TOWARDS BURNLEY

ARC 327 Technology Report

Autumn Semester 2013-14 Hebden Bridge: Narrative Spaces, A Space for Story Telling Wanqing Wong 110215404

'A need to tell and hear stories is essential to the species Homo sapiens second in necessity apparently after nourishment and before love and shelter. Millions survive without love or home, almost none in silence; the opposite of silence leads quickly to narrative, and the sound of story is the dominant sound of our lives, from the small accounts of our day's events to the vast incommunicable constructs of psychopaths.
Price, Reynolds A Palpable God, Atheneum, New York,1978

NORTH

CONSERVATION AREA
S LEE TOWARD DS

MYTHOLM

HISTORIC TOWN CENTRE

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1:10 000

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DS M

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TOWARDS MYTHOLMROYD

Project Brief
I am to design a place for storytelling in Hebden Bridge in which live oral storytelling can be experienced and where visitors may develop their own storytelling skills. The design will need to accommodate intimate storytelling and be able to stage larger performances within both formal and informal settings, and should build upon initial studies and experiences of storytelling and meeting storytellers. The proposal is to accommodate the following activities: Storytelling
space for one or two, space for one hundred and other spaces as required

Site context introduction

Hebden Bridge is a small market town nestled in the hills of West Yorkshire. The town itself is cut from coarse millstone grit and lies deep in a valley, with hills towering above on all sides. The town, once famous for its booming textiles industry that bottomed out in the 1960s, now enjoys a national reputation as a liberal, artistic and creative community. This handsome little village is awash with creativity - from the artists and musicians hard at work in their studios to the Arts and Music Festival held every year. The town is also a hub for writers, home of the Shaggy Dog Storytellers and the area is steeped in literary history. Active community engagement with literary and other festivals, both local and national, is what defines the vibrancy of the town.

Education storytelling workshops, group / school visits Library with particular content (local or traditional tales or
other), reading and study space

Social (shaggy dog) storytelling society, book club Community engagement with literary and other festivals,
both local and national

Ancillary arrival, refreshments, toilets, admin, backstage, storage, plant, external spaces Residence national storytelling laureate, visiting storyteller or
landlord

TO

39 MIN DRIVE 10 MIN DRIVE 13 MINUTES DRIVE 8 MIN DRIVE

As the town sits a stone throw away from the countryside, farms and woodlands are aplenty in the neighbouring area. For this reason, I propose the CHP plant to utilise biomass fuels from waste straws and wood chips, collected, stored and processed in an existing depot northeast of the CHP plant. This depot also manages the woodlands that I have highlighted on the diagram to the left.
23 MIN DRIVE

By distributing the benefits through co-operative ownership, culture change necessary to make this happen can be initiated, emulating the Co-operative culture in Denmark and Sweden

39 MIN DRIVE
+

Architectural aspirations
9 MIN DRIVE

21 MIN DRIVE

My proposal aims to integrate and enhance these experiences of festivities and appreciation of arts through a piece of architecture that translates the identities of the town. A place that is embraced by the community and tourists alike. With that, a social inclusion design becomes vital. The design is driven by the idea of providing free environments for all, making sure the young and the elderly as well as those with particular impairments can have access to all facilities, thus creating environments that allow all to celebrate and appreciate the integration of visual and performing arts. A proposed pedestrian-priority route around the listed and unlisted buildings in the conservation area where the site sits is to add value to this idea. Reclaimed materials play an important part since the beginning of the design process as it helps creates a new build that remain in character with its environment of a conservation area.
PEDESTRIAN-PRIORITY ROUTES EXISTING ROUTE PROPOSED ROUTE

This empower local communities to be concious of the processes involved to produce energy, of which can initiate sustainable lifestyles and collaboration among the people, providing for community resilience and adaptability in the face of unpredictable changes. This also encourages the community in minimising waste in production, recycling and landfill where possible
Section across Hebden River

24 MIN DRIVE

Waste straws sourced from local farms Chipping & Storage depot Biomass fuel

Possible expansion sites

+
+ Fossil fuels & Nuclear energy

Site

Wood chips sourced from local woodlands and industrial waste

Community Reduced dependency Micro-hydro scheme

-Overall efficiency in excess of 80% -Reduced dependency on non-renewable fuels -Reduced carbon emissions -Significant costs savings -Enhanced energy security

Community Heating
Community heating provides heat from a central source to one or many building blocks via its own distribution network. Heat can be supplied from conventional fossil fuels and/or through low and zero carbon tec nologies. Where combined heat and power (CHP) is utilised, the community plant not only generates electricity, but also captures the waste heat generated in this process for local use. This is being proposed at an unused carpark space west of the site due to multiple reasons. Community heating works best where there is a balance of energy demand throughout the day.

TOWN SQUARE

This is best where domestic and nondomestic energy use is combined. The site sits directly in the middle of the town centre where main business districts and mixed used buildings are located most densely. This is ideal as this minimises transmission losses and distribution costs. Ideal density is 55 dwellings/ha. With this, dwellings and buildings do not require individual boilers, which can save space, and it externalises some of the maintenance regime. Having multiple unused carpark spaces throughout the town, this scheme has high potential for expansion to supply for more than 100 dwellings, as using several smaller plants will help to avoid distribution losses.

Having a strong history of watermill powered textile industry, micro-hydro schemes is also being built to produce power from streams and small rivers surrounding the site. ( Bridge Mill in the centre of Hebden Bridge is having a 10kW archimedes screw fitted )The power can be used to generate electricity of which feeds into the CHP distribution network. The power available in a river or stream depends on the rate at which the water is flowing, and the height (head) which it falls down. This is the reason that the scheme is kept to produce additional electricity as production is highly erratic. This proposal aims to avoid dependency on fossil fuels and centralised power infrastructure completely, but will still be a choice for back up in the event of plant break down. Main reason being CHP systems make extensive use of the heat produced during the electricity generation process, they can achieve overall efficiencies in excess of 80% at the point of use. In contrast, the efficiency of conventional coal-fired and gas-fired power stations, which discard this heat (via the iconic cooling towers we associate with such installations), is typically around 38% and 48% respectively at the power station. CHP systems can also be employed over a wide range of size, which offers the flexibility to achieve unobstrusive and quiet yet efficient energy production.

Figure 1 Flood Zones & Terrain Section

Low to Med flood risk zones High flood risk zones Functional flood planes [http://www.jbaconsulting.com/]

Flood Risk
Hebden Bridge is a nestled in the valleys of West Yorkshire, which is at risk of flooding. The site is located in high flood risk zone 3a, and measures have been taken to develop a flood resilient design. In a wider context, flood attenuation and temporary water storage, including use of greenspace in the surrounding countryside should be utilised to capture runoff from the vast areas of impervious road surface in the town and to safely store it letting it seep / soak away slowly to prevent local flooding and river surges. Source control measures will play huge importance, for example, upland land management will be crucial as rivers run along the town. Widening of drains in town to increase capacity is also a must. To tackle the problem from the design of my structure, I have enabled the full roof area for rainwater collection instead of a green roof as demand is present for WC flushing due to the programme of the buidling being an Arts Centre.

SITE
TOWARDS RAILWAY STATION

Existing structure and 30m site span

The full roof area being enabled to collect rainwater will compensate for the impervious nature of the town. Porous paving is also used on ground floor to temporarily stores surface runoff before infiltrating it into the subsoil. However, this is done with consideration to reuse the bricks from a partially-demolished existing structure on site. Floor levels will also be raised, as suggested by S. Pelsmaker in the book, as the site sits in zone 3a. The ground floor will be used as a sacrificial level, with water retention in the submerged ampitheatre in the event of flood. Placement of plantroom and rainwater harvesting system and greywater recycling have been placed right below roof level to keep them off flood risk level. Rainwater storage reduce run off rates during a storm, reducing flood-risk. Flood resilient materials such as pressure-treated timber, glass block, metal doors and cabinets. have also been used on the ground level to reduce significant damage by exposure to flood water. Fixtures and the sitting of electrical controls, cables and appliances will be placed at a higher level than normal but not too high to make sure the young and the elderly as well as those with particular impairments can have control of the internal environment.
Max height (m) 1.3 1.2 1.1

Estimation of Rainfall Runoff Volumes for Rainwater Harvesting Possible rainwater collected per year (in litres) = Yearly rainfall (mm) roof collection area (m2) 90% efficiency percentage runoff coefficient

Figure 3
[http://www.worldweatheronline.com/Hebden-Bridge-weather-averages/West-Yorkshire/GB.aspx]

Raised floor and ground floor as sacrificial level

13m 91.3 74.2 68.6 62 30m Tank Sizing A rainwater tank is recommended to be sized to hold 1520% of the yearly collected rainfall to bridge increasing dry spells. Taking an average of 17.5%, tank size = 267265.4 x 0.219969 x 0.175 =10288 gallons This is an enormous amount of weight to be carried by the structure, which means it will have to be stored underground due to space limitation onsite Figure 8 Programme arrangement & rainwater storage location.
PLANTROOM & STORAGE TANKS LIGHTING & SOUND CONTROL ROOM CHANGING ROOM FLEXIBLE WORKSHOP SPACE & GREEN ROOM BLACK BOX AUDITORIUM CONNECTING ENTRY TO LOCAL PUBLIC LIBRARY ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE KITCHEN & STANDING BAR TOILETS LOBBY & RECEPTION / SHOP LIVE WORK UNIT COVERED AMPHITHEATRE/ OUTDOOR CLASSROOM EXHIBITION SPACE BOOK EXCHANGE CORNER / READING SPACE

69.6 64.5 93.3 87.9 70.2

87

82 101.2

Reuse of sandstone bricks from onsite partial demolition of existing structure for porous paving

Slicing the block to introduce ventilation and daylighting through atrium.

Yearly rainfall = (91.3 + 74.2 + ... + 101.2) = 951.8mm Percentage runoff coefficient for flat roof = 0.80 Roof collection area = (13 x 30) = 390 sqm Possible rainwater collected per year = (951.8) x (0.8) x (390) x (0.9) = 267265.4 litres Assuming a daily average of 60 visitors, 4.42 flushes per person, average of 5 litres per flush. Demand per day in litres= 60 x 4.42 x 5 = 1335 litres

However, storage underground will surely create complications as there is risk of flooding. Enormous upthrust can be created by flood water. So the tank will need to be sized down. Sizing down to a typical store 5% of the yearly collected rainfall, Tank size = 267265.4 x 0.219969 x 0.05 =2939.5 gallons A 3000 gallon-sized tank will be chosen.

Introduction of flood water retention with below ground amphitheatre in the event of a flood.

Reach in cm 30 45 60

Massing tweak to enhance programme and sustainable design. Utilise full roof area for gravity fed rainwater harvesting system, filtered and stored above floor levels, self-cleaning so no pumps or controls to maintain or fail. Figure 2 Comfortable reaching points for wheelchair users
[http://www.tiresias.org/research/reports/national_smart_card_project.htm]

Collection/day 267265.4/365 Demand/day = 1335 = 0.55 From this calculation, harvested rainwater accounts for half the amount of demand for water to flush WC alone.

WC WC
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Average dB <40 40-50 50-60 60-70 >70

Reclaimed materials will be pre-processed by local trades into perforated panels for noise reduction.

Blackbox theatre Atrium

Flexible workshop space

Figure 8 Noise mapping of immediate surrounding of site. Soundscape & approach to noise control The site sits in an urban town centre where main business districts lie to the west of the site. The site is also flanked by buildings and roads on all sides. Two main roads connecting the town from west to east and north to southeast produces the main negative noise in the area, with heavy amount of vehicles. This however, does not affect the immediate site heavily as buildings surrounding the site created hard edges around to deviate the negative noise away from site. The town centre, nonetheless, is dense, accommodating to all activities ranging from living to high street, with the quieter area at the park around south of the site. Measures are needed to control pedestrian soundscape. Plantations around immediate site is not achievable as it is limited by building regulations. This rules out the option of using foliage to buffer noises from the city. The site will need to deal the edges against the roads on both front and back, but it is in these directions that provide main sunlight and daylight into the building. As such, fixed openings with small area of control are proposed to enable control over both ventilation and noise. More focus is directed at the construction detail and programme planning of the design. The scheme has various requirements for acoustics. Spaces requiring higher acoustic properties such as the blackbox auditorium and flexible workshop are placed at top levels to preserve privacy and control the accesibility to these spaces. As floor levels descend, spaces are designed to be more publicly accessible to enable people to interact and to accommodate for concierge, ticketing and souvenir shop, as highlighted in the drawing to the right of page. Regardless, acoustic panels is needed to soundproof and decrease reverberation time as the spaces are rather large and fluid, where one space easily connects to the others. These are hidden behind porous internal panels. Wood fibre insulation is chosen as it has high acoustic properties, Carpet floors are ruled out to utilise the thermal mass of the cement screed since underfloor heating system is proposed. The potential of having little soft furni shing will mean that the walls and ceilings play crucial role in ensuring acoustic comfort in the design. Service spaces are condensed on one level to minimise disturbance to other spaces. Flanked by two roads on the north and south, direct reduction of noise from traffic is needed. This can be controlled by limiting the controllable size of openings and introduce more fixed openings to allow daylight and sunlight in. Generally, the whole design will require high level of acoustic insulation due to its nature of accommodating to large amount of visitors but activities such as storytelling workshops that require low noise factor. The figure on the right highlights possible areas for acoustic panels to be hidden in the walls to achieve acoustic comfort throughout.
Sound rays diffuses through acoustic panels embeded behind porous internal panels throughout the spaces (walls and ceiling) to reduce amplitude of reflected rays and decrease reverberation time to less than the suggested 0.8s.

Spaces requiring high acoustic properties Less quiet spaces

Publicly accessible at all times

Publick

Heavy soundproofing needed for plantroom

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Bioregional Approach & Materiality All the materials propsed aim to be sourced from as close as possible, and their credentials have been evaluated to utilise reclaimed materials where possible. Sourcing of the majority of materials is within a 40 mile radius. This reduces transportation distances and therefore embodied energy, and supports local trade and economies. By sourcing reclaimed materials from nearby, they are more likely to have a local cultural meaning, which parallels the concept of the project to celebrate the history & culture of the town and the appreciation of local crafts, visual and performing arts, and therefore be embraced and respected by the community. Many suppliers source new and reclaimed items from around the world and sell them side by side. It is important to specify UK or local origin to achieve environmental savings. Figure 8 shows the maximum distance a reclaimed material can be transported by road before it will have greater impact than a new material manufactured locally. This staggering data further underlines the importance of using reclaimed materials.
Material Reclaimed tile Reclaimed slate Reclaimed bricks Reclaimed timber Reclaimed steel Distance (miles) 100 300 250 1,000 2,500

Material Sources Mapping Locations of Suppliers have been extensively searched through directory listings and with close reference to Reclaimed Building Products Guide
[http://rcproducts.wrap.org.uk/construction/reclaimed_building.html ]

Reclaimed Bricks & Sandstone Bricks Reusing of sandstone bricks from on-site partial demolition of existing building. Helps preserve English heritage as new building work can remain in character with its environment. Incurs a much smaller carbon footprint than using new bricks with their associated production and firing processes. Lower expenditures to help keep budget on track.

40mi Radius

20mi Radius

Throughout the process of demolition, sandstone bricks that are deemed unsuitable for reuse can be recycled on-site as concrete aggregates instead. Wood Fibre Insulation Manufactured using a closed production cycle utilising timber waste from thinnings and factories within the bioregion, the fibres are bonded together by the natural resin without the need for chemical adhesives. Made of a renewable source and keep carbon locked-in. Breathable and so bring the accompanying benefits of a regulated interior humidity and comfort. High acoustic performance, ideal for the programme of the design as an Arts Centre which encompasses theatre and gallery spaces. Robust in handling, transportation and onsite construction. Offers some thermal mass. Protective clothing and masks not needed, more comfortable for installers and others coming into contact with it Figure 5 BRE life cycle analyses comparing new with reclaimed steel.
[ http://www.greenspec.co.uk/reclaimed-materials.php ]

Reclaimed TImber Panels Reclaimed from old buildings including barns, factories, warehouses and railway sleepers within the bioregion. Often in sizable pieces making wood the most flexible in terms of future use. Processing reclaimed wood has much less impact on the environment than felling, transporting and processing new lumber. Timber in old buildings has expanded and contracted constantly over the years and has fully dried out, making it more durable and less prone to warping and splitting. Has high recycling & reusing potential.

Reclaimed Weathering Steel Panels Sourced from scrap metal merchants and metal recycling companies within the bioregion. Long lifespan due to their self-made protective layering. Negates the need for painting and costly rust-prevention maintenance over the years. Installed as individual panels, allowing for quick and easy assembly, dissasembly and replacement if necessary.

Reclaimed Steel Frames Most of the steel frames will be reclaimed from the industrial area North of the site, which has many unused steel buildings and warehouses. Reclaimed steel offers all the benefits of new steel, without requiring a large amount of energy to recycle or produce new steel. Steel has a lifespan of over 95 years, high potential to be reused again after the buildings life. The building has also been designed to be low in scale and space efficient, so that a minimum amount of steel is needed. At the end of its life, steel can be recycled without downcycling its quality, unlike timber or concrete. The services are also exposed in the workshop, hanging from the structure, so they can easily be repaired and maintained.

Figure 4 Maximum transport distances for reclaimed materials.

[ BRE Green Guide to Housing Specification ]

Deliberate amount of considerations has also been given at the construction, deconstruction and whole life span (cradle to cradle) of the building.

Shearing Layers Concept Buildings consist of layers, and each has its own value and speed of change. Pace layering concept form one of the integral design considerations right from the start to facilitate adapability and flexibility. Constructional detail of each layer is designed as independent layers. This allows easy and accessible maintenance when weathered or for other expansion/deconstruction reasons. The outer skin is also designed to be installed as distinct panels so as to allow easy replacement of individual components. Exposed services are hung off the structure to allow for accessible repairs. The underfloor heating layer is installed right above the slimdek construction so as to not tamper with the structure if maintenance of the underfloor heating system is needed. All materials have been chosen with careful consideration for their long life span.

Elements Fair-faced brickwork Steel sheet cladding

Typical Life Expectancy (Yrs) 86 35

Construction & Deconstruction A steel structure is proposed for with thorough considerations. One of them being the structure can be prefabricated offsite, reducing construction time and the associated energy usage. This ensures miniumum on-site waste. The building is designed to utilise standard steel sizes so reclaimed components can be used and can easily be reused if deconstructed. The street will have to be entirely closed during the frame construction, and therefore a quick construction time is necessary to minimise disturbance to users of neighbouring buildings. Prefabricated steel frame construction is therefore ideal. This drawing to the right shows the calculated crane spans an proposed route, ensuring the building can be constructed within a minimum time frame, so that less energy resources are used and minimal impact on the surroundings. Steel frame construction also uses much less energy on-site than concrete construction, as only a crane is needed.

Local trades & labour Continuing from the bioregional approach adopted for the choice of materials, local trades will be encouraged by using local labour, techniques and kills, keeping the knowledge base alive. This local culture helps to keep the local economy strong and competitive. On-site demolition

Timber weatherboarding 30 Steel frame Zinc sheet covering Block paving 83 72 36

Figure 6 Building Component Life Expectancy

[http://www.costmodelling.com/downloads/BuildingComponentLifeExpectancy.pdf ]

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Bolted steel connection is proposed to enable quick assembly and dissasembly of structure, minimising the construction period on site and thus, reducing disturbance to surrounding site. Indirect connections allow the building to be dismantled, altered, moved or deconstructed as necessary. This ensures longer lifespan of the building elements, as they could be preserved and can be reused elsewhere.

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The project involves partial demolition of an existing structure, which creates opportunities for on-site reuse of building materials. Reuse on site provides opportunities for cheap (or free) materials, and enables control of the supply of materials. Gauging external interest in on-site materials prior to demolition can be done via demolition alert facility. To establish materials available on site, a reclamation survey should be commissioned. Sandstone bricks will be reused for block paving and the wooden structure will be reused for the new build.

Figure 7 Simple Floor Section Build-up 70mm Cement screed, polished finish with heating pipes Separating layer 35mm Acoustic and thermal insulation Separating layer 300mm Slimdek construction : Deep composite steel deck floor, In-situ concrete Acquiring the same concept, the underfloor heating system is layered within 70mm of cement screed for optimum thermal mass performance, independent of the slimdek structure construction. This eschews the need to rip off the whole floor structure when maintenance is needed for the underfloor heating system. The slimdek floor construction also allows exposed services to be hung directly off the ceiling and has reduced effect on floor height. This allows the floor heights to be compressed to minimise heating energy. Underfloor heating is the most efficient way of distributing space heating

Figure 8 Crane route planning to minimise disturbance to site.

Reclaimed zinc roofing sheets Reclaimed steel structure Existing sandstone brick structure Block paving - reuse of sandstone bricks from on-site demolition

No disturbance to shop fronts on main business street and traffic flow

Steel can be delivered in large quantities, therefore reducing the number of transport miles.
ROOF
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1 : 1000

Designing with the wind

North

Ventilation Strategies Being sandwiched between buildings, the design will need to resort to maximise the potential of having two orientation aspects. These should maximise passive solar gain and allow cross-ventilation.
actu al str

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15-30 degree

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8m

The site is sheltered from the direct strong prevailing wind coming from the south-west by urban blocks. The varying heights of buildings in the surrounding is beneficial as this creates urban breaks that encourages wind flow at street level while maximising solar gains in winter. The design taps into this existing form of the city by conforming to the average heights of listed and unlisted buildings in town. This also respect the identiy of the town sculpted by historical buildings around as the design does not immediately become an icon in the town unless you chance upon its streets. This immediately eschew the formation of turbulence at street level by tall buildings. Although spacing of 1.5-2.5 times the building is recommended for good natural ventilation, daylighting and solar gain, this is hard to achieve as the town has an existing layout that impinge threshold around the site. The get around of this is to incorporate cross ventilation throughout the structure, introduction of an atrium and maximising south facing openings with controllable shading devices, of which will be discussed later. To increase windflow on street level, ground level has been opened up to create a public route through the site. As the building is not in parallel with the wind direction, wind funneling is avoided.

As shown on plan and section, passive ventilation has been integrated wherever possible, with controllable openings for users comfort. Plan design strictly adhere to the natural cross ventilation formula of D up to 5H. As the external environment is not too polluted, openable windows can be implemented. An atrium has also been integrated into the design to compensate for the deep plan nature of the site. This helps to slice up and reduce the depth of the plan. However, as highlighted in the plan with red lines, mechanical ventilation will need to be implemented due to the nature of the spaces requiring high acoutic properties. For instance, the blackbox theatre is a highly controlled environment to accommodate for different performances such as theatrical acts, storytelling events and small orchestra acts. This requires a acoustically concealed black box to cater to the flexibility of its function, with no openings at all for natural ventilation. To compensate for this, I have designed a ventilation system that emulates that of Gifford HQ in Southhampton by Design Engine. Low velocity vacuum & pressure pumps are installed along these black lines to draw, filter and warm fresh air from outside into the building which penetrates through the raised floorin. This system will also require an extraction opening, which will channel the heated air into the atrium to allow good airflow throughout the blackbox theatre from one end to another.

Precedent study Gifford HQ by Design Engine

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Plant room sizing The plant room within the building will be situated on the top floor with controlled access from the lift and stairs that run along the atrium. The plant room will have air handing systems and the interface equipment for the CHP pipes into the under floor heating system and hot water system. There will not be a need for a boiler, and no need for a flue pipe, so being on the top floor does not provide a problem. There will need to be air intake and extraction, however, and for this reason the top floor is optimal as extraction of fumes from machinery will not escape into neighbouring spaces. Wide access routes to the cryogenic storage archive are required if any equipment needs to be changed, and ensuring the plant room is on this wide access route ensures any equipment will be easy to install. The area needed to house the air handing facilities will also be considered. To estimate the area needed for the plant room I will use the Metric Handbook, p47. This states that offices of below 2000sqm that are heated and have mechanical ventilation but not cooling require a central plant room 1.1-1.4% of the building size. They require an air handing plant of 4.6-6.4% of the building size. I will use these numbers as a guide. The main plant room will not contain a boiler, but it will need an interface system for the district heating system. I will take the 1.4% to calculate this. 854.4sqm x 0.014 = 12sqm. Bearing in mind that the only 296sqm of the building will be mechanically ventilated, I will require a air handing plant room of 296 x 0.064 = 18.9sqm. This is likely to be an overestimation as the mechanical ventilation system implemented on the blackbox theatre is a low technology system that uses negligible energy and equipments, which accounts for 216sqm x 0.064=13.8sqm of the 18.9sqm. Anyway, taking the value of 18.9sqm + 12sqm =30.9sqm. The designated area for plant room, air handling unit and storage of rainwater tank is 38.5sqm, which is relevant to the calculated area, thus not needing redesign but may require more detailed calculation to optimise the space.

Daylighting & Thermal Considerations The atrium forms an important element in both the sustainability and the concept of my design. An atrium is a pleasant all weather gathering place providing shelter from the more extreme climate conditions outside. This is perfect for an outdoor stage or just as a space to linger around for lunch. The atrium also reduces the depth of plan of the design, providing a solution for a site stretching 30m from one end to the other. This not only introduces daylight in but encourage purge ventilation throughout the building. This also creates a buffer zone that helps to prevent overheating and overcooling of spaces. The atrium is treated as a buffer space, not an open plan as itis directly connected to the exterior through the ground level. Movable solar shading is also devised to reduce glare, absorb noise and triple as an insulation layer at night. Height to depth ratio of the atrium = 18.5 : 8 = 2.3 : 1 Which does not exceed the max rule of thumb of 3 : 1 ratio. To maximise reflectance of light into spaces around the atrium, light-coloured reclaimed timber will be the main panels that clad the atrium. Though sustainable white paints can be considered as an option. Sandstone bricks are also light-coloured which will assist Areas where artificial daylight in light reflectance.
might be needed in the day.

Optimising glazing ratio and energy use. Glazing ratio is estimated using the LT Method curve as a rough guide.

Estimation of shading devices on Southwest facing windows Openings of the deisgn are limited to two orientation aspects- facing the south west and north east. With this, it is important to have an optimum amount of openings on both sides, but southernly facing windows are prone to create overheating of spaces during summer. However, solar gain is also desired, which is why I decided to take a closer look at estimating the shading devices for south west facing windows in the design.

External Fixed shading device Adjustable shading device By plotting the shading mask, it is estimated that fixed shading devices can only be used to prevent high altitude sun in summer and low altitude sun in winter for glare. However, adjustable shading device and window openings are crucial to allow user control over the internal environment throughout most times of the year. Figure 11 Fixed shading device rough build up
[http://www.new-learn.info/packages/clear/thermal/build ings/passive_system/solor_acess_control/external_shading.html]

June May & July Apr & Aug Mar & Sep

Figure 9 LT Method Curve

[The LT Method v2.0 Cambridge Architectural Research LTD]

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The Heat & Light curve is chosen as no air-conditioning system is considered for the design of the spaces being looked at. To achieve lowest energy consumption, the LT Method suggests a glazing ratio range of 60-70% ; taking an average of it would be 65%, but 50-90% would be fairly acceptable. Considering that the windows face south west direction, I worry that it might overheat during summer and may be affected by glare caused by the low angle westernly sun. Passive solar heat gain should also be maximised.
Movable solar shading / Acoustic panels

Feb & Oct Jan & Nov Dec

Figure 10 Sunpath diagram & Shading Mask

[http://www.sunearthtools.com/]

VSA 55

VSA 55

External Fixed shading device Adjustable shading device

Precedent study Chethams Music School by ISA Studio

Heated air can be recirculated into the atrium

Atrium & glass lift shaft

Light-coloured material used in the atrium to assist in light reflectance to allow light to travel further down.

Bibliography Literature/ guides: Pelsmaker, S, 2012. The Environmental Design Pocketbook. RIBA Publishing, London CIBSE, 2006. Environmental Design, CIBSE Guide A, CIBSE Publications, London Rennie, D and Parand, F, 1998. Environmental Design Guide for naturally ventilated offices. BRE, London De Saulles, T. updated by Bleicher, D, 2012. The Illustrated Guide to Mechanical Building Services. BSRIA Guide, London Greeno, Roger, 1997, Building services, technology and design Harlow, Longman Bell, J and Burt, W, 1995. Designing buildings for daylight. BRE Publication, London RIBA, 1992 The LT Method version 2.0 - an energy design tool for non-domestic buildings. RIBA Publications, London Egan, M, D, 1988. Architectural Acoustics, McGraw-Hill, London CHP Guide - http://www.chpa.co.uk/medialibrar y/2012/01/05/46ccc22e/DENet_manual_lo_v1%200.pdf accessed 15/01/14 Stevenson, F, Kang, J, Fotios, S, 2013/14 University of Sheffield architecture lectures / lecture notes Figures, charts and images and websites:
http://www.microhydroassociation.org/ accessed on 17/01/14 http://scienceinteractive.net/files/101105-CHP-Copenhagen.pdf accessed on 17/01/14 http://www.jbaconsulting.com/accessed on 17/01/14 http://www.tiresias.org/research/reports/national_smart_card_project.htmaccessed on 17/01/14 http://www.worldweatheronline.com/Hebden-Bridge-weather-averages/West-Yorkshire/GB.aspx accessed on 18/01/14 http://www.bre.co.uk/greenguide/podpage.jsp?id=2126 accessed on 18/01/14 [http://www.sunearthtools.com/ accessed on 18/01/14 http://www.new-learn.info/packages/clear/thermal/buildings/passive_system/solor_acess_control/external_shading.html accessed on 18/01/14