African Design Magazine August 2016 | Page 47

African project Lumen Square – Kenya a new era of kenyan design Lumen Square is Kenya’s first pre-certified LEED office building. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) that recognizes best-in-class building strategies and practices. It is a point-based rating system for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of green buildings, homes and neighbourhoods. facilitates these two important features. The atrium roof in particular controls lighting and glare down the atrium and facilitates natural ventilation through the Chimney Effect. There are temperature sensors at the atrium roof which allow us to either keep the ventilation at the top open or closed depending on the outside temperature. Additionally, we have incorporated light sensors in the office spaces for Daylight Savings which indicate to users that they can turn on or off their artificial office lighting. We have also incorporated a 20kW solar PV system on the roof which will supply power to the common area lighting of the building on sunny days,” he says. The building has two roof top terraces. This is in addition to LED lighting at under 7W/m2 and low flow sanitary fixtures which will save a tremendous amount of water. africandesignmagazine.com 47