Environmental-Friendly design

-Keeping in mind the building's operating and maintenance issues while still in the designing process gives you improved working environment, higher productivity, minimized energy and resource costs and prevention from system failure.

Over the past decades, some changes had to be made. In the past, not a lot of attention was given to our planet, and this made a huge negative impact many years later. Today, a lot of education and awareness is given to pay attention and respect to our environment. 
 Designers and architects came up with a different range of inventions and disciplines to design environmental-friendly landscapes, buildings, products and much more.

Some characteristics that one should keep in mind when designing for environmental-friendly are ;

Optimizing Site Potential
-One should always select the best site. Maybe even reusing or rehabilitating existing buildings. The landscape and location of a building effect transportation methods and energy use. 

Optimizing Energy Use
-The designer also has to keep in mind the decreasing demand for fossil fuels and the impacts of global climate changes. It is essential to find a way to reduce the energy load as much as possible, and increase the efficiency and the use of renewable energy.

Protecting and conserving Water
-In a number of countries including Malta, fresh water is scarce. A sustainable building should have a system to treat and store rain water, and also re-use it if possible. The effort to get reverse osmosis or government-provided water on site consumes a lof of energy in pumping, transporting and treating. 

Optimizing Building Space and Material Use
-It is also important to choose wisely the materials needed for construction. They need to minimize as much as possible the environmental impacts such as global warming and human toxicity. Health and safety on site is also an important issue for the worker.
Enhancing Indoor Environment Qualities
-The indoor environment effects a number of qualities on a human being, such as comfort, health and also productivity. The indoors also have to be properly light up by daylight, good ventilation and moisture control.

Optimizing Operating and Maintenance Practices

A facade of a sustainable designed building with closed windows that open automatically every hour, depending on the sunlight to save light.

The same facade but with some of the windows opened.Solar-Panels, a common energy-saver to decrease the use of electricity.The use of huge windows was initially used in the Bauhaus movement, and is still used today to get in as much daylight as possible, almost like having a sky-light.

not mentioned. (2013). Warm and Household Pleasant Residence with Sustainable Characteristics in Venice Read more http://www.bestofinteriors.com/other/warm-and-household-pleasant-residence-with-sustainable-characteristics-. Available: http://www.bestofinteriors.com/other/warm-and-household-pleasant-residence-with-sustainable-characteristics-in-venice/. Last accessed 14th january 2014.