The large number of innovative energy concepts which have been elaborated today to the stage of practicability open up new opportunities for contemporary architectural design. Energy concepts which pursue the aim of making optimum use of every available energy potential make the building itself an essential component of the basic energy logistics.

Passivehouses in Europe with a specific energyrequirement of less than 30kWh/(m2a) total for heating, tap warm water, ventilation and household electricity have been realized in Darmstadt, FRG. Four families live in the dwellings with extreme thermal insulation, heat recovery and optimized use of passive solar energy. The measurement program includes more than 200 sensors; temperatures, comfort, energy flows, air flows and indoor air quality are monitored. With dynamic simulation comprising about 2000 cases of alternative design of the building components the project was optimized.

Two identical apartment buildings were built, one in Germany, and one in Sweden, in 1986. The idea was to create energy efficient housing at a low cost, using Swedish building technology and German heating and ventilation technology. The Swedish building code, which is more stringent in terms of energy conservation than the German one, was applied in both countries. The paper examines the performance of the buildings.

Intermittent heating patterns, characteristic of Israel and other countries with a mild winter enable energy · conservation at the expense of very high peak energy consumption; · very low levels of thermal comfort; and surface condensation and mould growth problems. The paper summarizes a research project which included analysis of total daily energy consumption, partial energy during evening (peak) hours, weighted cost of total energy, improved thermal comfort, internal surface temperatures -of the external envelope, and surface temperatures of partitions.

The Norwegian solar low energy dwelling developed within Task 13 of the International Energy Agency's Solar Heating and Cooling Programme, is a two-storey row house apartment of approximately 120 m² floor area. The IEA dwelling is being constructed at Hamar, 120 km north of Oslo, and it will be used for media personel lodging during the Winter Olympics in 1994. The IEA dwelling will be superinsulated, with U-values of 0.11, 0.14, and 0.13 W/m^2.K for roof, walls and floor respectively.

The inventory of organics in the air of a ten year old office building shows a wide variety of natural and synthetical volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Although 240 employees consume 1200 - 1500 cigarettes per day, the effective ventilation system reduces the ETS rapidly, however, aromatic hydrocarbons and some natural compounds still remain in the air in the higher μg/m3-range. Systematic analyses of volatile compounds of all cleansers used shows that they are sources of higher limonene amounts. Aromatics entered by way of "fresh air'' intake near the parking entrance at street level.

This paper summarizes negative psychological and physiological effects associated with underground buildings, identifies design strategies to alleviate them, and evaluates the effectiveness of some of these design techniques. The focus of the paper is on deep underground space with limited connection to the surface environment. A case study of design strategies used in deep underground office space is presented, and two proposed projects that further illustrate design techniques for deep milled space underground environments are described.