BUILDING SERVICES, DESIGN AND INTEGRATION

Building Services, Design and Integration

Building Services, Design and Integration

Question 1) Propose an overall low energy strategy for the heating, ventilation and air conditioning of the current RoseBowl building, which minimizes its environmental impact. Clearly identify areas where mechanical ventilation and/ or air conditioning would be required.

The Rose Bowl is a recent flagship development and a landmark for the city of Leeds. Situated next to Leeds Civic Hall, where the regional capital's civic, educational, business and cultural quarters meet, this state of the art development features the very latest in modern conferencing facilities and design. Offering a corporate level of service, this venue is ideal for banquets, receptions, conferences, exhibitions, meetings and training. The Rose Bowl has hosted a number of prestigious events including the Northern Ballet Fundraiser dinner, the Academy of Marketing Annual Conference and the Leeds Architecture Awards.

The pod structure of Rose Bowl consists of a series of Y-shaped feature columns connected to a circumferential truss, or diagrid, extending around the envelope of the pod. Fully detailed in StruCad, the erection of this complex pod structure required careful planning and programming by Fishers.

Fabrication of the Y-shape columns and diagrid members required extremely high levels of accuracy to achieve the necessary tolerances. The Y-shaped columns are complex sections fabricated from individual plates of varying thicknesses of between 20 and 55mm.

The ring of Y-columns at the base required a 100t mobile crane, as each of these columns, which were brought to site as complete pieces, weighed around 5.5t. The first column to be installed was held in position using the crane, and then the adjacent columns were installed using a second crane and tied together with a beam to provide stability.

Once the first two columns were installed and stabilized, Fishers proceeded to complete the entire ring of columns, by tying them into adjacent members and a central braced core.

Once the central core and ring of Y columns were in place, the steel diagrid and floors were then erected using the temporary core to control the position of the diagrid and provide stability. On completion of the diagrid shell to 3rd floor level, a concrete deck was poured and the pod became self stable. The remaining diagrid and floors were then installed and the temporary bracing removed

Low Energy Strategy for the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning of the Current Rosebowl Building

Low-energy building design is not just the result of applying one or more isolated technologies. Rather, it is an integrated whole-building process that requires advocacy and action on the part of the design team throughout the entire project development process. Frequent summer warm spells, improved insulation for buildings and growth of indoor facilities have led to an increased requirement for air conditioning of indoor environment. The conventional mechanical compression air conditioning systems consume a significant amount of electrical energy that is largely dependent upon fossil fuel. This mode of air conditioning is therefore neither sustainable nor environment-friendly. Evaporative cooling utilizes the latent heat of water evaporation, a ...