Edifício das Pós-Graduações Porto, Portugal

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Acronym | AdVent Case 5

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Posting Date | 27 September 2009

Country | Portugal

Geographic Coverage | International

Theme | On-site renewable energy sources, Thermal comfort, indoor air quality, acoustics, Building envelope (walls, windows,...), Energy efficiency technologies and materials, General, Very low energy buildings, Air conditioning, cooling, ventilation, air infiltration

Author(s) information |

Name:

J L Alexandre

Name:

M Silva,

Target Group | Local/regional/national authorities and facilitators, Building professionals

Abstract | The building was designed to make the best use of the moderate climate in order to provide a comfortable indoor environment together with low energy consumption. The H-shape of the building plan optimises the use of solar radiation to provide free space heating and natural day-lighting. The south-facing room depth was kept below 8 m in the north and south blocks and below 4 m in the central block, to enhance natural light distribution and to reduce dependency on artificial lighting. To reduce solar gain in summer, southfacing windows were provided with overhangs and shading. The majority of the glazing was located on south façades and the glazing facing east and west was kept to a minimum. Where possible, clerestory glazing was introduced to provide direct gain and day-lighting to those parts of the building without a southern exposure. All windows are wood-framed with double-glazing. The envelope consists of a high inertia “double brick wall” (Figure 3). Between the outer brick and inner concrete components of the wall, there is a layer of 50 mm of polystyrene and a 40 mm air gap, giving the walls an excellent thermal insulation. Potential thermal bridges across windows, corners, etc were also insulated. The building is mechanically ventilated throughout. In order to limit costs and energy consumption, the use of full air-conditioning was restricted at the design stage to the central block, containing the spaces with the highest internal heat gains. The remaining spaces were supplied only with tempered outside air, with no recirculation. Subsequently, the use of some rooms in the north block was changed to contain IT equipment, resulting in the need for additional cooling of these rooms. Heating is supplied by a 300 kW central boiler and distributed (i) to radiators in circulation spaces, offices and some classrooms in the north and south block; (ii) to the fan-coil units supplying the central block and (iii) to induction units. Section through external wall. the IT rooms in the north block. Cooling is provided by a central 200 kW chiller. Cooled water is supplied to the make-up air supply for the offices and classrooms in the north and south blocks and to the air handling and induction units of the spaces requiring additional cooling. In addition there is provision for natural ventilation through openable windows to supply night-time free cooling.

Illustrations |

Web URL(s) of the case | http://www.buildingadvent.com

Lessons learnt | This building provides an example of using innovative design approaches to achieve a building with low energy consumption by providing ventilation and air-conditioning matched to the particular use of spaces within the building. In designing the building advantage was taken of available simulation methods such as Radiance software which was used to examine solar gain and light distribution in order to determine features such as window size, overhang dimensions and room depth. Possible improvements which might now be considered include the use of heat recovery where full air conditioning systems are installed and the use of roof-mounted photovoltaic collectors to reduce electricity consumption from the national grid.

Award labels | none

Additional documents |