CREDITS: 1.00 LU/HSW/SD
Course DescriptionThe course provides a clear description of a large-scale project - in the subtropical coastal Chinese city of Shenzhen, on the same latitude as Hong Kong - where sustainability principles have been implemented in an avant-garde architectural design. The concepts underpinning the project are described along with the technologies and materials employed, and how these have been harnessed to ensure sustainable design, construction and building management practices.
The course comprises an explanatory text, several photographs, a series of technical and construction-detail drawings of the building envelope and structure.
On completion of the course, you will have gained more specific and applicable knowledge of sustainability issues as applied to contemporary architecture, and of certain state-of-the-art sustainability technologies.
Learning Objectives – after reading this article and studying the drawings, you will be able to:
- Identify the technological features of the Vanke Center that allow high-density usage to be combined with high-quality environmental sustainability.
- Identify the new materials used in the Vanke Center for the structural frame, infills and sun-shading, and explain how they contribute to effective sustainability, occupant comfort and reduce visual impact.
- Discuss, thanks to the construction details supplied, how the technologies employed in the Vanke Center put sustainability principles into practice and consequently lower energy consumption.
- Assess the use of daylighting in the Vanke Center and discuss the use of sun-shading systems to create a series of microclimate areas within the building.
