Vitro Cristalglass is actively involved in Construmat 2007

Luis Garrido left next to the Minister Cristina Narbona.

The fifteenth edition of Construmat 2007 took place between 14 and 19 May. Vitro cristalglass participated in it as a sponsor of the R4house project and as the rapporteur both the great forum of architecture and the III International Congress on sustainable architecture.

Within the space of sustainable architecture of Construmat, exhibited the prototype R4house (reuse-recycle-reasoning recovery): the first two homes energy efficient in the world made with materials recycled, reused and recovered (waste). The R4house project was visited by a large number of people and was a success at level media, having its zenith the 15 Tuesday with the presentation of the House before the press at the hands of its creator, the architect Luis de Garrido and the Minister of the environmentCristina Narbona. The R4house project was presented with the support of the National Association of sustainable architecture (Anas), of the National Association for the housing of the future (Anavif) and the national directory of business to sustainable architecture (Dinas). The two planned homes are an international reference in sustainable architecture, comply fully with all indicators known of this type of architecture. R4house is a model of bioclimatic housing. Thanks to its architectural design, the House has a perfect behavior bioclimatic spending on air conditioning is almost non-existent (homes do not need air conditioning and barely consume heating). Energy efficiency achieved in these homes is very important and has been achieved thanks to its orientation, its architectural typology, the incorporation of double skin with ventilated Chambers, ecological insulation and lattices of solar control, along with structural glass with special silkscreena system of distribution of fresh air by captor of winds and false floors. Everything crowned by the use of renewable energy. Hardly any waste has been generated in the construction of the two houses. All the material delivered in play, have been used completely, in one way or another and different locations, to the smallest fragment. All components of the housing have been designed in a modular way to be assembled in dry, so just waste have been generated in its construction. In the disassembly nor generated waste already that all the pieces to be modular can be reused again. The name of the prototype shows what is intended to achieve with it. R4House means that for the design of the set of housing the "4Rs", defined by Luis de Garrido, have been taken into account and that no doubt become a symbol of sustainable architecture.

the houses are made in part with recycled and recyclable materials, i.e. materials obtained from existing materials (and whose physical, chemical or mechanical structure has been modified by an industrial process). In this way, the companies that produce some of the more ecological products of the construction sector have chosen. Of course, chosen materials may recycled again, as many times as you like, once exceeded its useful lifecycle in the housing.

part of the materials used in homes are recovered, i.e., they have used materials which in principle have been discarded by society: some are industrial waste and other waste. Similarly, the prototypes show materials recovered through an industrial process (i.e., products that the industry made from waste), and others recovered in a professional manner (i.e., objects made of singular form by designers based on waste). In this way, the construction rather than a negative action for the environment, happens to be positive, as regenerates it.

some materials of the prototypes had a previous use, and have become to reuse again, which decreases to maximize the energy used in its construction and avoids the waste generated. It should be noted that the two houses have been built so that all your materials can be completely reused. Thus, materials can renew and used in other buildings, without generating waste and with the minimum possible energy.

without a doubt the most important component of the four. The construction sector is the greater inertia of all wealth-producing sectors in our society, and sustainability if something requires in order to establish as an alternative, is a comprehensive process of reasoning which based. Sustainable architecture requires to rethink the entire process of design, construction and management of a building in order to reduce its negative impact on the environment. Therefore, all actions to be established as an alternative, must aim to reduce emissions and waste generated, reduce the energy consumption needed, optimizing materials and resources used, improving the well-being and health human, reduce the maintenance and the cost of the buildings. Vitro Cristalglass was the company responsible for the provision of all necessary glass in the R4house prototype. The uses of glass were varied: poweroutlets non-slip tiles, furniture (beds, tables, sillas…) glass and glazing were used for the different types and versions of the double glazing.

Throughout the fair carried out various activities including two conferences in which Vitro Cristalglass intervened actively: great forum of architecture and III International Congress on sustainable architecture. Thursday, May 17 at 10: 30, in the Montjuïc exhibition site, took place the great forum of architecture and good construction, organized by group. The objective of this meeting was a collective reflection on a topic increasingly into account in the "La Buena construction" architecture, in which it welcomes commitment to sustainability and the environment. The Forum began with a Conference l led by João Álvaro Rocha and Patxi Mangado, and it was followed by a dynamic and open debate. Antonio López, responsible for the Department of special work for Vitro Cristalglass, intervened with a dissertation on the properties of the glass low emissive and its contribution to sustainability.

The III International Congress on sustainable architecture, organized by the National Association for the housing of the future (Anavif), closed May 19 Construmat. On this occasion the title of the Congress went beyond "sustainable architecture" and focused on the real application and development of architecture and sustainable construction since that in recent times the term of the sustainability purely publicity purposes has been used. The paper entitled "Energy-efficient glass", Antonio Lopez showed the energy savings achieved with certain Windows that helps prevent the energy exchange.

In this way, Vitro Cristalglass was quite active in this latest edition of Construmat, where new trends in housing, the machinery and the newest materials of the market have shown.