2009 - Studio Project

Award: 4th Place at the Colorado USGBC - Emerging Green Builders Natural Talent Design Competition

Project: New UCD Architecture Building, designed to be a beyond net zero energy performing building.

Description:

Each leaf of the building reaches out from campus to city while maximizing the north south orientation for optimal solar gain within the interstitial wall system. Floor plates spiral gently to expose exterior moments at each floor for vegetated balconies. The entire building is daylight harvested to over 95% of its usable spaces through exterior windows and a spine of diffused light runs through the core of the building, speckled with micro wind turbines that create a symbiotic relationship with the 4 mph exhaust air barreling through the light shaft producing necessary energy for the building. Air movement is optimized by angling one wall to create a natural rise in air from positive to negative pressure. The entire building uses a fresh intake system through the two wind towers at each end of the building no recycled air is put back into the system. These towers help cool or warm the air as it travels down and becomes tempered to the earth's temperature. A water piped heat exchange system is used to further warm or cool the air before it is then forced through the structure with (16) 20cfm fans (eight fans for each side of the building). The floor systems is composed of a Cupolex aerated raised floor system which allows the buildings air supply to move through the structure and store within the thermal mass of the floor plates. The occupants can open or close supply vents on the floor to adjust for their comfort level. A night flush

system is also used to cool the building down at night which pulls the cooler night air through exterior vents and open windows of the double skin and is augmented with the air from the wind towers and then exhausted through the light atrium. The interstitial wall system on the south side of the building serves many purposes. First the hot air generated in this wall rises from the thermal gradient and is pumped back down into the basement to warm the water coils for heating in the winter and hot water supply. Extra water heat is stored in the back up boiler when needed. Second the interior south facing wall of the interstitial wall system is covered in black photovoltaic panels which help to heat the air and produce the thermal gradient to move the air up the wall system while collecting energy for electricity. Water pipes are also inside this interstitial wall to provide hot water for the building and also for storage in the basement. During summer months the hot air can be vented to the outside when not needed at the top of the wall and opened up during the night to breath in cool air. Photovoltaics are incorporated on the south roof of the building and in the interstitial wall system to provide 27.4% of the buildings electricity. A green roof is on the south roof and integrated on north building façade at each level. Native low plant species that require little or no maintenance and watering are used throughout these spaces. The building has energy efficient lighting and incorporates automatic dimming and shut off. The walls are insulated to an R value of 32 with the roof insulated to an R value of 40. The building has a 77% reduction in energy (without renewable) when compared to other conventional modern non-green buildings. This equated to 22.5 kbtuhs per square foot per year. The renewables provided another 27.2% of the buildings energy, which is 4.2% more energy than the building requires making it beyond net zero energy performing building.