Architect and Builder Magazine South Africa September/October 2013 | Page 65

Floor-to-ceiling triple
glazed facades provide
spectacular 360 degree
views of Johannesburg

into the space whilst protecting it from direct
sunlight. The blinds respond automatically to
the external illumination and climate conditions
via sensors tracking the sun.
The building generates a portion of its
own on-site electricity from the Egoli gas
main adjacent to the property via a gas TriGeneration plant in the basement. This is also
known as CCHP (combined cooling, heating
and power generation) and produces heating,
cooling and electrical energy simultaneously
from a single source. Natural gas has the
huge advantage of significantly lower carbon
emissions and the rejected heat produced in

Standard Bank

the process is captured by an absorption chiller
which converts this energy into either heating or
cooling for use in the air-conditioning system.
The plant’s current one megawatt capacity can
be expanded in future to potentially supply
surplus power back into the national grid.
Other energy saving devices used include a
DALI or digitally addressable lighting system for
the automated switching and dimming of lights,
as the high quality and quantity of natural light
demands a much lower degree of artificial lighting
for the most of the day. This allows individual
lights to be programmed according to need and
occupancy, resulting in a reduced lighting power

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