Theories of Architecture & Urbanism

Theories of Architecture & Urbanism (ARC 61603 / ARC 2224)

Analyzing & Theorizing Architecture

Student name & ID : Lecturer : Submission date :

Teh Kah Khen 0314502 Ms. Ida 22nd June 2015

Analyzing & Theorizing Architecture

Contents 1.0

2.0

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………….3 1.1

Garden City Theory…………………………………………………………………….4

1.2

Putrajaya, Malaysia………………………………………………………………...…..6

1.3

Headquarters of Energy Commision of Malaysia…………………………………...7

External Contributing Factors 2.1

Architecture Theory…………………………………………………………………….9

2.2

Sustainability…………………………………………………………………….........14

2.3

Technology…………………………………………………………………………….19

3.0

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………....23

4.0

References……………………………………………………………………………………24

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1.0

Introduction

This paper studies the Garden City Theory by Ebenezer Howard and through analysis, to theorize architecture based on perception of self and architecture onto a chosen building in

Putrajaya, Malaysia. The selected building is the Headquarters of Energy Commision of Malaysia also known as the Diamond Building by NR Architects (Malaysia) is a stunning design that was inspired by the original form of the diamond. Posing many green ideas incorporated

into the design of the building, this shining example of energy efficiency has won multiple awards. General scope of study focus on the analysis of three (3) external contributing factors that influences the architect’s thought throughout the design of this building. The three factors

include, architecture theory (Garden City Theory), sustainability and technology. Anticipated in this study is to derive a conclusion based on how the architect responded to the factors to realize the building as part of “The Garden City” theory.

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1.1

Garden City Theory

The Garden City Theory introduced by Ebenezer Howard has been seen adopted in two wellknown cities, Letchworth and Welwyn. The ideas of this theory has been recorded in the book

published in 1902; Garden Cities of To-morrow. One key point introduced was translated into The Three Magnets diagram stating the importance of town-country relationship which is able to preserve big chances of employment and public spirit with a sense of being close to forests and

meadows.

Figure 1: (left) Sir Ebenezer Howard, 1850-1928. (right) The Three Magnets diagram.

It also aims to reintegrate people with the countryside; to bring human society and the beauty of

nature together. Quoted from the theorists himself, “always preserving a belt of country� around cities emphasized the prominence of having nature around and within man. Having said that, development must not alter the natural land and consideration towards hierarchy of services,

essential components of community and zoning principles. It opts to create a sense of community and harboring relationships between human beings by enhancing them with good planning and design that promotes sociability. The Garden City style has a few interesting

characteristics namely, having public recreational grounds within easy access by all people, radial development to avoid a scattered form, contextual emphasis, ample greeneries (trees to be planted along roads and back of building plot), consideration of natural lighting, large use of ARC 2224/61603 Theories of Architecture & Urbanism

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cul-de-sac and having a focal point similarly to the Coronation Fountain at Parkway in Welwyn.

Together they generate uniformity in which elements of man and nature come together as a whole. Some notable features in Welwyn Garden City also includes facilities to cater for all,

parklands and woodlands within close proximities, provision of pathways for pedestrians to walk around to fully enjoy the views and develop interest to explore further and a clear division between formal and informal spaces. This resulted in a development of the site that emits an untouched, natural feel.

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1.2

Putrajaya, Malaysia

Putrajaya is one of the largest integrated urban development project in the history of Malaysia that combines development of government institutions, commercial, residential, public amenities

and infrastructure. It aims to have a well-planned administrative center with modern facilities and technology to enhance government efficiency and productivity. The planning of Putrajaya was based on the Garden City Concept with some considerations that include, preservation of

natural topography (lands are connected using bridges which mitigates land reclaim) and minimal earth cut and fill works. The main features of this green city includes large open spaces designated as green open spaces (37 percent of the land), man-made lake and wetlands to

create waterfronts, clear zoning of administrative (55 percent), commercial, public (32 percent) and peripheral (13 percent comprising of mix housing types catering for all to promote social integration) precincts, a 4.2 kilometer long boulevard which formed the spine of the city that is

directly adopted from the theory, quality and modern public amenities with easy accessibility via walking and recreation spaces. The city planning also allows focal points to form which is one of the key features of a garden city. About 11 parks are found in this city which suggests the importance of nature to be around man. In conclusion, this caring city successfully creates a sense of community and belonging which encompasses both man and nature as a whole.

Figure 2: Putrajaya, Malaysia. (Source : Putrajaya, 2015)

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1.3

Headquarters of Energy Commision of Malaysia

The Energy Commision Headquarters is located in Precinct 2, Putrajaya adjacent to the Taman Pancarona which is a public landscape garden. Derived from the inspiration of a diamond, it

symbolizes transparency, value and durability which represents the headquarters’ role and mission as a regulatory body.

Figure 3: The Energy Commision Headquarters (Diamond Building) (Source : Suruhanjaya Tenaga, 2015)

Figure 4: Location map of the Energy Commision Headquarters in Putrajaya based on precincts. (Source : Putrajaya, 2015) ARC 2224/61603 Theories of Architecture & Urbanism

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The design of this building incorporates many concepts that strived to be a sustainable building.

For instance, the diamond shape enables prevention of air infiltration due to its aerodynamic and effective form which subsequently aids in the design of the tilted façade. Meanwhile, the

indoor Atrium is also designed to optimize daylight utilization with reflective panels and an automatic roller-blind system responsive to the intensity as well as the angle of the incident sunlight. In addition to providing a high quality indoor environment, a good outdoor environment is also provided through extensive landscaping and a sunken outdoor garden. The unique shape represents an optimum design approach to achieve energy efficiency and was evaluated early during design stages. Extensive computer simulations of the diamond form was conducted to ensure that the expected daylight and energy performances are met without compensating to heat gain into the building. Apart from that, occupant’s visual comfort was also considered through various daylight simulation exercises in order to maintain and make certain of adequate and well distributed daylight. Aside from maximizing natural daylighting, design strategy also

encapsulates energy efficiency, water efficiency, indoor environmental quality and outdoor environmental quality. Through these considerations of energy-saving and green features towards a sustainable building, the Diamond Building is capable of saving both energy and

operating costs.

Quick building facts

Location

: Putrajaya (Precinct 2), Malaysia

Type

: Regulatory body & sustainable building

Energy benchmark

: 65 kWh/m²/year

Built-up area

: 14,000 m²

Completion date

: 2010

Owner

: Malaysian Energy Commision (ST)

Architect

: NR Architects

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2.0

External Contributing Factors

2.1

Architecture Theory (Garden City Theory)

The Diamond Building aside from being derived from the inspiration of a diamond also respects the architecture theory; the Garden City Theory. This external contributing factor shows the

architect’s responds to realizing this building as part of the theory. Apart from functioning as a regulatory body, this building also highlights the importance of man and nature relationship which is often stressed in the theory by Ebenezer Howard. Having said that, this seven-storey

wonder caters to not only as an office but also nature and sustainability elements as a whole which in turn benefits both the occupants and the built environment.

Figure 5: Importance of man and nature relationship. (Source : Author, 2015)

On the other hand, the design of this building also encapsulates the idea of building orientation.

The building is orientated to a manner emphasizing maximum solar efficiency whereby daylighting is absolutely an important criterion in the overall design, again relating back to the theory that states the significance of daylight properties. Besides, this orientation also allows the northern and southern facades to be both fully self-shaded but still able to exploit the daylighting and sun ray benefits. Since the building has a strong relationship with nature, tress surrounding the building perimeter as part of the landscape benefits the building in terms of preventing direct sunlight into the building. Instead, the landscape diffuses light and reflects into the building which mitigates heat load into the building. Ultimately, reduces cooling load which then saves

energy consumption.

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Figure 6: Building orientation for daylighting and sun ray benefits. (Source : Author, 2015) According to the Garden City Theory, views are important. Likewise, it promotes encouragement and curiosity to travel in a state surrounded by nature. Therefore, this is

considered in the building design as well and can be seen obviously both from the inside and outside. From the exterior of the building, a spectrally selective and low-e glass decorates the facades which enables views to-surrounding and into-building. With this selection, cooling load

of building is not compensated due to the property of the glass that is able to filter heat from entering into the building, thus, reducing reliance on air conditioning. Besides, the building is also situated close to a public recreational ground; Taman Pancarona which follows the theory stating the importance of close proximity to natural public grounds and this also amplified through the ability to be viewed from the building. Inside the building, the design of workstations for the occupants are also considered whereby views to the outside are provided as much as possible.

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Figure 7: Use of low-e glass throughout the four facades of the building that allows transparency yet filtering heat. (Source : Author, 2015)

Figure 8: Emphasizing views to-surrounding and into-building. (Source : Author, 2015)

Figure 9: Design of interior (left) and workstations (right) that considers views.

(Source : Suruhanjaya Tenaga, 2015)

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Lastly, the building configuration also plays an important role to realizing the building as part of the theory. As mentioned in the theory, ample greeneries is an important quality. With the inspiration of the building derived from a diamond, the inverted pyramidal shape of the building

allows more ground space for landscape designs or in other words, greeneries as well as achieving a smaller building footprint. Furthermore, the sunken garden design allows the building to be surrounded by a realm of nature that overall, generates cooling effect to the building.

Figure 10: Building configuration that successfully allows more space for greeneries.

(Source : Author, 2015)

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Figure 11: Cooling effect as a result of ample greeneries surrounding the building.

(Source : Author, 2015)

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2.0

External Contributing Factors

2.2

Sustainability

According to “The Garden City” theory, the idea of creating a self-sustaining city is equally important as integrating human and nature together. The design of this building adopts

sustainable ideas as early in the development phase that enables this building to sustain itself.

Evidently, it achieves recognition from numerous bodies such as Platinum rating by GBI and ASEAN Energy Awards (AEA). The first sustainability design idea that can be identified from the

building is the self-shading characteristic. Harsh, direct sunlight is prevented via the tilting façade. The 25° tilt allows reduction of cooling load due to the shading effect which in turn, saves energy usage for HVAC.

Figure 12: The tilting façade opted in the design shades the lower part of the building.

(Source : Author, 2015)

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Natural daylighting ideas selected for the building design also aids in energy saving purposes.

Together with the glass facades and the skylight above the main atrium, natural light is directed and diffused into the building. Subsequently, it minimizes the use of artificial lightings. Apart

from that, the atrium has been carefully designed to optimize daylight utilization for each floor using strategies like having bands of Tannenbaum reflector panels on the fourth and fifth floors to direct daylight towards the lower first and second floors and design of window that becomes larger deeper into the atrium to cater for lower daylight levels. Ultimately, the converging profile reflects about 85% of daylight in a semi-diffused manner, hence avoiding visual glares as well as benefiting energy consumption.

Figure 13: Natural daylight strategy. (Source : Author, 2015)

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Furthermore, sustainability ideas can also be seen to the extent of adopting natural ventilation.

Utilizing the building shape itself, it is able to prevent breeze from moving through the building so that air filtration is minimized. Besides that, the shape also encourages air to flow naturally down towards the basement for natural ventilation to occur. By all means, energy is saved.

Figure 14: Natural ventilation strategy. (Source : Author, 2015)

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Having situated in a tropical climate, this building takes advantage of the constant tropical

weather. About 830m² of photovoltaic panels are installed on the roof as part of the design and strategy to harness power from the sun to provide energy for the building. This covers up to 10% of the overall energy consumption of the entire building. Therefore, this self-generating

energy strategy is able to sustain the building in the long run accumulating in a huge saving of energy consumption and operation cost.

Figure 15: Solar power harvesting. (Source : Author, 2015)

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Lastly, this building also takes advantage of the tropical weather in Malaysia with regular rainfall

throughout the year. Rainwater is collected on the rooftop from the catchment area that covers 700m² of the roof. Then, they are stored temporarily in the four 10,000 litre tanks before channeled for use for toilet flushing and irrigation. Besides, grey water is also recycled whereby

it is used to irrigate mini wetlands found within the building. Therefore, this allows the building to save up to 80% on water usage which eventually saves costs. With all these sustainability ideas incorporated into the building design, it can be deduced that the design strives to create a self-

sustaining “city� likewise mentioned in the theory which benefits both parties, man and nature.

Figure 16: Rainwater harvesting. (Source : Author, 2015)

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2.0

External Contributing Factors

2.3

Technology

With the sustainability ideas considered, modernity is integrated alongside into realizing these natural considerations. This factor realizes the ideas adopted in the design of the building to

become a self-sustaining “city”. For instance, green materials are carefully selected throughout the entire building such as usage of green labeled plasterboard ceilings and low volatile organic compounds (VOC) carpets and paints. This affects the internal air quality (IAQ) of the building

as the total VOC is sufficiently low to satisfy the IAQ criterion resulting in satisfaction of occupants and minimization of HVAC loads to filter and remove stale and odor air problems.

Moreover, Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations are also introduced as a measure to

encourage and generate awareness to saving natural energy and addressing solutions for occupants to have alternatives towards a lower carbon footprint of transportation. Overall, this “green” movement goes by the theory as nature elements are considered utmost.

Figure 17: Green ideas incorporated into the building design. (Source : Author, 2015)

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Besides that, technology can also be seen through the adaptation of chilled concrete slabs in

the structural design as opposed to the conventional. This is opted to cool and regulate the temperature of the building (19째C-22째C) against heat from direct sunlight to provide user comfort and also helps reducing the working load of HVAC systems by up to 64% which

eventually demands for lower energy consumption and operation costs.

Figure 18: Radiant cooling. (Source : Author, 2015)

Figure 19: Radiant cooling. (Source : IEN Consultants, 2015)

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Aside from solar panels on the roof, the roof is designed as a green roof too. About 20% of the

area is dedicated for greeneries on the rooftop in order to provide a barrier to combat the heat island effect as well as generating a cooling effect from the rooftop into the building.

Furthermore, the grass turf is also able to reflect heat from direct sunlight which then reduces

the intensity in turn, does not compensate the cooling load in the building itself.

Figure 20: Functional roof (green roof). (Source : Author, 2015)

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Last but not least, the design of the building also takes into consideration the lighting system.

The smart artificial lighting system implemented further saves energy consumption of the building. Having said that, the lighting system is daylight responsive through usage of sensors such as lux sensors that controls the illumination of lightings with relevance to natural daylight.

This ensures that no energy sourced to these systems are put into waste. Besides, individual workstations are also equipped with task lightings to further allow occupants to control the lighting. Overall, this has been proven to reduce energy consumption and increase daylight

responsiveness of the building without sacrificing visual comfort.

Figure 21: Responsive lighting system. (Source : Author, 2015)

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3.0

Conclusion

To sum up, the Diamond Building in Putrajaya was designed to avoid direct solar penetration into the building which subsequently reduces cooling load and contributes into saving a bulk of energy consumption and operational cost that accumulatively returns the cost input in the long

run. Having placed in a tropical weather, it is a fair move to take advantage of the natural consequences such as daylighting and ventilation in the midst of saving energy. The Diamond Building has evidently successful in striving to become a self-sustaining “city� through the

numerous green considerations adapted throughout the entire building. With all these sustainable and green features applied, this building is able to reflect the ideas of the Garden City theory by Ebenezer Howard. Aside from that, incorporation of technology also helps

realizing this building as part of the theory itself. In a bigger picture, Putrajaya is already a sought after Garden City, it is significant to follow the footsteps of the city planning of Putrajaya.

Last but not least, this allows the Diamond Building to be part of the Garden City and sequentially, Putrajaya to be an effective Garden City as a whole.

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References

Book Howard, E. (1902). Garden Cities of Tomorrow. London : Wan Sonneschein & Co., Ltd..

Image Ebenezer Howard: Garden Cities of To-morrow, (1902). Sir Ebenezer Howard. [image] Available at: http://architectureandurbanism.blogspot.com/2010/10/ebenezer-howard-gardencities-of-to.html [Accessed 3 April 2015].

Garden Cities of Tomorrow, (1902). The Three Magnets. [image] Available at: http://urbanplanning.library.cornell.edu/DOCS/howard.htm [Accessed 3 April 2015].

Websites Koay, A. (2011). Diamond Building: A shinning example of energy efficiency. Retrieved June 8, 2015, from http://www.thestar.com.my/Story/?file=/2011/7/5/lifefocus/8925744 Lim, J. (2013). ST Diamond Building, The Green Building Landmark in South East Asia.

Retrieved June 7, 2015, from http://blog.japhethlim.com/index.php/2013/10/15/st-diamondbuilding-the-green-building-landmark-in-southeastasia/ Merchant, C. (2013). The Diamond Building in Putrajaya. Retrieved June 7, 2015, from http://www.expatgomalaysia.com/2013/01/10/the-diamond-building-in-putrajaya/

Savery, N. (2008). Garden City Values and Principles. Retrieved May 17, 2015, from http://www.planning.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/6700/gardencity_values.pdf World's First Intelligent Garden City. (2012). In Green City. Retrieved April 3, 2015, from http://www.putrajaya.gov.my/tourist/green_city

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