SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE

Since the UNO World Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 the issues of sustainable development became studied thoroughly in all the branches of sience and technology. Architecture and construction soon followed this trend. The International Council for Building Research (CIB) organized the first international symposium on sustainable construction in Tampa (Florida) in 1994, and there a first tentative definition of sustainable construction had been coined by Kilbert (USA) as `creation and responsible management of a healthy built environment on resource efficient and ecological principles´. Outstanding issues delivered from these principles are: the quality of indoor air, the amount of energy used for heating and air-conditioning of buildings, waste management, durable and `environment-friendly´ building materials, housing for the poor, etc