Architect and Builder Magazine South Africa September/October 2013 | Page 67

density of below 2,5W/m2 per 100 Lux. All the
internal and external lighting has been designed
to minimise night time light pollution by avoiding
direct light beams pointing into the sky and
keeping the Lux levels to the absolute minimum
required for safety and security.
In the main atrium the primary vertical
circulation by means of multiple escalators is
the most efficient way of moving large masses of
people whilst encouraging informal interaction
and animating the central hub of the building.
The building is so transparent that this dynamic
escalator spine becomes an attribute visible
from miles away. Furthermore the high speed
power-saving escalators monitor the passenger
load to ensure the most efficient use of the
motors and motion sensors allow the escalators
to slow down to a crawl when not in demand.

Standard Bank

Various water saving measures will reduce
the building’s water dependency by up to 50 %.
A large underground harvesting tank collects
groundwater from the basement subsoil
drainage system, as well as rainwater from the
atriums’ glass roofs, to be re-used for irrigation
and other non-potable applications. All sanitary
fittings were selected to meet the highest water
efficiency criteria. Standard Bank’s commitment
to on-going environmental awareness is also
reflected in the installation of a dual waste pipe
system, future-proofed for a potential blackwater plant in the basement.
The air-conditioning makes use of a
combination of 40% air-cooled and 60% watercooled chillers to provide the best balance
between efficiency and water dependency. A
high performance system ensures the best air

Opposite Page: ‘Seed’
by Marco Cianfanelli is
an artwork of nearly 35m
suspended in the 45m
high glass atrium, made
of 229 plywood laser-cut
panels representing
various aspects of the