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UNIT 5: THE SUSTAINABLE SITING, DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF TOURISM FACILITIES
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Additional lighting needs are provided by task lighting, custom decorative wall
lustre, and limited overhead fixtures.
With regard to the building’s thermal design, double-glazing is a feature, as it was
built before the time of high-efficiency windows. A sheath of insulation separates
the outer brick layer from the precast-concrete structure. The structure itself is
used to store heat from simple passive solar measures and from internal gains
such as lighting, equipment and people. Additional heat is supplied through
radiators connected to a 100m3 hot-water storage system in the basement. This
water is heated by a combined heat and power facility located within the structure
and by heat recovery from the elevator motors and computer rooms. The building
also makes use of air-to-air heat-exchangers, which capture heat from outgoing
exhaust air and transfer the heat into intake air.
The building is not air-conditioned, relying instead on the thermal storage capacity
of the building fabric, mechanical ventilation, natural ventilation through openable
windows, and a back-up absorption cooling system powered by waste heat from
the combined heating and power system.
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Design integration extends into interior decoration through artwork, plants and
water. Circulation spaces throughout the bank are filled with artworks. For
example, pieces of coloured metal in the top of the tower atriums reflect coloured
light down to light sculptures in the base of the atriums, which then bathe the
surrounding plastered walls with coloured light. In keeping with the desire for
natural materials, interiors are finished with a simple palette of materials - texture
paint over the precast concrete, wood trim, with wood-slat and some drop ceilings.
In addition, where the brass plate covering an expansion joint in a major corridor
travels up a wall, it becomes a piece of relief sculpture by being recessed into the
wall and surrounded by a fan of coloured marble and cove lights.
Rooftops, courtyards, atriums and other interior spaces are landscaped using
a variety of garden styles. Cisterns capture rainwater for use in fountains and
landscaping. Flow sculptures that maintain a pulsing stream from a constant flow
of water are used extensively, even as handrails for multi-story ramps. Beyond
their visual appeal, the water features serve to add moisture to the air.
ING Bank reports that construction costs for the building were 3,000 Dutch gilders
per square metre of land, structure, landscaping, art, furniture and equipment.
In the mid-1980s, this was comparable to or cheaper than, other office buildings
in the Netherlands. In terms of energy savings, the building consumes 0.4
gigajoules/m2 annually. (ING Bank’s former head office building consumed 4.8
gigajoules/m2 of energy annually). The additional construction costs attributed to
the building’s energy systems was around $700,000, however the annual energy
savings are estimated at $2.6 million (Vale, 1991, and Olivier, 1992).
Other benefits of the better work environment are a drop in employee absenteeism
and a great improvement in the bank’s corporate image.
2. Plymouth College of Further Education, UK
Plymouth College of Further Education (PCFE) provides a range of degree
programmes, 300 vocational courses, 30 different General National Vocational
Qualifications, over 20 A Levels and GCSEs and several ‘return to learn’
programmes. The entire college has over 20,000 students. The Department of
Hotel, Leisure and Beauty, is one the largest departments of PCFE, with over 2,000
students, offering degree-level and vocational programmes.