Latest News

Isover Announces Shortlist In Multi-Comfort House Competition

Published: 07th February 2011

Isover, leading developer of sustainable insulation solutions to protect both the natural and built environment, has revealed the eight UK finalists in its Multi-Comfort House competition as chosen by a judging panel of leading industry experts. The selected teams will be showcasing their designs at Ecobuild, where the top three prize winners will be announced in an award ceremony at 15.00 on 2 March (stand N260)

This year's competition required students to design a tower to be located in the Greenwich South district of Lower Manhattan, New York. The building must encompass Isover Multi-Comfort principles and Passive House performance levels to create a sustainable, multi-use building. Shortlisted designs include:

  • Manhattan Sky Podium: a design which aims to better connect Greenwich South with its surroundings through a series of elevated pedestrian routes which meet to form a significant green podium in the sky.
  • Social Tower Experiment: a tower which breaks through the social isolation of typical skyscrapers, proposing a new, vertical street lifestyle to foster vibrant communities and social interaction at height.
  • The Green Ramp: a design which aims to integrate Lower Manhattan's green spaces into the city fabric with a building which forms a ramp from Battery Park to the Greenwich South site, culminating in a Passive House skyscraper.
  • Solar Slice: a tapered tower which evolved through consideration of New York's sun paths, it respects the solar rights of the existing '88 Greenwich Street' tower to the north of the site by carving a huge slice out of its mass.
  • Green Canyons: a prototype to reconnect the city of Manhattan and achieve a cohesive identity to counter the depleting quality of life in vertical urban sprawl.
  • Green Tower: a design established around the concept of contemporary creativity which takes into consideration the forms of surrounding towers and icons such as the Statue of Liberty.
  • Windgate: a tower which aims to make maximum use of wind energy harvesting while also utilising the building design to form a new gateway into Manhattan.
  • Vertical Sunspace Tower: taking inspiration from the Denby Dale Passivhaus, this design features a series of stacked, south facing sunspaces to maximise passive solar gain, daylight penetration and to create social spaces at height in the city.

Entries can be viewed online here and scale models and posters will be on display in the Passive House Zone at Ecobuild. Teams will be required to present their designs to the judges prior to the live final where the top three prize entries chosen by the judges will be announced. The three winning UK teams will receive cash prizes of up to £1,000 and will go on to compete in the seventh international final, which takes place from 18 - 21 May 2011 in Prague and features a top prize of €1,500.

Isover's judging panel includes Roland Matzig, founder of r-m-p architects and engineers which consulted on the renovation of the world's only Passive House skyscraper built to date in Germany; Antony Wood, executive director at the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, Nick Grant, technical director of the Passivhaus Trust, Bill Butcher, director of the Green Building Store; Anna Surgenor, senior technical advisor at the UK Green Building Council, Ken Shuttleworth, founder of Make Architects and Zdenka Debartoli, international market manager, building, for Saint-Gobain Insulation.

Stacey Davis, marketing director for Isover, comments: "We would like to thank all student teams who have taken the time to enter this year's competition. The standard was high, so selecting our shortlist was not easy. However, our expert judging panel has a wealth of expertise in Passive House principles and sustainable building, so we are confident that our winners will have what it takes to compete in the international final."

The Isover Multi-Comfort House concept illustrates how energy use can be minimised and demonstrates how energy efficient living can be achieved both comfortably and economically. It builds on the Passive House principles of delivering the highest thermal comfort while reducing energy use and CO2 emissions by considering occupants' wellbeing, taking into account acoustic and safety features as well as energy saving measures.

As part of Saint-Gobain, which is committed to developing sustainable solutions for the built environment, Isover is uniquely placed to deliver comprehensive solutions which help to meet Passive House Standards, incorporating thermal and acoustic comfort, high indoor air quality, air tightness and exceptional energy efficiency.

For more information follow us on Twitter @IsoverUK or join our Isover UK group on Facebook.