Buildings at Linneuniversitetet

Hello again from Sweden, it’s been a while. From the look of the blog, you’ve all been making quite a bit of head way. I thought I’d write a little about the buildings on campus today.

One evident piece of work being done to make the university here more sustainable is in the design of buildings. They have heavy doors, large air-locks, great insulation, and always an abundance of natural light. Nearly all the buildings have skylights and the floor to ceiling windows found in many rooms are extremely thick. (It’s quite cold out right now, but when I touch the window to my left it only feels slightly cooler than the room. I have a feeling the windows in Phillips might fail this test.) On many of these windows there are automatic shades that sense the level of sunlight coming in and lower to prevent glare. There are also rooms within the buildings that have glass walls, allowing sunlight to penetrate far past the periphery. Structures are also built with their exposure to the sun in mind. Over south facing windows there are awnings that work to shade against the summer sun, and the north face of buildings are typically less exposed. Overall, the theme here seems to be well thought out construction that focuses on energy conservation.