18 SUSTAINABILITY & ENERGY EFFICIENCY
One of the things that makes the building so good is, says Solk, that it is ‘phenomenally airtight’. It is always junctions that are a potential source of air leakage, so these had to be well detailed and well executed. As well as the architect’s skill in detailing, this is also a tribute to its skill in producing documentation.
The contract was a two-stage design and build, where shortlisted design and build contractors go through a value-engineering exercise before the client makes the final choice. Here the contractor took on Sheppard Robson, but this new relationship can potentially be fraught, because of the shift in the balance of power.
The trick, says Solk, is ‘that you have to make sure the employer’s document is “airtight” itself.’ With strict performance criteria, the contractor then needed the architect to help it achieve them. Another energy-saving innovation was to make the lighting respond to the levels of daylight, so that it only comes on to supplement the natural light, and then only to the degree that is necessary.
The building has its own energy centre, with a combined heat and power plant providing some of the electricity needed and all the heat. This is gas-fired. Biomass was not a workable alternative, as it needs to run constantly, and therefore needs constant demand – a swimming pool for example. In addition, says Solk, ‘biomass still hasn’t been proved to work for CHP’. Should a district heating project for the area become available later, the energy centre will make it simple to connect to it.
Natural ventilation was not an option for this building, as it has busy, noisy roads on every side. Instead, it uses energy for ventilation and cooling as effectively as possible. There are free chillers on the roof – chillers which use the temperature difference of the external and internal air to provide some of the cooling, and so are more energy efficient than conventional electric chillers. There is a price premium, says Solk, but on this building it was deemed worthwhile. Cooling within rooms then comes via active chilled beams.
Energy usage is so important, that it is easy to forget that there are other issues as well in making a building environmentally friendly. At the Rosebowl, the flat roofs gather water, which is used to flush the WCs – which are, of course, low water-use appliances.
The form of the lecture theatre intrudes into the atrium
The lecture bowl is clad in green opaque glass
The central internal space is intended as an extension of the external civic space
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