Sustainable Architecture
Except is an architecture and consultancy firm for sustainable architecture, sustainable urban design and sustainable planning & development in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. We work on sustainable design internationally and locally with a wide network of partners. We are a consultancy firm for sustainable building, architecture, densification, and symbiosis between the built environment, nature and urbanization.
Sustainable Urban Design
We design sustainable buildings, passive houses, residences, private houses, ecological designs, insituttional and cultural buildings and architecture. We work with greenhouses, wintergardens, vertical agriculture, zero-energy buildings and zero-carbon architecture. Our work is international in its scope, with projects in the United States, China, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and Sweden. We work exclusively on ecological, environmentally sustainable buildings, eco-architecture and green buildings.
We believe it's time for a new kind of architecture: collaborative, performance oriented, sustainable and exciting. Buildings that work better for clients, over a longer period of time, creates space for people to shape their own world and make the world a better place for individuals, ecosystems and society as a whole.
Sustainable building means building for the long term, energy generating, ecological materials, minmizing waste and recycling water. However a building by itself is never sustainable, it is the system in which it operates that determines its actual performance, performance that cannot be measured using LEED, BREEAM or other tools.
Therefore, architecture is not just about buildings or urban plans, but equally about what’s in between buildings, interactions with people, industrial systems, agriculture, transportation, the environment, culture and the way all this combines into the composition that is society.
We believe that the only sustainable approach is a scientifically researched integrated approach where all these factors are combined and researched together with client, contractor and consultants. This approach leads to optimized solutions that are cost-effective, beautiful and functional while ensuring proper advances in sustainability.
Integrated Sustainable Design
Using the knowledge and expertise of our sustainability consultancy department we can integrate proper sustainability practices from the start, and help others do so as well. We develop zero-impact, energy neutral or positive buildings, agricultural integration, ecological designs and more for private parties as well as governments.
By organizing all parties using integrated project methods the needs of the client can be met and even surpassed, if all members of the construction chain aim for the same goal. Exceptional results can be obtained though co-operation and proper strategical management.
Re-Use and Urban Redevelopment
We make inspiring design unique to its place, providing solid functionality while at the same time improving living situations on a city, neighborhood, dwelling, and personal level.
We hold true to the Trias Architectura, re-use where possible, and therefore try to work with existing buildings. If that’s not an option we make sure newly built things can last as long as possible, technically, economically and culturally. That’s why we specialize in inventing new typologies that allow change of use over time, and strategies that allow mixed use whenever the desires of the market, the users or the client changes.
Sustainable Design Consultancy
Except does not only develop advanced sustainable design, it also consults other design practices how to do so. We develop our own methodology called Symbiosis in Design to keep track of the complex aspects related to economy, ecology, function and use of our designs. We embrace Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Building Simulation Software. With our specialized communications department we can bring project presentations to a new level, and use it as a design tool to test our work constantly in a real-world simulated environment.
Symbiotic Relationships
We aim for symbiotic relationships with surrounding forces, and making the most of limited resources. Our work continues a dialogue with the history of art and culture, and instead of developing a signature style, we develop signature solutions.
We love challenges and complexity, and constantly try to learn more about the world we live in. We are in a constant dialogue with developments and designs of the past, as well as theories and philosophies of the present and future.
