| SOCIAL
REALM AND SUSTAINABLE DESIGN
While the interior streets pull together the social realm
of the building, the atria achieve hybrid ventilation and
maximize natural light. The design creates seamless integrations
of low-tech strategies such as building orientation with user
needs. For example, systems of movement through the building
are activated from three sides: the south-east entrance at
ground level accommodates students arriving via public transit;
the second level entrance provides direct access from the
visitor parking lot on the north; and the fourth level entrance
is linked directly to a parking lot on the tableland to the
north-east via a sculpted pedestrian bridge.
Exposed concrete on the interior provides ease and economy
of maintenance as well as a high thermal mass to exceed the
ASHRAE 90.1 standard for energy efficiency by 40%. Mechanical
systems combine natural ventilation with an access floor air
delivery system that creates displacement ventilation. Large
expanses of south- and west-facing
glazing are shaded by horizontal and vertical louvers,
and frit and tinted glass, and provide views to the ravine.
|
