SUSTAINABLE ARQUITECTURE

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FOR WALES Richard Rogers

Pablo Cabrejas Benito

THE PROJECT
In 1998 a design competition was held for building the National Assembly for Wales. The building had to express 8 openness and democracy itself; openness for the surroundings and citizens themselves. It was finished in 2006 and self; is situated in the Cardiff Bay area, close to the Victorian Grade I listed Pier head Building and the new Wales Millennium Centre. This area was one the center of the coal exporting trade and the new construction had to complete the puzzle of development in the immediate vicinity. According to the competition, the buil building also had to meet the following stipulations. Complete accessibility. Sustainability and renewable sources of energy ility energy. A minimum 100-year life span. Using Welsh materials. The architect developed an idea for a building that would connect with Cardiff Bay, Wales and beyond. The building had to be a transparent envelope, looking outwards to Cardiff Bay, providing visibility to the inner workings of the Assembly and encouraging the public to engage with it Again the main issue was to highl it. highlight the values of democracy: Openness, transparency and participation penness, participation.

Architecturally this is achieved by placing the elected assembly members under the public, the electorate. This public part is elevated on a slate-clad plinth. This way it clad reinforces their importance in the democratic system. But the Debating Chamber its not only situated in a level below the public, but its also in the physical and metaphorical center of the building. The roof, undulated, falls like a bell over the Debating Chamber, creating a special source of light and a r, natural way of ventilation. The openness they were looking for is represented in the transparency provided by the glass that surrounds all the building. They took care of design issues, but without forgetting more physical things. The e project, as a public project, needed to ha a controlled price. have This is the reason prefabrication was maximized and optimized. In addition, they used many materials from the y area, such us timber and slate sandstone that could resist the sandstone, challenging marine environment for a reasonable price for at least 100 years.

Pablo Pab Cabrejas Benito

The design studied sustainability apart from the installation of technological devices. It works because It has reasonable design answers to proble that do not imply higher costs, the design itself solves them. Airproblems sts, conditioning is supplied in the debating chamber by the wind cowl over it, and all the other spaces (the public ones) are naturally ventilated. Heat exchangers use the potential of the ground to save energy in the cooling mechanism, . while the thermal mass of the plinth tempers fluctuations in the internal environment.

The Assembly program is quite complex, and iincludes education spaces, a caf, meeting rooms, press facilities, cludes offices for the principal officers of the Assembly, a members lounge and much more we can check in the sections sections.

Pablo Pab Cabrejas Benito

SUSTAINABILITY
The building was awarded the BREEAM excellent rating for its environmental strategy based on reducing the energy demand; applying renewable energy sources and using energy efficient sources and systems to cover residual energy demand. So that, the Assembly includes boreholes, greywater recycling, extensive use of natural light and ventilation among other resources w will classify and study in detail. we ILLUMINATION The same philosophy for the whole building was applied to enlightenment, based on three principles principles: 1. Maximum use of natural light 2. Use energy saving light sources 3. Using control systems to the integration of natural and artificial lighting. Roof lights and customized roof ventilators serving the committee rooms / offices reflect low low-level winter daylight into the space, assisting daylight penetration. To permit natural daylight into the debating chamber, a glazed lantern has been installed on the domed roof beneath the wind cowl. Daylight is reflected into the space below via the a series of concentric aluminum rings which make up the debating chamber funnel.

A conical mirror suspended under the wind cowl has been installed to reflect daylight from low altitude winter sun into the chamber. The mirrored cone can be manually raised and lowered into the throat of the funnel to respond to the need of daylight levels and reduce the possibility of glare.

Pablo Pab Cabrejas Benito

Regarding the artificial lighting, embedding luminaries w chosen. , were Therefore, and as close as possible to the color of natural light, have chosen CDM metal halide lamps with a color temperature higher than 4200 K. the result is a chamber illuminated by a single ring of 80 projectors introduced at the base of the vent pipe; with an aluminum ring immediately above. Also other projectors have been installed above, between the tubes to illuminate the surface of the vent pipe. In addition, in the perimeter of the chamber have been installed fluorescent lamps. We can observe this zenithal light and the different rings of lamps in the image. With this combination of natural and artificial light, the public workspace is enhanced, while it gives facilities for TV recording and , broadcasting.

VENTILATION The whole building is naturally ventilated, although a mixed mode system can be used to assist ventilation in the debating chamber, committee rooms and public galleries its required. A six-meters-high rotating wind cowl provides ventilation to the debating chamber. It rotates to produce a negative pressure on the leeward side of the cowl, allowing air to be drawn out of the chamber as it is explained in the drawing, working as some kind of perfect chamber, , SHUNT. The inspiration comes from tradition oast houses, which used self-orientating wind cowls to draw air . traditional orientating through the hop-drying kilns. With this design complementing the global one, air conditioning has been eliminated drying from all offices and functional areas.

Pablo Pab Cabrejas Benito

HEATING / COOLING SYSTEM There are two remarkable heating-design points in this building. The clad plinth, with its ma massivity and its black color, absorbs solar radiation and regulates thermal fluctuations in t inner space. In addition the glass faade the addition, allows the entrance of solar light allowing some greenhouse effect. Nevertheless, this faade can regulate the entrance of light if necessary.

Furthermore, the Assembly counts with a ground source heat pump (GSHP) system, that uses grounds thermal ts , stability to reduce primary energy consumption The GSHP system increases operation efficiency compar to duce compared conventional chillers. This system is enough to provide cooling for mixed mode spaces and technical computer suites and low grade heat, which is required for the under under-floor heating system. more, To reduce CO2 emissions even more there is also a biomass boiler processing both wood chips and pellets. This green energy can maintain high grade heating to heat emitters (low-level natural ventilators) and heater batteries level within air-handling units.

WATER Potable water usage is minimized through utilization of rainwater. Rainwater collected from the large roof canopy is storage in a tank. This amount of water is enough for lavatories, irrigation for landscaping and general cleaning and maintenance. Other adjustments and water reducing are achieved by the application of appropriate fixtures and fittings in the everyday consume consume.

Pablo Pab Cabrejas Benito