By placing the building on a
podium it also resulted in a
powerful presence for the
building which further
reinforced the brief to
create a strong identity for
the tenant
TYPICAL FLOOR PLAN
Challenges
Technical Services Area: One of the tenant’s
subsidiaries, that works with large and highly
specialised medical equipment, required a
clean and secure way of receiving, storing
and repairing their equipment. The challenge
from a planning and architectural perspective
was to address these requirements without
compromising the design of the building.
Ways of making the delivery vehicles
completely secure and almost invisible
were investigated, while ensuring that the
route from the loading area to their Technical
Services Area was also secure and invisible.
In the end a solution of integrating the
loading area into the design of the guard
house and hoisting their equipment directly
into the basement below was decided upon.
Green Building
The new Novartis Head Office is the first
building in Waterfall City to be registered for
a Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design (LEED) Silver rating. LEED is a U.S.
Green Building Council rating system that
focuses on the efficient use of energy and
water, selection of green material and the
establishment and maintenance of high
quality levels of indoor environments.
HVAC
With HVAC being one of the largest single
consumers of energy in a building, their
mechanical engineers spent a great deal of
time designing a highly efficient and effective
system. There is a very sophisticated, multifunctional central air-cooled chiller that is
positioned on the roof of the building. This
chiller can produce ice, chilled and hot water
and can recover heat.
Adjacent to the chiller are a series of ice
storage tanks. At night, when the system
is not running at its peak (and when the
outside air temperature is cool) the plant
produces and stores ice that is then used
to reduce the load on the system during
the day. Together with this, the reticulation
on each floor is designed on the principle
of perimeter cooling/heating which forms
an air curtain and cools/heats the air
immediately adjacent to the façades where
most of the buildings thermal heat gain/loss
is experienced.
Solar Energy
294 Photovoltaic Panels were installed
on 700m2 of the roof. They are expected
to produce 147,000KWh of energy per
year or roughly 12% of building’s total
energy consumption.
Insulation
Of course, one of the most effective ways to
manage a building’s energy consumption is
to ensure that it is properly insulated. Energy
models were run right at the beginning of
the project’s design phase. This was a very
effective tool in understanding the affect
of the local climate on different areas of
the building.
Double-glazing together with air-tightness
tests were employed to ensure that we
designed the building relative to its specific
micro-climate. The end result was not only
a drastically reduced load on the building’s
systems but also vastly improved comfort
levels for the building’s end-user.
Water Consumption
Reducing water consumption was also
critical in ensuring the overall efficiency of the
building. The plumbing system is designed
with low-flow fixtures and fittings which
manage the volumes of water consumed
by the building. This is supplemented with
a rainwater harvesting system. Rainwater
is collected from the roof of the building
via a Geberit Pluvia System and is stored
in 5 x 5,000l JoJo tanks in the basement.
Conclusion
The building was delivered in just 13 calendar
months largely thanks to a very effective
and collaborative working relationship
between Client, Professional Team and
Contractor. The end product was a highly
sophisticated building that delivered on the
requirements of the brief while remaining
uncompromising on quality.
SOUTH WEST
ELEVATION
Novartis
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