The new Plus Energi Headquarters for Syd Energi (SE) is located on a remarkable site in the southwest part of Denmark – where the countryside meets the city, next to the biggest Danish land art monument – “The hill of light”. This new building for the employees at the energy company will, beside from being a great work environment, also be ground-breaking in terms of architecture and sustainability. A simple and timeless design with a slanted cut on the top floor offers a dynamic, round building, that reflects SE´s company profile and the grandness of the western Danish landscape. A spacious atrium in the center of the building provides light and airiness for all workspaces within the building.
Visitors and employees are met and greeted by a large reception and showroom area, from where one via the atrium can get an overview of the entire building. A marvelous sculpture comprised of stairs and bridges in the atrium leads visitors and employees through the building. The first three floors are a mixture of departments with a combination of single and multiple workspaces in an open office environment together with modern meeting and relaxing areas. At the top floor one discovers a panoramic cantina, lounge and meeting area. The icing on the cake is the 1000 m2 roof garden, shielded from the wind by the top aluminum-ring and glass. There is also a 360 degree panoramic walk around the top floor that gives an amazing view of the surrounding city, farmland, airport and the North Sea.
Abstract
The design aims to meet the ambitious goals for this 11.000 m2 (heated floor area) office building: The building should fulfill the International Passive House criteria and be a Plus Energy House. The “plus” energy balance includes the energy requirement for the building operation during a year. The energy for operation of the plug loads (computers, printers, etc.) as well as servers is not included in the balance. To reach the positive energy balance, approximately 1,950 m² PV cells are mounted on the roof.
The design is heavily influenced by the Integrated Energy Design (IED) process, where design premises and energy goals were identified from the very start, and the design team (contractor, architect and engineer) has collaborated intensely from the earliest stages of the project. The goal was to create a building which in itself is a crucial parameter in not only lowering the building's overall energy demand, but interact optimally with the building systems to move the energy consumption from peak periods to off-peak periods. Key features are the use of Thermally Active Building Systems (TABS), large buffers installed in the heating and domestic hot water system and an innovative heating- and cooling plant. The mass of the building slab provides "inertia" against temperature fluctuations, effectively "flatting out" temperature fluctuations throughout the day caused by internal and external heat loads. This self-regulating effect of thermal mass is further increased by cooling or heating the concrete slab through an integrated piping system within the slab. Water is pumped through these pipes and heat and cold emission take place through the ceiling. In this way a space is continuously heated up or cooled down.
Being a Passive House, the new HQ is by definition well insulated with only a limited capacity needed for heating up and cooling down. As a result of this and because of the large heating/cooling surface of the concrete slab, the temperature difference between the air in the room and the surface of the ceiling only needs to be small in order to meet the real heating or cooling need.
Unique feature
As the building is located close to the sea in an area with high wind speeds, it was evaluated that only fixed external solar shading would be an option (not controllable). As this would reduce the daylight levels within the room, the choice was made to use internal solar shading despite the reduced shading efficiency – being mainly a glare protection.
Due to the use of internal solar shading combined with a highly insulated and tight building, the facade design was crucial, with respect to glazing area and placement, to maintain an optimal thermal and visual indoor climate while minimizing heat loss and excessive solar gains. Daylight and thermal simulations have been used to optimize the design resulting in a band of high placed windows to provide natural light deep into the rooms, while a lower band provides the view. The lowered (open) ceiling is “pulled back” to be able to increase the height of the upper window band, and the façade thickness between the lower and upper window was minimized to maximize daylight penetration deep into the room. The new Plus Energi Headquarters for Syd Energi has become a landmark with its organic shape and special scenic location. And at the same time a beacon for low-energy buildings and the use of alternative energy sources.
Material Used :
1. Reynobond – Facade – Reynobond® Architecture i anodicsilver 9106S 93S.
2. HS Hansen – Window - Clear Aluminium HS Hansen UnitAl
3. EgeCarpet – Flooring - Epoca pro Profile Ecotrust
4. Dampa – Ceiling - INTERVAL PANELSDAMPA® Interval Panel
