From 26 to 29 February 2020, the “Festival of Architecture 2020” took place in the exhibition area of BVV Trade Fairs Brno, a.s. (BVV). If you are a fan of architecture and new trends in this dynamic sector and you did not have the opportunity to attend this festival in person, we bring you some interesting information from its course.
The festival was announced under the slogan “Taste the architecture and construction of the future”, with the key theme of improving the quality of the urban environment as well as sustainability in the construction industry.
What the festival brought
The festival’s leading experts addressed topical issues, particularly
- vegetative structures
- passive self-sufficient houses, and
- water retention and treatment.
Since one of the target groups of the festival was builders, a programme was prepared for them, which brought sustainability in this sector closer to the objectives of the European Union (with the end of the period set for 2030 or 2050) and also the theme of “resources and their circular economy”. Representatives from the two largest cities in the Czech Republic, the capital city of Prague and the home city of Brno, also spoke at the festival, focusing on plans to reduce CO2 emissions and climate policy.
Different research institutions as well as companies specializing in technology development presented, for example, robotic 3D printing of entire building units and, last but not least, a demonstration of the implementation of the so-called green roof.
Green roofs as an urban future
The main goal of green roofs is to retain rainwater, use it to irrigate plants and then evaporate it into the surrounding air. The benefits of this system are many, from using rainwater that would otherwise be waste water to achieving a cooling of the surface of the building it is on. It has been documented that this difference can be up to 40°C, during the summer of course. This also reduces the cost of cooling the interior. Another advantage is that local vegetation is used, which requires no extra care.
The festival doesn’t end there
Although the festival ended several months ago, that doesn’t mean that other related interesting information can’t be accessed after the fact.
First of all, the website dedicated to this festival has an audio library of the lectures that took place during the festival. To access the audio library, all you need to do is fill out and submit a simple form.
An interesting and thought-provoking section of this website is also the “Successes” page, which showcases the achievements of participants who have attended the festival, as well as projects that have built on the festival in some way. Here you can find, for example, a post about the first house built in Prague from recycled concrete or an article about a unique printed house.