People, Presence, Place: Co-Creating a High-Performance Building
Kathleen Kelly, AIA, LEED® AP, NBBJ
Andy Snyder, NBBJ
High-performance buildings hit on all cylinders: from environment to context and program, but you can not deliver such a building without an equally high performing team; one configured for the unique criteria of each project. How do you deliver a high-performance project by building a network of knowledge and expertise, spanning geographies, cultures, and value systems?
Through the case study of the Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center Research and Discovery Building situated in Taipei, Taiwan, we will share a unique combination of systems and knowledge brought together to achieve a 60 percent energy savings. Exemplary sustainable performance is a project goal and while achieving status via the Taiwan EEWH certification process is mandated, our design emphasis is holistic with energy performance as a driving factor. The design thinking of the project translates into design solutions through aggressively folding objective and subjective data into the design process.
Understanding how this building responds dynamically to tropical Taipei and the Guandgdu Basin and how to leverage regional climatic qualities to create productive working and learning environments was fundamental to achieving our sustainable goals. For example, a qualitative response places "Discovery on Display," cantilevered boxes shading the façade, and multiple green terraces draw connections to the landscape. A quantitative response fully shades the facades, uses operable louvers, and responds to program use and occupancy across time with automatic and manual operability.
Throughout the design process, focus was placed on building performance as modeled and analyzed via BIM and advanced computer simulation for whole building, fluid dynamics, and radiance modeling. Modeled responses drove configuration and system selection. A combination of active and passive chilled beams delivered through a raised floor is the foundation for the successfully reduced energy demand. A modular definition crafted the response to each system ensuring efficiencies were delivered in both space and materials.
For the Koo Foundation, collaboration is the bridge between theory and clinical practice. Building a flexible, sustainable framework for collaboration was fundamental. Collaboration across multiple disciplines and areas of expertise is also the basis of delivering greater energy performance and a holistic sustainable building.
Biographies:
Kathleen Kelly, a principal at NBBJ, has spent her 19-year career designing science buildings. With 30 research buildings in her portfolio, Ms. Kelly is a key proponent of sustainable and regenerative design at NBBJ. Throughout her years as an architect, her experience has spanned a variety of project types, but always with a view to environmental sensitivity. As a part of NBBJ's science and education practice, Ms. Kelly is focused on devising sustainable research environments for the future and the environmental performance of buildings. She takes a holistic approach, looking for opportunities to push each project towards a positive outcome for both the human experience and the ecosystem we inhabit.
Ms. Kelly is a member of the American Institute of Architects and a LEED Accredited Professional.
An advocate of integrated and value-added design, Andy Snyder is a senior associate and project designer in NBBJ's Science and Education practice. His experience across geography, project size, and complexity makes him a highly versatile designer. Mr. Snyder believes that great design improves the human condition and is significant of its place and time. His interests in sustainability extend from environmental responsibility and energy reduction to improving the human experience and adding value.