Author(s)

A. van Hal & J. van Ettekoven

Abstract

There is almost no demand for sustainable housing and building products by consumers in the Netherlands. However, evaluations of sustainable built houses have shown that people living in sustainable houses do appreciate a lot of these products. The lack of interest can be explained by the lack of knowledge and experience. People don’t ask for what’s unknown. This fact leads to the idea of using holiday houses to inform people about the attractiveness of sustainable products. A Dutch research focussed on the most effective way to attract people who are not extremely interested in the environment but not disinterested either, the so called cultural creatives. This research resulted in a design of holiday houses on a former military airbase as an example of effective marketing of sustainable housing innovations. Keywords: sustainable products, holiday houses, marketing, architecture. 1 Research into the appreciation of sustainable housing and building products There is almost no demand for sustainable housing and building products by consumers in the Netherlands. However, evaluations of sustainable built houses have shown that people living in sustainable houses do appreciate a lot of these products. The lack of interest can be explained by the lack of knowledge and experience. People don’t ask for what’s unknown. A Dutch research (van Ettekoven [2]) focussed on the most effective way to attract people who are not extremely interested in the environment but not disinterested either, the so called cultural creatives.

Keywords

sustainable products, holiday houses, marketing, architecture.