ENERGY
Successful lighting is not only dependent on achieving the required light levels in the various spaces, but is also dependent on an under- standing of human physiological and psychological behaviour. For example, it is important not to locate spaces with relatively high illuminance levels adjacent to spaces requiring subdued lighting. This would otherwise lead to problems associated with eye acclimatisation. Consequently, the proposed design follows a logic of lighting gradation, in which spaces with the highest light levels are located on the top floor of the Gallery Building, i.e. Gallery 1 with a large glazed north facing rooflight, whilst areas with the lower requirements for lighting are found on the floor below — Galleries 2 & 3. The central plantroom is located in the Pier Building. The main electrical plant, including standby power facilities via a central battery system is incorporated in this room, as well as the boiler plant and water services, with direct access to outside for plant maintenance. A second plantroom is located in the private/gallery complex. This room houses the air handling plant, water cooled chillers and associ- ated pumps, plus connections to two seawater tanks, located beneath the plantroom. The two seawater tanks, embedded into the concrete plinth supporting the main building, are used as sources of heat rejec- tion. At high tide, one of the tanks is filled with seawater and is gradu - ally pumped into the second tank, after having circulated through the condensers of the chillers. This eliminates the need for any cooling towers or air cooled chillers and offers a highly energy efficient means of heat rejection. The second tank is then emptied at the next high tide.
Jim Dodson, who sent On Site the competition drawings and text, is an architect with Snøhetta in Oslo, Norway. More work, including the Alexandria Museum, is on their website at www.snoarc.no
ON SITE review 6: BEAUTY
39
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator