PLEA2012 - 28th Conference, Opportunities, Limits & Needs Towards an environmentally responsible architecture Lima, Perú 7-9 November 2012 Sustainable Architecture in Hot Regions: The SURE-Africa Project Manuel Correia Guedes Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal (mcguedes@civil.ist.utl.pt) Gustavo Cantuária The Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies, University of Cambridge, UK Klas Borges Department of Land Economy, University of Lund, Sweden Italma Pereira, Joana Aleixo, Luis Alves, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal ABSTRACT: This paper summarizes the results achieved by the 3-year E.U. SURE-Africa project. The project aimed at strengthening knowledge and its application in practice, contributing to a sustainable development through the vital area of energy efficiency in buildings and cities, and, ultimately, to reduce poverty. Academic and professional expertise from three E.U. Universities - namely the Higher Technical Institute (IST, Coord., Portugal), the University of Cambridge (UK) and the University of Lund (Sweden) - was organised to set up a data-base of information, in cooperation with Academic Institutions in Portuguese- speaking African countries (Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde and Guinea), with information about tools, case studies and teaching material in the field of sustainable, energy-efficient building and urban design. Seminars, workshops and conferences were carried out, and best-practice Manuals were published as a final outcome of the project. Keywords: Sustainable Architecture, Hot Regions, Energy Efficiency in Buildings, Africa. 1. INTRODUCTION The SURE-Africa project aimed at producing and strengthening knowledge on low-energy architecture for hot regions, contributing to a sustainable development through the vital area of energy efficiency in buildings and cities and, ultimately, to reduce poverty. The situation found in the participant countries was representative of many other countries in Africa, with developing economies often scarred by long-term armed conflicts. Building and urban renewal have an urgency that requires a different approach to the incorporation of renewable technologies from that in Europe. This is due to the scarcity of resources, the pressing demand for social housing and refurbished or new public buildings such as schools and hospitals, and the difficulties of implementing building and town planning regulations (often deficient or even non-existent). It is important to consider energy conservation through passive building design as a proven equivalent to renewable energy power generation. The project adapted well-established knowledge in this area to the economic and climatic context. Emphasis will be on net demand reduction rather than generation; this approach making less downstream demands for maintenance and replacement, and being more compatible with traditional life-styles. In non-domestic buildings, a high priority was the avoidance of air-conditioning. In the case of housing, it is important that basic comfort performance criteria are met, since failure in this respect will prompt the occupants to purchase package air-conditioners if and when reduced costs and improved finances allow. The project has also drawn from existing areas of expertise in post conflict reconstruction, trying to resolve inevitable conflicts between the short-term need, and the longer-term imperative of sustainability. It recognised, that in the area of housing in particular, there is much self-build, and it was acknowledged that the support materials must not only be accessible to the design professional but to the layman as well. The overall objective is to create a network of practical and scientific knowledge between African and European Universities, in the field of energy-efficient building and urban design. Training workshops, Seminars and Conferences were held in each of the African countries involved (Cape Verde, Guiné-Bissau, Angola and Mozambique). Within this programme different target groups (local politicians, teachers, professionals, students, self-builders) were addressed at appropriate levels. Academic and professional expertise from three E.U. Universities - namely the Higher Technical Institute (IST, Coord., Portugal), the University of Cambridge (UK) and the University of Lund (Sweden) - was organised to give the lectures at all training courses and workshops, and to contribute to documentary material. A database of information was set up, in cooperation with Academic Institutions in Africa, with information about tools, case study exemplars and teaching material in the field of sustainable, energy-efficient building and urban design. Best-practice manuals are also being published as a final outcome of the project. The basis for long term collaborative research on energy efficient and sustainable construction were developed during this 3- year E.U. COOPENER project