VILLA FARROBO BIOCLIMATIC VILLAS
With the ever-increasing demand for Eco-Friendly properties that also offer state-of-the-art living we took time out to talk with the team building Villa Farrobo, Rumor da Serra just outside the town of Sao Bras de Alportel, in the Algarve.
Please do tell us about what these villas offer:
The Villa Farrobo project offers a new concept to the Algarve offering newly built bioclimatic villas.
We use “passive” as opposed to “active” elements to maintain a comfortable living environment. We harness the sunshine to passively heat the house with radiant energy, as opposed to consuming gas to run a central heating system.
We will also use the shade from a pergola or overhangs to control summer heat penetrating the house, as opposed to the use of active air-conditioning. If you don’t allow the heat to enter in the first place, you don’t need to cool it down.
Passive elements have low maintenance and cost. Active elements are costly to run and maintain and require replacement.
These villas are ICF constructions or Insulated Concrete-filled Form constructions. This is an ideal solution to passive house design. The concrete-filled walls and floors offer airtightness and the ICF assures continuous hyperinsulation without thermal bridges. Also has a high thermal mass. The villa is built above ground, on stem footings, to eliminate any risk of rising damp.
We install high-performance double-glazed windows and doors. All joinery is treated for air tightness.
What does this mean in practice?
These houses need hardly any active heating or cooling of living spaces. Even when the sun does not shine in the winter for a few days or in extremely high temperatures in the summer, the building’s high thermal mass, together with the hyper-insulated walls and high-performance joinery, maintains a stable temperature.
The ventilation system, MVHR, sucks moisture and odors from the kitchen and bathrooms and exhausts them outside, at the same time providing a continuous supply of fresh filtered air. With the heat exchanger, the ambient temperature of the air is maintained. The filtered air is of particularly interesting for those suffering from pollen allergies.
The ventilation together with hyper-insulated walls free of thermal bridges, assure the indoor air quality. It is free of condensation, thus ensuring healthy and comfortable living. You’ll no longer need to wash down moldy walls, find mold growing on your clothes and behind furniture, and no more freezing draughts during high winds.
The climate in Portugal, particularly in the Algarve, is well known to be clement. However, winter, even with its positive temperatures, it is an ordeal. Normal housing in Portugal is not designed to deal with the cold. Many houses suffer a lack of insulation and proper heating. The houses are draughty and are difficult and expensive to heat. The walls become quickly covered in mold and the house smells. This is a potential health risk.
We use thermal solar panels to provide hot water. We can even install for you voltaic solar panels to cover your energy needs, should you wish to be independent.
The architectural shape and the orientation of the house are designed to get the best out of the villa’s environment. Shading, sunlight, wind protection, and rain shelter are elements that are considered.
How do you live in a bioclimatic house?
With common sense. During a hot sunny day, you close windows and lower the shutters. At night you open the windows and let in cool air. In the winter, you allow the maximum of sunlight to come into the house and benefit from passive heating.
A bioclimatic house is an investment in your future and a smarter way of living.
For anyone interested in buying your next home offering this system please check out the links below from local Real Estate Agent, Quintas & Casas who also have an office in Sao Bras de Alportel on the Avenida.