ArchShowcase Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination. New solar energy-plus child day-care centre in Marburg, Germany by opus ArchitektenMarch 28th, 2017 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: opus Architekten The design concept identifies three key concerns. Firstly: the need to slot a new building into the topography and character of a 19th century park with respect to its historic neighbouring structures, in particular a nearby chapel. Secondly: the desire to create a welcoming and lively educational environment both for children and the adults who work there. And last but not least: the aspiration to employ innovative technology to create a building that produces more energy than it consumes.
The day-care centre is conceived as a discreet pavilion in the landscape, sited in a clearing where the ground level rises 3m towards the chapel. The centre takes advantage of this, and appears – from the chapel – to be a single-storey building. This arrangement also allows children access into the open at both levels. Lower west-facing rooms overlook the meadow, while upper-floor rooms face east towards the hillside. The interior design echoes the centre’s densely wooded surroundings, and deliberately blurs the distinction between inside and out with 3-ply spruce panelling and furniture in various shades of green. The aim was to build a prototypical, highly efficient structure. Opus took an “Efficiency House Plus” directive – originally developed for residential buildings – and tailored it to fit the educational use. In addition to requirements for heating, cooling, ventilation, hot water, and lighting, the standard also takes into account the energy requirements of the building in use, and strives for an annual surplus energy balance for both final and primary energy. From the outset, the roof and the elevation on the upper southwest side were designated as surfaces for photovoltaic modules. In contrast to a customary ‘add-on’ approach, these are designed as fully integrated elements and markedly influence the building envelope. Deep overhangs on either side of the building reduce unwanted summer heat gain and additional awnings provide temporary shading – and shady spaces for play – along the three sunexposed elevations. In mild weather, when heating/cooling is not required, rooms are ventilated via manually operated room-height louvered apertures in the façade, with further ventilation via staircase skylights. In cooler months, a central ventilation system with heat recovery delivers fresh air into the group rooms, and extracts air from the toilets and sleeping rooms. As most activities take place at floor level, the architects opted for underfloor heating. Separate air/water heat pump systems deliver water at 35oC for the floor heating and 55 oC for potable water, operating far more efficiently than a single heat pump. The building has an electrical requirement of some 37,000 kWh per year. With a capacity of 52 kW, the photovoltaic installation provides about 41,000 KWh. In theory, the annual surplus of 4,000 kWh would be sufficient to meet the electricity demand of 13 standard houses in Germany. Contact opus Architekten
Categories: Care Center, Child Care, Nursery, Solar-Sail |