Q&A with Sally Starbuck, co-director of Gaïa Ecotecture

Our homes are extremely important to us, for the majority of people your house will be the most expensive thing that you will ever buy.

Building a new house or renovating an existing property can have huge implications for your lifestyle and for future generations. It therefore makes sense to invest both our money and our time wisely when building or renovating a place to live.

Sally Starbuck is a co-director of eco architecture firm, Gaïa Ecotecture along with Paul Leech. The company philosophy focusses on ecological architecture and sustainability, and aims to create homes that enhance health, increase happiness and improve the overall quality of life for their clients.

Sally designed three of the purpose-built residential-workplace units at Cloughjordan Ecovillage, demonstrating climate change adaptation and rural resilience.

A recent project of Sally’s ‘Two Seabirds’ in Dublin 4 featured in House & Home Magazine (see pages 60-69 here). The RIAI selected the design for exhibition in the Sustainability category of the Irish Architectural Awards 2021.

We spoke to Sally to gain an insight into sustainable architecture and to learn more about innovative projects developing around Europe and in Ireland.

In order to reduce consumption of raw materials and land, shouldn’t we make good the properties we have, rather than construct new buildings?

There are substantial policy pushes to facilitate this, despite the high demand for housing:

• reduce energy consumption of all building types by carrying out refit works which are often grant-aided.
• refurbish vacant commercial properties for residential use, which also reinvigorates small towns and villages.

Paul Leech spoke at the recent ‘Housing: A Timeless Challenge – Talking Housing Futures’ in TCD’s Science Gallery, which examined past successes and failures and examined the housing provision challenges now and in the future.

How widely are eco architecture practices being adopted around Europe?

In September 2022, Paul and I took a long-deferred (due to Covid-19) study tour around Denmark and South Sweden with our colleagues in Gaïa International. We visited several projects of differing scales, from eco-urbanism (some more ambitious than others) to permaculture forest gardens.

We met young people applying 1970’s low/alternative technologies that they had learned about from books they read. A spectacular, state of the art water treatment plant that used nano-filtration of municipal wastewater of pharmaceutical residues and nutrient recovery, was surprisingly one of the highlights of the trip for me. There seems to be social, environmental and economic transformation available if we act accordingly.

Did you visit and any residential properties that you feel Ireland could learn from?

We were impressed by one example in central Copenhagen, and its architect, Christopher Carlsen.

Carlsen believes that we cannot only rely on building sustainable building going forward, we must adapt and change our existing buildings to meet our changing lifestyles and needs.

Commissioned by the private owner-occupiers for their own comfort and to ensure the long-term viability and liveability of the building, Carlson transformed the façade of the 1969 five storey, residential apartment block.

The building was not aging well, either in appearance or functionality and was often referred to as the ugliest building in the neighbourhood. Aiming to create new social spaces for residents, prevent water damage and enhance the appearance of the building, a series of glass bays or ‘winter gardens’ were added. The ground floor of the building was sold and became a supermarket.

The project, which took two years to complete despite support from city planners, cost 13m DKR. A similar cost to adding a much simpler, less attractive and less functional open balcony structure onto each apartment.

What do you feel are the benefits of renovating exiting buildings over constructing new ones?

In December, our friend and colleague, Karl Viridén, presented ‘From Intention to Action’, his experience eco-renovating at scale.

Karl & I met in 1991, as student architects, at the annual Winter School (hosted consecutively by Dublin’s Bolton St, Queens University Belfast and then Strathclyde in Glasgow). Later, Paul and I were guests in his home in Zurich. Our paths crossed again when he was invited to join Gaïa International, a network of ecotectural research practitioners, for a conference in Oslo.

In 2002, his practice Viridén & Partner formed Ecorenova, a real estate company that develops, maintains and manages pilot projects after occupation. With seventeen investors by 2018, some the owner-occupiers, they found renovation cheaper than new build.

Experience taught them that replacing a roof with prefabricated elements increases speed on site and therefore minimises disruption for residents. Adding a floor or replanning internally, they have been able to increase the net floor area by as much as 50%, which has in turn allowed for a social enterprise on ground floor level at low rent. They priorities new larger lifts for wheelchair accessibility and lifetime adaptability and work to passive house/zero heat energy standards. Other qualitative benefits include lots of added value for local labour.

Using an innovative PV façade, constructed from a material with lower embodied energy, Viridén found an external insulation that improves energy performance manyfold. Developed and 90% constructed in Europe, the façade has the same 40-50 year life span as a comparative glass one and pays back sooner than expected, typically over 20-25 years.

Are similar projects happening around Ireland?

Yes, our current project in Kilcormac, changing the use of The Fiesta Ballroom into a Green HQ for Co Offaly. The Fiesta Hall is not a heritage building per se but has strong associations and plays a significant role in the story of the town.

Offaly LDC received grant funding under the Just Transition Programme to recreate the space into a new educational, training and employment resource and venue.

Passive and active solar design will be employed, including a large PV array on the roof, to radically reduce the carbon footprint and dependence of fossil fuels, and to create a new focus to the main street.

A relatively confined site, limited demolition of the existing structure is planned, to make it safe and optimise the usability of the space. It will also allow for extra daylight inside and only moderately sized, strategically placed windows will be required to the north. A great deal of daylight and seasonal warmth will be gained from the roof glazing and updated design.

Integrated ecological building techniques are being used to provide demand controlled natural ventilation and cause minimal environmental impact, including the building’s water consumption.

These improvements to the mid-century Fiesta Ballroom will provide a vital facility, to low energy standards with renewable power, and with renewed community and regional significance.

The project respects the outstanding work of the community over many years, develops a shared vision with a visually striking and exciting facility, recognises potential through retraining and upskilling, and will revitalise a significant landmark.

Read more from our previous interview with Sally.