BKCity is a magnificent listed monument of more than 30.000m2 functioning as the faculty of Architecture of the TU Delft. Except created a phased plan to make this historic educational building energy and carbon neutral within ten years.
The plan converts the building into a didactic tool that puts sustainability at the heart of education for generations of architects, introducing a unique in-building ecosystem that provides an inspiring environment, functional qualities and cost savings.
The Project: The BK City Slim Project provided an ideal opportunity to apply Except’s integrated approach to sustainable refurbishment. Except was one of five international teams invited by the Technical University of Delft to design a sustainable vision for their newly relocated architecture faculty after a 2008 fire left the original building in ruins.
The newly chosen building, dubbed BK City, is a historic 1920s labyrinthine brick structure whose contemporary funky furniture and colorful designs belied a much less wallet-friendly energy bill. Except designed a feasible plan and sustainable vision, shared through posters, presentations, and a detailed report.
The Vision: Our project began from the idea of the building not only as a structure that houses knowledge, but as one that can impart it as well. While focusing on increasing energy efficiency and decreasing operating costs, we also embraced the refurbishment of BK City as an opportunity to increase students’ hands-on experience and understanding of sustainability. We designed the interventions to be participatory, didactic, and engaging, providing students with a 21st century knowledge base they could leverage within and beyond BK City.
BK City is more than a building: it connects the lives of many individuals, functions as a learning platform for generations of architects and urban planners, and acts as the social and functional hub of the disciplines it serves.
This vision informed the central goal of the project: to transform the building into a didactic tool that anticipates and responds to the shifting field of architecture, with an influence that extends beyond its own walls through the actions of those it has educated.
The Approach: We broke our analysis and approach into the components which we rely on in all our projects to ensure that sustainability is addressed in an integrated manner: Energy & Materials, Ecosystems & Species, Culture & Economy, and Health & Happiness.
In addition to these four thematic streams we also created a phased vision which interweaves easy energy gains and immediate solutions with more ambitious and systemic interventions. Each intervention has cross-cutting benefits, and each phase is designed to build on the one before it, offering an integrated vision for BK City which evolves over time.
The Outcome The result is a highly didactic building with exemplary environmental quality, an indoor plant ecosystem, more than 10.000 m2 of extra space, energy and water usage that is operationally sustainable, and a plan that is feasible and phase-able (with a total of less than € 25 million invested over 10 years).
Main Interventions
Energy & Materials Highlights:
Wall, roof, window insulation, saves 67% heat “Easy gains”, electrical equipment & lighting, glass embedded PV Compact volume reduces 32% surface exposure South atrium with Fresnel PV, Ground storage Connection to campus bio-gas CHP Space for future energy innovations
Ecosystems & Species Highlights:
Pervasive Building Ecosystem Enclosed Atrium Garden, the 'Green Lung’ Polyculture & Monoculture Greenhouse Plant-based climatization system Water self-sufficiency and bio-based filtering Green roofs on existing atria
Culture & Economy Highlights:
Open-Source, and participatory framework New main entrance, west atrium, pods Collaborative frameworks with Wageningen, Botannical Garden Integrated campus where the technological and ecological meet Long term economic stability
Health & Happiness Highlights:
Upgraded heat recapture ventilation system, using exisiting tower as driver Sustainable, healthy, low energy input food system Relaxation & natural zones Bk City Gym Natural Environment: 12% performance gain
