areas to the south.
In resting places, efforts will be made to avoid the passage of electricity, water or any other type of conduit.
Use of healthy, biocompatible and hygroscopic materials
These must facilitate moisture exchanges between the home and the atmosphere. The home must "breathe".
The materials should be made from raw materials that are as unprocessed as possible and, if possible, local resources should be used.
They must be completely free of harmful elements such as asbestos, polyurethane or PVC.
Large diameter sanitation pipes can be made of ceramic with rubber connections and small diameter pipes can be made of PP (polypropylene), PB (polybutylene) and/or PE (polyethylene) instead of PVC. With these materials, the pipes are more stable, flexible, durable and less noisy.
For electrical conduits, there are already halogen-free and PVC-free cables on the market, as well as polypropylene curl tubes.
We will avoid closed-pore insulation and paints, plastic coatings, elements that retain electrostatic dust (carpets, plastic floors...) and all those materials that emit toxic gases during combustion. We must use silicate paints, water-based paints, linseed oil, rosin, natural waxes, etc., as well as, for decorative elements, wood treatments or polished and plastered.
In the structural elements, we will use natural cements or hydraulic lime. The use of steel must be restricted to what is essential and must be properly connected to the ground.
Nowadays, reinforced concrete structural elements are greatly abused, such as beams, columns and slabs, especially prestressed reinforced concrete joists, which contain steel with a permanent tension-torsion, when in many cases these can be replaced by self-supporting walls, trusses, arches and vaults.
On the other hand, Portland cement is composed of volatile ashes and steel slags that affect sustainability and health in various ways:
Optimization of natural resources
It is highly recommended to carry out a study of the resources of the place, so that we can determine the natural elements that can provide us with some type of "work" without limiting its durability, to keep in mind:
Climatology.
Throughout history, the first element of analysis for choosing a place as a human settlement has been water. This is the primary element that determines the sustainability of a settlement. Today we must consider it a scarce resource.
Special care will be taken with the treatment of water, its collection, its accumulation, its use, its purification, its reuse and its return to the natural environment.
It is advisable to collect it in a horizontal mine (if possible), if not, we will have to look for the water table or a water vein. Or even channel and accumulate rainwater. Water tanks must be protected from light and heat, as well as built with natural materials. Its use must be responsible and austere. It is advisable to separate gray water (washbasins, sinks, showers) from black water (toilets) to be treated efficiently and purified biologically for subsequent reuse.
An attempt will be made to take advantage of sunlight (insolation) as a primary element of lighting and as a source of energy for heating walls and solar collectors. In the same way, electricity can be produced with photovoltaic panels.
The prevailing winds, their intensity, direction and timing will be taken into account. With this we will be able to adopt air conditioning systems based on the principle of "differential pressure in ventilation and/or cooling ducts", as well as adopt measures to avoid possible conditions by placing biological screens.
Implement elements for natural air conditioning, such as forest masses, lagoons, solar thermal sunths, greenhouses, green roofs, etc.
Also the implementation of renewable energies that can be used in that specific place (such as wind turbines, hydraulic turbines, solar panels, biomass, etc.), as well as the use of the construction materials of the place.
Implementation of systems and equipment for savings
Use of Bioclimatics, through passive solar collection systems, controlled ventilation galleries, plant water systems that regulate temperature and humidity. Ventilation by solar thermal sunt. Properly designed eaves. Preferably self-supporting walls that provide thermal inertia, with insulation to the outside. Ventilated screens can be incorporated on facades with strong insolation.
Perennial vegetation to the north and deciduous vegetation to the South, East and West.
Where the weather permits, it is advisable to incorporate floodable vegetation covers.
Sprayers to save water in taps. Those used for showering must be thermostatic.
Low-impact furniture equipment and ergonomic configuration, low-consumption appliances and low electromagnetic and ionic emissivity, zero emission of microwaves and gamma waves, etc., with adequate grounding, that do not emit harmful gases and that their surrounding elements are natural.
It should be taken into account not only the optimal arrangement of the furniture, but also its own shape and geometric outline.
Incorporation of clean production systems and equipment
After a study of the natural resources of the place and the needs to be covered, we can determine the most appropriate systems to obtain the energy we need, such as:
The planning of systems that consider savings is not only based on the savings per se of the installed mechanism but also on the type of use of it. This is how a passive solar collection system, but without individual regulation per room, results in poor use of the system. To efficiently incorporate the system, we will raise the needs of the system separately from the consumption systems, so that we can optimize energy efficiently.[3].
Waste recovery and discharge purification program
Separation of waste at source, with a recycling program and, if possible, reuse of inorganic solids as well as composting of organics.
We must pay special attention to the purification of wastewater for its subsequent use, e.g. in irrigation. In places with great water scarcity, organic dehydration systems or "dry toilets" must be incorporated with their subsequent composting program.
User manual for use and maintenance
In which the actions that the user must carry out and those that the professional maintainer must carry out are detailed.