Passive Town Kurobe Model – A sustainable community project in Kurobe

Passive Town Kurobe Model is conceptualised to be a sustainable community project in Kurobe City, Japan with a population of about 42000, and home to several international industries. This housing complex with 36 units will be rented to the employees’ families and other citizens. The construction is scheduled to be completed in March 2016. As a possible model of Sustainable Community for the near future, the project aims social, economic, and environment solutions through the use of high natural potentials of the region, low-energy passive design techniques in the building and landscape towards reducing high energy consumption, symbiotic and responsive living with the social and natural environment milieu to activate the local community. “Advanced Passive Climate Charts” and other design tools are utilized to discuss design strategies with relevant details. Natural comfort is expected to be accounted for by utilizing the local climate potentials, such as: warmness, coolness according to the varied seasons while envisaging new lifestyles open to nature as well as the social environment. Energy consumption in the apartment is expected to be reduce through the use of passive design techniques, renewable bio-energy and solar panels, and active mechanical systems. The project is envisaged to be a possible local solution for global issues to respond to social-lifestyle changes and peoples’ needs, and supplementing economic necessities through reduce energy and water consumption, and a possible alternative solution to the nature-human dichotomy in some modern habitats milieu.