Abstract Body

In cities and settlement areas, the promotion of biodiversity is gaining importance because, on the one hand, biodiversity is dwindling due to intensive agriculture and the loss of habitats; on the other hand, cities offer a variety of microclimates and niches for habitats (plant communities) and animals, which can be promoted through sustainable planning. The aim of this paper is to develop a feasible concept for a building envelope to promote biodiversity taking into account the surrounding habitats while addressing the specific needs of target species. To do so, it was necessary to conceptualize a framework merging vision and competences of architects and environmental engineers. The study case is a family house in Gattikon (Zurich, Switzerland), belonging to the Swiss architectural office VBAU and subjected to renovation.

The first step was to run a site analysis of the building surroundings and focused on mapping local habitats and animal species occurrence as well as on shadow analysis concerning the building itself. The analysis revealed wildlife barriers and enabled to identify several target habitats such as "mesophilic herbaceous fringe", "warm dry wall" and "woodruff beech forest" and some target species such as the European hedgehog, the greater mouse-eared bat, the redstart, the house martin, the sand lizard and the masked bee. The second step was to identify the criteria to rule out habitats and species to be used by means of an exclusion procedure. The third step was to embed the results of the ecological analysis and to develop a concept for the design of the façade. For this, bricks were used as feasible material to create a structured green façade that mimics the selected habitats while meeting the ecological requirements of the selected target species.

In conclusion, of the choice to use habitats as reference model facilitated plant selection for the façade greening and, in turn, the target species selection proved beneficial in structuring the façade while providing hints for the garden layout.