The 2005 World Sustainable Building Conference,

20-009 Tokyo, 27-29 September 2005 (SB05Tokyo)

REFÚGIO BIOLÓGICO BELA VISTA: A CASE STUDY ON SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

Miguel Aloysio SATTLER Ph.D

Departamento de Engenharia Civil, NORIE – Núcleo Orientado para a Inovação da Edificação, Universidade
Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Osvaldo Aranha, 99 - 3° andar, Porto Alegre, CEP 90035-190, Porto
Alegre, RS, Brazil, sattler@ufrgs.br

Keywords: demonstration Centre, sustainable design, sustainability, construction

Summary
This paper presents the principles and design guidelines, as well as the results of their implementation, that
were adopted in the design and construction of several buildings and open air spaces for the Refugio
Biologico Bela Vista (RBV), located close and in the same site where Itaipu Dam, one of the largest
hidroelectricity plants in the world, is situated. Besides functional and aesthetic requirements, inherent to a
project of architecture, the design team made an strong effort in order to respond to the client´s desire to
have the environmental performance emphasized on the proposed complex.

1. Introduction
The design proposals for remodeling the existing Biological Refuge Bela Vista (RBV), part of the Itaipu Dam
complex, located in Foz do Iguaçu, south of Brazil, was commissioned to NORIE - Núcleo Orientado para a
Inovação da Edificação, in the second semester of 2000. NORIE constitutes a section, dealing with
Construction, in the Post-Graduate Course in Civil Engineering, at the Federal University of Rio Grande do
Sul. RBV constitutes one of five biological refuges, which are located on the shores of Itaipu Binational dam.
The purpose of these refuges is the regeneration of areas affected by the implementation of the dam and the
preservation of native species. RBV has an area of 1,920 hectares, aiming at the reproduction of wild
animals, the production of seedlings to reforest the dam’s shores, the conduction of experiments with flora
and fauna, as well as actions related to environmental education. Considering the importance of
environmental education at RBV, both the constructions and the whole built environment were requested to
be designed in such a way to determine a less damaging impact on the environment and a more efficient
use of materials and energy resources.
The importance of this project, that was open to public visitation in 2004, is that it was the first to be
designed and built, in Brazil, in accordance to a large range of sustainability guidelines and including a whole
set of sustainability dimensions: social, environmental, economical, cultural and political. With 23 new, more
sustainable, buildings it is very likely that it constitutes the largest of its kind on the whole of Latin America. In
addition to that, the local setting for its location is also impressive, as it is located on the shores of Itaipu lake
(that has an area of approximately 140,000 ha), for whose preservation more than 100,000 ha of
reforestation, with more than one hundred native species of trees, was implemented by the RBV staff, in a
period of nearly 20 years (Figure 1),.

Figure 1 RBV: general view of the area of production of seedlings for reforestation of the lake borders.

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2. Preliminary steps
The whole process of design of RBV was very rewarding to the design team, led by NORIE, due to the
efforts and commitment of the client to have a more sustainable solution for the site. After some initial
contacts, NORIE was invited to present to a selected and multidisciplinary group of ITAIPU staff, the
principles governing more sustainable projects, particularly those that have been taught to engineering and
architecture undergraduate and postgraduate students at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.
Happy with that, ITAIPU asked for help in order to elaborate a contract, that should include the guidelines
that could direct the project towards a more sustainable result. The result of this interaction led to a
document, which stated that, for the initial steps of the design process, the following should be aimed at by
the design team:
• More sustainable construction materials for used in the buildings, giving preference to those that
could be locally found, if necessary doing laboratory tests to be secure of their characteristics;
• Use of materials of low embodied energy or recycled materials;
• Adoption of design strategies related to passive solar architecture;
• Use of flat plate solar collector and PV systems;
• Investigation of the possibility of using non-toxic paints and varnishes for wood, in general;
• Water conservation devices for showers, toilets, kitchen and of for the use of water, in general;
• Use of rainwater for irrigation, as well as for flushing toilets;
• Adoption of productive landscaping strategies (for the production of food and other vegetal species,
of frequent use);
• Use “black waters” for biogas production, to be used for water heating or in cookers and
refrigerators;
• Adoption of permaculture (for the positioning of the different elements of the built environment;
composting; creation of special niches for controlling air temperature and humidity; creation of
pergolas, etc.).
After a consultancy constract signed between ITAIPU and NORIE, a visit was made to the site (that was
more a thousand kilometres far from the University) by the design team, constituted by post-graduate
students and members of a local architecture office (Tresce Arquitetura e Urbanismo Ltda.), that from then
on would become participant in the team. The activities assigned to the students became tasks constituting
part of a post-graduate discipline (Regenerative Design) and whose results were to be assessed as such.
The activities developed on the site included: interviews with the future users of the different functional
spaces; interviews with the Itaipu team involved with environmental education and responsible for Itaipu
Ecomuseum; visit to the site were different sorts of demolition and deconstruction residues were deposited.
Another important step, in the initial stages of the design process, was a charrette, conducted a few weeks
after the visit, that included the participation of all the visitors to the site, as well as some specialist guests
(including the late ecologist José Lutzemberger, a recipient of the ‘Right Livelihood Award’), in a large
interdisciplinary team. The charrette that lasted for nearly three days, was developed in a quiet and inspiring
site (Rincão Gaia, created by Jose Lutzemberger). The activities developed at Rincão Gaia led to the
development of sustainability guidelines to be applied in the design, as well as to the definition of the
concept that, from then on, would direct the activities of the whole design team. A report of the described
steps and including the outcome of the charrette was produced by the students, as part of the assessment of
the discipline.

3. Sustainability guidelines
The results from the charrette included a set of design guiding elements, that were called sustainability
guidelines for the Revitalisation Project of Refugio Biologico Bela Vista. Such guidelines included:
• The concept that orientates the project, that is based on the four elements of nature – water, air,
earth and fire;
• The proposition of architectural typologies, focusing on topics like: use of materials, energy
consumption, universal accessibility, among others;
• Strategies related to environmental comfort in the buildings and their fitting to the local climate
characteristics, such as: passive solar heating; daylighting; thermal mass;
• Strategies for using alternative energy sources: Wind, sun, biogas;
• Directives for water management, focusing on strategies for reuse, consumption reduction and
wastewater treatment;

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• Directives for residues management, according to principles like: maximum use of residues and
decentralised management and treatment:
• Directives for landscaping;
• Criteria for choosing construction materials, focusing on issues related to environmental impact.
Some of the design guidelines are briefly discussed below:

3.1 Design concept

The concept of the four elements: earth, water, air and fire, was the basis for launching the architectural and
implementation proposals for the Refugio, as a whole. These elements lead to meanings that enrich a
design and demonstrate the harmonic relationships in nature, where each element is of fundamental
importance to the balance and sustainability of life.
The vision of the project, from the perspective of the four elements of nature, refers also to the main mission
of the Refugio - to approach sustainability - through the integration of man and nature, occupying and
exploiting the environment in an adequate and integrated way.
With basis on the four elements of nature, an integrative concept of forms and natural resources was sought,
in association with the human intervention, aiming at the development of the architectural and urban design
of RBV. This concept orientated the proposals, in search for an inspiration that would integrate nature and
man in a more harmonious balance.
Vale and Vale (1991) stated that “to the ancients, all matter was composed of the four elements of earth,
water, fire and air, in varying proportions. Today the composition of matter is known to be far more complex,
but the four elements still provide a useful way of looking at how buildings interact with the world. For
buildings are constructed of materials taken from the earth, they are serviced with water and ‘fire’, and they
interact with the air, water, ‘fire’ and earth that their occupants depend upon for survival”.
Thus, to respond to the request made by Itaipu Binational, a general concept was defined, suggesting the
use of a theme for the architectural proposal. Having the concept received a very good response from the
contractors, both the outdoor areas, the buildings, or their components, and the equipment were designed
with inspiration in the four, above mentioned, basic elements. These were used as symbols to guide the
designers, but also looking forward to use a more friendly language with future visitors (expected at an initial
average rate of 50,000 visitors/year).
The guidance provided by the elements led to the creation of several passive or environmental strategies to
generate a more environmentally friendly product. The use of roof gardens and roof ponds, heat exchangers,
sensitive gardens, in the proposal, can be mentioned as examples of the relationship between the adopted
design elements and the used strategies. With regard to the element earth, for example, the beauty of the
vegetation of the green roofs (see Figure 2), is expected to catch the visitors curiosity. This is expected to be
followed by an increase in the understanding of the used technologies and the role of the element earth and
of nature, as a whole, in this process.

Figure 2 The building of the Sun and the Moon (that houses animals of diurnal and nocturnal habits).
3.2 Selection of low-impact building materials
The selection of building materials should be guided by its influence on the natural environment, its durability
and health effects determined by its use (CIB, 1999). The environment can be badly damaged by the
exploitation of natural resources if they do not match the rate of their renewal.
Embodied energy as well as the potentially generated residues were considered. Unhealthy building
materials, producing toxic emissions during the production process or during the use phase were avoided.

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PVC is an example of material that in its production generates two byproducts, both frequently referred by
the literature (EBN, 2004) as toxic and carcinogenic.
Thus, the guidelines for selecting building materials were:
1. maximization of the reuse of construction residues, using those available on-site (mainly residual
materials from Itaipu hidroelectricity dam construction);
2. not being the above enough to supply all needs, the use, as far as possible, of low impact materials,
such as ceramic bricks or wood coming from sustainably managed forests, was recommended;
3. use of locally available products, to decrease fossil fuel consumption due to transportation. This will
also allow the maintenance of constructive characteristics inherent to the local culture, and the
employment of local labor;
4. elimination or reduction of the use of products that present proven toxicity, as PVC, asbestos and
other toxic chemicals, such as those usually used for wood preservation.

3.3 Use of passive systems for environmental control

The bioclimatic design of buildings for Foz do Iguaçu, due do the occurrence of a wide seasonal climatic
variations, should had to find a compromise between two different strategies: thermal mass (winter) and
ventilation (summer). Thus, design solutions had to explore maximum ventilation in summer, but allowing the
storage of heat in the winter. Therefore, the use of efficient openings to promote good ventilation in summer
(cross ventilation) and hygienic ventilation in winter was proposed. In addition, for the winter condition, the
openings were designed to enable solar access, for internal heating, and present an efficient thermal
insulation, as double glass, to avoid heat losses, in airtight windows. The use of deciduous vegetation
around buildings was also specified for the shading of façades and openings, in summer, without restricting
the winter solar gains.

3.4 Creation of attractive spaces to RBV users

The integration between RBV’s users and the natural landscape constitutes an important strategy for raising
environmental awareness as well as for enhancing the quality of life of the local employees. On that regard,
the proposal leading to landscape design was devised in such a way that it could be used as an educational
tool. Having this purpose in mind the proposal was to create:
• an arboretum of regional native species, backed by information technology systems, to better inform
both locals and visitors about the richness of regional flora;
• spots for sensorial experimentation of vegetation, each one of them emphasizing a sense (sight,
taste, smell, touch and hearing). For example, by letting visitors experience the smell of different
aromatic or perfumed flowering native species.
As stressed by Day (1999), “the senses tell us about what is important in our surroundings; mostly, we
experience things through the outer senses: sight, smell, taste, sound, warmth, touch. Architecture, in the
sense of environmental design, is the art of nourishing these senses”.
In order to improve the life quality of RBV’s employees, the design proposed a deep permeability between
working areas and natural landscape, respecting the required thermal comfort considerations and following
biophilia hypothesis, that stresses the positive relationship between human contact with nature and
psychological well-being, physical health and decrease of stress (Ulrich, 1993).

Figure 3 A view of RBV administration buildings and of the Visitors Reception Building (at the centre).

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4. Following steps
The outcome of the charrette oriented the design team for the next stages of the work. After the immersion in
the activities and discussions developed during the charrette and at later steps, that resulted in a conceptual
design, and with the aid of the NORIE team in sustainability matters, the architectural office team was able to
conduct the design work from then on. Periodical presentations were made to the contractor and the NORIE
team followed the different stages of the design, supplying the architectural office with assistance on
sustainability matters. The students participation was enabled by the creation of a new postgraduate
discipline (Regenerative Design in Practice)..

4.1 Environmental Reference Document

Before the design work finished, the contractor took another important initiative: to order an Environmental
Reference Document In addition to other actions, ITAIPU ordered an Environmental Reference Document,
that was produced by a private Environmental Design office, that had already some experience on the
subject, having developed some similar work for Iguaçu Falls Park, also located in the municipality of Foz do
Iguaçu. The document had the purpose of subsidising, regulating, discipline and orientate the actions of the
construction companies making a bid to take over the construction work. The document, among other,
issues had the intention to:
• orientate the actions so to be environmentally correct;
• to be sure that the works would follow the concepts of sustainability and minimum impact;
• Allow studies and research in sustainable construction.
The Environmental Reference Document informed also that all environmental costs, direct or indirect,
resulting from the expected activities would be of total responsibility of the private company and those should
be include in the bid. The Environmental Reference Document was divided in items, regarding the actions to
be developed, including those:
1. Before the implementation of the works – associated to the environmental education of all
participants in the construction;
2. During construction of the buildings and other structures – with orientation about care to be
taken in relation to soil, plants, transport inside and outside the construction field, to the
residues generated and to the reuse of materials, and to the storage of construction
materials;
3. Residues management – regarding the management and separation of all the packages and
about its destination;
4. Petrol and oils – recommendation about care for not contaminating the environment;
5. Washing and cleaning – recommending the use of biodegradable products in the cleaning
of materials and its recipients, as well as about the destination for the cleaned recipients.
6. Noises and gases – recommending the minimisation of emissions of pollutants;
7. Social sustainability – prioritising the hiring of local workmanship;
8. Safety and cleanliness in the work – referring to the regulations.

4. Conclusion
The construction work was not followed by NORIE, that finished its participation in the design work in 2001.
We are aware that RBV was open to the public in 2004 and are very proud of our participation in its
conception. We believe that with the demonstration of sustainable processes and technologies, in a project
like the one of Refugio Biológico Bela Vista, where it is implicit the search for visibility of sustainability issues,
as a result of its aim of environmental education, a major constribution will be achieved to the society
sensitisation for the importance of the participation of each one, as well as all of us, in a complex cycle in the
preservation, generation a recovery of natural resources. It should be stressed that for obtaining success in
environmental education projects, like the one of RBV, it is necessary to combine a didactics of motivation
for catching the attention, the use of adequate terminology and to seek a simplicity in the operation of
mechanisms. This will enable the efficient use of limited resources, that are issues of great importance at the
moment of demonstration, for the appropriation of systems that are alternative to the traditional ones.
We should recognise the singularity of the situation associated to the project of RBV, where designers and
the contractor share the same aspiration, and inspiration, of contributing to offer to society an example of
more sustainable alternatives to the traditional processes of construction of the built environment, mainly
considering that such kind of initiative are still very rare in Brazil.

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We understand that the appropriation and adoption of these alternative systems by society only will occur as
result of a new optic, a new way of seeing, of understanding, a new world, that necessarily only will be
durable if ruled by the ethical principles of sustainability and while expressed through an aesthetic, that
incorporates and enables the visualisation of such principles.
We are informed about such sustainability optic, about this new looking to man, his habitat and his
supporting systems, by means of a large number of documents, like Our Common Future, the Bruntland
Report, the Agenda 21, and by an even larger number of written contributions, including those specific to the
construction sector, published in various countries. We will be following the ethical principles of
sustainability when our projects and actions take into consideration, as referred by McDonough and
Braungart (2002), “all the children, of all the species, for all the time”. And, finally, we will be directing our
projects according to the aesthetics of sustainability, when they express, physically, this optic and this
ethic, such as referred by Colombo (2004), “the aesthetics of one construction does not consider only the
plastic beauty, but the quality of its characteristics in favour of the quality of life, individual and collective,
present and future”.
In fact, we must recognise that the project was, only, a shared attempt between designers and the contractor,
to build something in a more sustainable way than what is being built nowadays in our country. But it does
contribute, nevertheless, to the building of new paradigms. We recognise, and must have the humility of
doing so, that we are just beginning a change in the degenerative processes associated to our usual design
and construction practices, and that a lot has still to be learnt in order to progress in the direction that will
enable us to propose solutions that are, in fact, sustainable.

References
Colombo, C.R. 2004, Theoretical and Practical Principles for the Education of Civil Engineers: A Perspective
of a Civil Construction Oriented Towards Sustainable Development. Florianópolis. 338 p. PhD Thesis.
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Produção, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (in
Portuguese).
CIB. 1999, Agenda 21 on sustainable construction. Rotterdam, Netherlands. 120p. Report Publication 237.
Day, C. 1999, Places of the soul – Architecture and Environmental Design as a Healing Art. Thorsons.
EBN. 2004. Environmental Building News – The Leading Newsletter on Environmentally Responsible Design
& Construction. Vol. 13, n. 3, p.1.
McDonough, W. and Braungart, M. 2002, Cradle to Cradle – Remaking the Way we Make Things. New York,
North Point Press.
Ulrich, R.S. 1993, Biophilia, biophobia and natural landscapes. In Kellert, S.R. and Wilson, E.D. (eds.), The
biophilia hypothesis. Washington, DC: Island Press/Shearwater Books.
Vale, B. and Vale, R. 1991, Green architecture – design for na energy conscious future. Boston: Bulfinch.

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