Voice

CONTENTS

Chapter 1 | BACKGROUND

About the Author Client and Brief Stakeholders

Chapter 2 | RESEARCH

Demographics

Activism in New York Site Analysis

Chapter 3 | CONCEPT

Storytelling Vertical Circulation Archive Design Development

Chapter 4 | PROPOSAL Plans Sections Elevations

Chapter 5 | DETAIL

Building Overview Public Realm Junction

The Forum Junction Archive Junction Roof Junction Construction Sequence Carbon Assessment

Chapter 6 | REFLECTION

Epilogue

7. 10. 14. 18. 20. 22. 34. 35. 36. 38. 46. 58. 64. 74. 84. 86. 92.. 96. 100. 102. 106.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“Ya, I don’t mind..........BUT...”

“In my head, I pictured it differently”

“Si, but como??”

That environment guy “....In my opinion”

Cant think of a quote, *stressing*

“brb, PGA tour is on”

CLIENT: UNITED NATIONS

Rising from the ashes of World War II, the United Nations Charter captured the determination of a generation to eradicate the suffering and global depression the war had caused. It reaffirmed “faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women.

Considering the welfare of the world’s people as shared responsibility, It aims to promote social and financial equality and eradicate poverty.

As a ‘library for the world’, we have designed with inclusivity, equality and sustainable development at the heart of our work, to demonstrate and promote the core beliefs of our client.

U.N.’s ’72 Motto: ‘Only One Earth’

With the United Nation as our client, and our site located immediately south of the UN headquarters, we were required to design a library that can be thought as both; ‘Library for the World’ and ‘Living Room for the City’. Furthermore, to respect and promote the goals set by the UN, we were required to design keeping in our stakeholders ranging from the local homeless to esteemed writers and officials.

The proposed brief also included an environmentally controlled archive holding valuable literary works.

Moreover, we were required to accommodate 200 UN officials along with the existing Dag Hammarskjöld Library which provides research and information services to the Member States at the United Nations.

HOW DO WE DEFINE A LIBRARY?

We firmly believe that a library is not the books; it is the people.

Its purpose goes far beyond a storage facility. It could be thought of as a place for “Curating, producing, and facilitating the use of the cultural record in all its myriad forms, a commitment to sustaining culture despite, and perhaps because of, changes occurring.”

It is also a place that brings people from different socio-economic and cultural groups together under a single roof. It can therefore be considered as a socioeconomic infrastructure that uplifts and empowers the underprivileged.

In line with the goals set by the UN, we have tried to promote equality and accessibility by hosting an in- house publishing house, as a platform to provide a platform to the ‘voiceless’.

Relating back to the brief of the “Library for the World”, we have accommodated specific facilities within the building that promote and preach multilingualism.

Lastly, New York is the epicentre of the most iconic social movements which have been an inspiration to people across the World. By providing a safe space for activism, we intend to redefine the library as a place that encourages engagement and dialogue. At some level this also caters to our goal of tackling the rise of intolerance globally.

A tad bit upset that the rugby lads didn’t make it to this list.

COMMUNITY

Auditorium Public Library Public Library Public Library Playground

LOCAL ARTISTS

Exibhition Spaces ACTIVISTS

and Dag Library Research and Dag Library Research and Dag Library

& Buffer Spaces Archive & Buffer Spaces Archive & Buffer Spaces

Office Office

Areas

STAFF

Support Centre UN OFFICIALS

White Black Asian Other

Protest against racical

March

Wall Street

UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

QMT VENTILATION BUILDING

UN SECRETARIAT BUILDING

VIEW ACROSS THE STREET

SITE ANALYSIS: SUNPATH AND SHADING

Winter Shading

Summer shading

Maximising solar gains on site

SITE ANALYSIS:

USE AND HEIGHTS

Public Buildings

Open

Land use of surrounding buildings

Fitting into the New York skyline.

SITE ANALYSIS: VIEWS AND VENTILATION BUILDING

Views in and out of site

The archive mass is placed as an enclosure to the pollutants and noise coming from the ventilation building.

SITE ANALYSIS: ACCESS

Pedestrian

Bus

Vehicular and pedestrian access

Bus stop

Primary vehicular route

Secondary vehicular route

Pedestrian route

A secondary street is made within our site as a direct re sponse to the pedestrian routes, whereas a service block easily accessible by car.

SITE ANALYSIS: NOISE

Noise diagram

The open auditorium is placed away from the noise of the street, facing towards the pedestrian street of our site.

SITE ANALYSIS: FLOOD RISK

As a safety measure against flood risks, the basement and ground floor archive is wrapped in concrete, which continues all along the public realm.

Predicted Flood Levels

READING NOOKS

Enclosed single-use spaces designed with comfortable light and very intimate privacy level.

ORATION

A cone like structure promoting a single focal point allows conversations only within 2-3 people.

COLLABORATION

A dome like structure which allows multiple people to take the stage.

FORUM

An auditorium space hosting 250 people, challenging a traditional formal environment and encouraging the local public to occupy the space in a no-ticket policy.

VERTICAL JOURNEY

The building aims to curate a fluid vertical journey connecting spaces of varying functions. An attempt to encourage interaction between people visiting the building for different purposes.

PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE

Our proposal suggests a building that embodies storytelling and the community. We hoped to store a means in our archive that bridges the gaps between different languages and cultures and makes stories universally accessible. Photographs seemed like the most apt choice as, they precisely capture the raw emotion lived in a particular moment.

Besides aiming to capture everyone’s story from the past, for the present; we hope to preserve the memory of the present for the future.

In essence, we want to keep intact the history of the world seen through the lives of the common people.

Woman getting tattooed Poland, 1930s

A young Beatles fan cries as the band prepares to leave for tour United States, 1964

Newsstand France, 1954 Soldiers getting a last kiss United States, 1963

Couple kissing during a flu epidemic Spain, 1919

Children wearing gas masks and playing in a nursery Japan, 1946

JOURNEY

A

A moment is capured

All photographs are digitalised, saved in the library server. They are also published as post-cards, magazines and on onine portals.

The UN requests for photographs capturing iconic moments clicked through the lens of common men

Librarians discover photographs and bring them to the NYC library

Upon arrival, they are examined and treated in the preservation and darkroom

They are displayed in exhibitions

Photographs are observed by the researchers, UN officials and the community

Photographs are sorted, categoried and stored in the archive

PRECEDENCE

RELEASING LOAD OVER THE TUNNEL

STAIRS TO A LIFTED PUBLIC REALM

Sao Paulo Museum, Brazil Lino Bo Bardi, 1968

Our aim to create a lifted public realm was supported by the ideology of an open public space in the Sao Paulo Museum. The concept of having an endlessly open space supported by only the core (circulation) seemed as an interesting beacon from the street view.

This public realm sat atop the archive which took the form of a plinth. This scheme did not seem very welcoming on ground level and created disparity for different user types.

PRECEDENCE

INCREASING INTIMACY PUBLIC REALM OPEN TO STREET

Stuttgart Library, Germany Yi Architects, 2011

The Stuttgart Library is perceived to be a future city centre growing out of the location of the library.

This particular image from the Stuttgart Library highlights the varying intimacy levels within a building.

The archive being the most intimate space is pushed into the centre and acts like the structural core. This, however, compromised the available floor space on every floor throughout the building.

SPLIT CORE

This scheme aims to resolve the issues of a compromised floor plan by opening up the central core. The archive here is pushed back and raised to the height of the building. This hindered some key views of the East River.

PROVISION FOR AN ATRIUM

USABLE SPACE

The archive is pushed down to the height of the vent building and is pushed slightly out of the building mass. This opened views of the East River. The street within the public realm acts as an amplified walkway into the building.

OPENED UP VIEWS TO EAST

ACCESS WITHIN THE SITE

DEVELOPED STREET

REDEFINING THE PUBLIC REALM AS A FORUM FOR LOCALS

FLUID MOVEMENT GUIDING PEOPLE INTO THE BUILDING VIA A STREET THAT CUTS THROUGH THE BUILDING.

NO TICKET POLICYBREAKING THE NORM

INTERNAL PERSPECTIVE: PUBLIC REALM STREET VIEW

HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE?

CHAPTER

PROPOSAL

“There is alot more fun to be had” Nigel Bedford, 2020

ARCHIVE STORAGE SPECIFICATIONS

Room Temperature Storage Conditions - Air Cooling and Pull Out Racks

Level 6 to 8

•Contents stored: Small and large framed prints, coloured prints, black and white prints.

•Flexible lighting levels and controlled access. The archive floors also function as exhibition spaces on special occasions.

•Room temperature: 8 to 16 degrees C

Cool Storage Conditions - Air cooling and Shelves

Level 3 to 5

•Contents stored :Polyester film, colour film, negatives and colour prints of relatively smaller sizes.

•Low level lighting and restricted access

•Acclimatisation shelves located at the entry points of all rooms before buffer spaces.

•Room Temperature levels: 8 degrees C

Subzero Storage Conditions - Commercial Freezer Rooms

Basement, Ground Floor, First Floor

•Contents stored: Pre-1950 cellulose acetate, post 1950 Cellulose acetate, cellulose nitrate film and early coloured film.

•Low level lighting and extremely restricted access

•Acclimatisation shelves located at the entry points of all rooms

•Temperature levels: 0 to -20 degrees C

•Room temperature: 8 to 16 degrees C

•Power: 1125 W

FLEXIBLE LOCAL EXHIBITION SPACE

Multi-culture EventsFood Market

Inhabited by Local Artists

Flower Market

ARCHIVE SUPPORT ROOMS

The archive is connected to the main tower via a series of intermediate spaces. These ancillary departments include a darkroom, a preservation room, small archive reading rooms and controlled exhibition spaces to display the photographs contained in the archive.

LETS JUST SAY, INTEGRATING THE ARCHIVE IN THE BUILDING WAS ... FUN

Photography Exhibition

Preservation Room

LIBRARY FACILITIES

The community library features a variety of coloured volumes spread across its six floors.

COLLABORATION :

A two-storey dome structure that can host around 20-30 people. It encourages collaborative creative efforts like improvisation, scriptreading etc.

ORATION :

A three-storey high conical volume meant for dissemination of information from one established entity. The space can host roughly 15-20 people and is meant for book readings, book launches, author meet and greets etc.

ENCLOSURE :

Intimate pods meant for single or double occupancy.

PUBLISHING HOUSE AND SCRIPTORIUM :

Challenging the elitism in print and media, the library hosts an in-house publishing centre.. The scriptorium commits to translating existing texts and increasing their accessibility to a wider audience.

AUDIO RECORDING PODS :

An extension of the publishing house. These pods allow people to record themselves and air podcasts..

Audio Recording Pods

Oration, sitting next to the cafe, opening to a balcony

INTERNAL PERSPECTIVE: ATRIUM VIEW

JOURNEY THROUGH THE BUILDING:

A climate resilient activist walks into the local exhibition, as she proceeds to the forum for her

*After the event*

She finds a cosy nook in the cafe to read her daily

30 mins later..

*AT THE event for climatE change*

AN ACTIVIST

Oh wow! These artist’s are pretty cool. Should definitely tell Stacey about it..

..The smallest of your actions count..

Glad to see the younger gen have a safe environment for their opinions!

Oh grandpa, can we please go up there? Please please!

*THEY REACH ON TOP OF THE PLAYGROUND*

Mia dashes away from her grandpa in excitement.

..AND THAT WAS ABOUT COVID-19..

Oh grandpa, why don’t you share some of your stories as well!

JOURNEY THROUGH THE BUILDING: AS A LOCAL

Little Mia is in the middle of her evening walk with grandpa.. when something catches her eye!

Wait up Mia! Your grandpa isn’t so fast anymore!

*MIA AND GRANDPA REACH COLLABORATION*

THEY ARE FURTHER INTRIGUED BY THE IMPROV SHOW HAPPENING IN THE BUILDING.

JOURNEY THROUGH THE BUILDING:

AS AN Archivist

9:00am

The archivist, steve grabs some coffee before work..

ME NEITHER!

5:00pm

Steve then ends his shift arranging the exhibition panels for the next day..

Oh I cant wait to see these prints from your trip to india!

Oh PHEW, WE COULD REALLY DO WITH A BREAK!

CANT WAIT TO SEE THESE IN THE EXHIBITION TOMORROW!

He then proceeds to the archive dark room to develop the prints that just came from india.

Kunsthaus Bergenz, Peter Zumthor Precedent Type:: Material

Whilst designing a high rise, the nature of glazing was one of the first aspects of the facade that we came to question. Zumthor’s use of a translucent skin and its the partial exposure of internal spaces intrigued us. Polycarbonate then, became our primary focus in terms of material.

Layers of opacity within a grid structure

Polycarbonate

Glass

Metal

Pompidou Centre, Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers Precedent Type: Exposed Circulation

With the intent of exploring interactive façades that partially expose the circulation and the organisation of the internal spaces, we looked into the precedent of Pompidou centre. The use of colour within the scheme was another aspect that inspired us and became an integral part of our scheme.

THIS WAS REFERRED TO AS THE ‘SEDUCTIVE SKETCH’ BY OUR TUTORS; CAN ONLY HOPE THAT WE LIVED UP TO IT!

Qingpu Youth Centre, China, Atelier Deshaus Precedent Type: Material

As a response to the environmental implications of polycarbonate, we looked into other materials that could serve a similar aesthetic function. Mesh was an appropriate option that had environmental benefits and played with opacity.

Concept sketch showing the mesh properties over the coloured circulations and volumes.

ENVIRONMENT OVERVIEW

With the climate crisis looming upon all of us the environmental impact of our building was constantly on our mind during the design development. Throughout the project we considered how every decision would impact the carbon life of our building.

We wanted a low carbon for the building life of 150 years, we believe a strong main structure is required to achieve this. Keeping maintenance at a minimum and using both active and passive strategies to reduce the operational carbon will achieve our aim. For our environmental design we started by looking at ways to reduce the amount of energy needed for the operation of the building, before working on where we get the energy from.

PV SOLAR PANELS

Solar panels on the roof harness the suns solar radiance to benefit the building by reducing its reliance on the grid for electricity.

RAINWATER HARVESTING

On average Manhattan gets 117 days of rainfall a year, being able to use this environmental condition to the advantage of the building facilities reduces the building’s impact on grey water from the city’s services.

UNDERFLOOR HEATING

All floors will be fitted with underfloor UFC pipes which have the ability to cool or heat spaces.

MIXED VENTILATION SYSTEM

For the summer months where the outside temperature is lower than the 22 degrees room temperature floors (level 10-15) will be ventilated naturally to reduce the impact of the heat gains of people. The heated air would then flow up through the atrium to the roof plant floor for the heat to be recuperated.

MECHANICAL HVAC SYSTEM WITH HEAT RECOVERY

The building will be fitted with supply and extract systems on all floors to service the building. Excess heat that is lost through ventilation will be recuperated with a heat recovery unit.

TACKLING OVERHEATING

The building is enveloped by a layer of white expanded aluminium mesh. This acts as a second skin which creates a buffer zone between the building and the external air. The mesh serves as our shading device with a transmission of 50%. Lastly, we have minimised the amount of external glazing on the building basing it on views, natural lighting and ventilation requirements.

LIGHTING

The building is designed using efficient LED lights to both reduce the energy demand for the lights as well as heat gains from lighting.

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY PILES

We are using a closed-loop ground source heat pump system, the GEP will work as both a heat source as well as a heat sink for the building. This will then be connected to a thermal store within the basement of the building to store any excess energy from the ground to increase the yield of the system.

STRUCTURAL OVERVIEW

The building consists of two reinforced concrete cores placed on either side of the plan.

While designing the cores, two situations to resist the lateral wind loads were considered.

A. One, where both cores would resist the wind loads.

B. Another, where one core would resist the wind loads.

STRUCTURAL OVERVIEW

Keeping the 150 years long building life in mind, the building optimises the use of steel columns and beams in the structure, alongside concrete.

The structure was divided into two sections due to the heavy floor load in the archive. Column sections are reduced the further up the building to optimise the material efficiency and reduce the total axial load.

Type 4 :

UC 356x368x177 S355

Level 11 to 21 Type 3 :

UC 356x406x340 S355

Level 2 to 10

Type 2 : UC 356x406x467 S355

Basement to Ground Level

Library Section

Type 4 :

UC 356x368x177 S355

Level 11 to 21

Type 3 :

UC 356x406x340 S355

Level 7 to 10

Type 2 : UC 356x406x467 S355

Level 2 to 6

Type 1 : UC 356x406x744 S355

Basement to Ground Level

Archive Section

Floor

Floor

Floor

Floor

Floor

Ventilation

Supply

Plumbing

Hot

Floor

Underfloor Heating

Water

underfloor

Placement of vertical risers and ductwork within the scheme.

Vertical alignment of washrooms within the scheme in order to reduce pipe lengths.

Heat Pump

Heat Pump

Ground

Solar PV

Fan coil

Geothermal Piles

Zone 1

Primarily naturally ventilated during months with moderate external temperatures

Plants servicing the community library and the public realm for the extreme temperature months

Zone 2

Mixed mode ventilation

Plants Servicing the DAG, Academics library and the offices

Zone 3

Mechanical ventilation

Plants Servicing the archive

ENVELOPE

U-Value of External Wall

External Surface: R=0.04m2K/W

Expanded Mesh Rainscreen cladding: -

5mm Aluminium Cladding: R=0m2K/W

Breather Membrane:-

200/250mm Lime Fibre: R=2.9/3.5 m2K/W

200/250mm Hemp Insulation: R=2.2/3.6 m2K/W

18mm OSB: R=0.035m2K/W

Internal Surface: R=0.14m2K/W

U-Value of non- archive wall: 0.152W/m2K

U-Value of archive wall: 0.188W/m2K

U-Value of Intermediate Floor

Internal Surface 1: R=0.04m2K/W

65mm Screed Floor: R=0.46m2K/W

12mm Rubber Sound Insulation: R=0.13m2K/W

100mm Recycled Plastic Insulation: R=2.5m2K/W

Weather Resistant Airtight Membrane:140mm Concrete: R=0.175m2K/W

Inside Surface 2: R=0.04m2K/W

U-Value= 0.148W/m2K

U-Value of Roof

Outside Surface: R=0.04m2K/W

5mm Aluminium Cladding: R=0m2K/W

Bitument Membrane:-

300mm Rubber Sound Insulation: R=7.5m2K/W

Weather Resistant Airtight Membrane:240mm Concrete: R=0.8m2K/W

Inside Surface: R=0.04m2K/W

U-Value= 0.127W/m2K

SHADING

White aluminium expanded mesh

White aluminium cladding

0.4cm regular expanded aluminium mesh on the West facade to reduce winter glare. Furthermore, ideal for the lack of views in our out of the facade.

0.6cm regular expanded aluminium mesh on the East and South facade to minimise solar gains however still keep the views out of the building.

1.3cm regular expanded aluminium mesh on the North facade to allow for North reading light into the library and office spaces.

External Overhang

Basement Junction

Concrete

1.8m Concrete

Damp Proof

Extruded

Aerated Concrete

LIGHTING

The exhibition space on the ground and first floor of the public realm utilises a mix of natural lighting and artificial lighting. The lighting level calculated for this space is 200 lux, which is achieved by the use of spotlights placed on movable tracks. This also lends flexibility to the space.

VENTILATION,

HEATING AND COOLING

This zone of the building has a mixed mode ventilation system that varies with the external temperature. During months with moderate external temperatures , pivoting doors and windows can be opened to transform this space into an external space. At other times, the ventilation ductwork provides heated/cooled air in conjunction with the MVHR.

TRUSS JUNCTION

Breather Membrane

65mm Screed Laid

Vapour Barrier

140mm Concrete Decking

Cofraplus 60 Sheeting

160mm Recycled Plastic Insulation

Steel Liner Tray

1.5m Deep I-beam Truss Spaced at 5m

Steel Brackets With Anchors

Airtight Membrane

Column Lined With 200mm Hemp Line Insulation

16mm Concrete Render

24mm Base Render

Breather Membrane

Expanded Aluminium Mesh

Assortment Of LED Spotlights and Floodlights

To Attain a Desired Lux Level Of 500.

MEZZANINE FLOOR DETAIL

Powder Coated Aluminium Balustrade

20x400x400mm Ceramic Tile

Steel plate With Anchors Holding the Balustrade

65mm Screed With Underfloor Heating

Cable Tray, concealed out of sight, accessible from the floor

Waterproof Membrane

140mm Concrete Decking

700mm Deep Beam, Spanning the Length of the Mezzanine

50mm Rubber Sound Insulation

50mm Recycled Plastic Insulation

Secondary Beam Bolted With a Steel Anchor

LED Cove Lighting

18mm Plasterboard

Steel Suspension Cable

Acoustic Baffle

INTERMEDIATE FLOOR JUNCTION

Column Lined With 200mm Hemp Line Insulation

20mm Airtight OSB

18mm Plasterboard

Airtight Membrane

20x400x400mm Ceramic Tile

65mm Screed With Underfloor Heating

Waterproof Membrane

140mm Concrete Decking

Secondary Beam

Perimeter Beam Bolted With a Steel Anchor

Primary Beam Bolted With a Steel Anchor

50mm Rubber Sound Insulation

50mm Recycled Plastic Insulation

Steel Suspension Cable

Supply Air Ductwork With Insulation

LED Light Panel

18mm Plasterboard False Ceiling

Sprinkler System

Breather Membrane

GROUND FLOOR JUNCTION

Column Lined With 200mm

Line Insulation

20x400x400mm

65mm Screed

200mm Lime Fibre Insulation

Steel C-Section

Extruded

500mm Concrete Retaining

Secondary Beam Bolted With

Steel Anchor

140mm Concrete Decking

20mm Airtight OSB

18mm Plasterboard

Airtight Membrane

Breather Membrane

Aluminium Edge Flashing

LIGHTING

The auditorium is lit using a mix of natural and artificial lighting.

The desired ambience is achieved using LED cove lighting fit in the baffles above the performing space. An assortment of LED spotlights and flashlights are used, to achieve a desired lux level of 500. The lights are flexible, dimmable and fixed on a track to suit its use.

SOUND ABSORPTION

Handling the noise coming from the highway on First Avenue was a key challenge in designing the auditorium. A notable design development to aid this was changing the orientation of the auditorium to open into the relatively intimate street carving through our site, reducing the imapct of the road to our auditorium.

Further, we included 65mm sound absorbing panels on the back wall to prevent the ‘slap back’ effect on the performing space. The side walls have irregular surfaces made of Studio Foam to prevent sounds from ricocheting. Lastly the ceiling has acoustic baffles that aid the dispersion of sound to the audience.

THE FORUM: EXPLODED ISOMETRIC

A recent poll undertaken in District 6 suggested the community’s ardent desire to increase the number of parks in the area which resulted in the creation of a playground on the roof of the public realm.

In order to minimise the number of internal columns, and create a vast open space in the auditorium; a series of 1.5m Deep I-beam Truss Spaced at 5m were used to support the structure.

The habitable space under the auditorium hosts the backstage rooms, wash-rooms and a retail front of books, print and photography.

The axial load of the auditorium is much smaller to that of the main tower. Nevertheless, we maintained the same foundation design. This in turn opens a future opportunity to build on top of the auditorium, and maximise the square meter at a prime location in New York City.

Community Playground

Screed Finished Flooring

Roof Build I-beam Trusses

Beams Connecting The Trusses Services Under The Auditorium Steel Structure Foundation

Auditorium With a Mezzanine Floor

Piles

THE FORUM:

PERSPECTIVE

ARCHIVE DETAIL @1:50

ARCHIVE LIGHTING

The archive is entirely lit by artificial LED spotlights due to the strict lighting conditions required to preserve photographic material.

Low lighting conditions of 20 lux is calculated and applied to minimise the rate of deterioration of archival material and maintain the integrity of photographs. Flexible, dim-able spotlights allow the users to tailor the lighting conditions as per use.

VENTILATION FAN COIL UNIT

For the archive ventilation, a water loop fan coil unit is used throughout to cool and dehumidify the room. This is due to the minimal amount of people accessing the archive at once (roughly 5 people at a time).

Due to the archive having such restrictive conditions, it requires an extremely low air change rate (0.1 ach has been assumed). Air tightness will be key to reducing the number of air changes the archive requires which in turn reduced the cooling load.

ARCHIVE JUNCTION

WALL - INTERMEDIATE FLOOR JUNCTION

SC Expanded Aluminum Mesh

20 mm Prefalz Aluminum Standing Seam Panel

20mm Sheathing Board

Breathable Membrane

250mm Lime Fibre insulation with

250mm Hempline Insulation

20mm Airtight OSB

20mm Plasterboard Render

65mm Screed Finish

Waterproofing Layer

240mm Airtight Concrete Decking

Airtight membrane

Perimeter Beam

Secondary Beam

12mm Recycled Plastic for Sound Absorption

50m Recycled Plastic Insulation

Steel Plate

16mm Concrete Render Finish

24mm Base Coat Render

LED Spotlight

Extract Air Duct

ARCHIVE DESIGN

The desired archive conditions are met by an integrated system of geothermal piles, heat pump, MVHR and ventilated fan coil unit. The geothermal energy piles make use of a refrigerant and antifreeze to cool the water running through Earth. The cool water flows through the heat pump and MVHR that service the archive. A ventilated fan coil unit further ensures the environmental conditions are met by cooling and dehumidifying the rooms.

LEVEL 9

Digital store and server room at room temperature (16 to 23 degree C)

LEVEL 8

Black and White Prints stored at room temperature (16 to 23 degree C)

LEVEL 6-7

Small and Large Framed Prints stored between 8 to 16 degree C.

LEVEL 3-5

Polyester Film, Colour Film and Negatives, and Colour Prints stored at 8 degree C across three cold storage floors respectively.

LEVEL 2

Early Colour film stored at 0 degree C in freezer units Mean room temperature of 8 to 16 degree C

GROUND AND LEVEL 1

Cellulose Acetate and Cellulose Nitrate Film stored in subzero freezer units (-20 to 0) with a Mean room temperature of 8 to 16 degree C

BASEMENT

Pre 1950 Cellulose Acetate Film stored in subzero freezer units (-20 to 0) with a Mean room temperature of 8 to 16 degree C

ARCHIVE DESIGN

ARCHIVE INTEGRATION

The archive and its integration in the building was a key aspect in our design.

We have achieved our intent by spilling out the archive spaces into rest of the tower in the form of ‘buffer spaces’ that relate to functions on either side of it. As temperature and habitability increases, these buffer spaces become more accessible to the general public.

LEVEL 6-8

Floors closer to room temperature allow exhibition and public spaces to spill into the archive for maximum access.

LEVEL 3-5

Archive spilling out into small pockets of red room, preservation room and reading room with limited and supervised access.

LEVEL 0 -2

Closed off archive with interaction.

Basement

Archive taking up entire floor with no access.

ROOF

PARAPET

200mm Hempline

Aluminium standing

INTERMEDIATE FLOOR (Plant room)

65mm screed layer with

cover and 25mm UFC

EXTERNAL WALL

20mm Plasterboard

20mm OSB

200mm Hempline insulation

200mm Lime fibre with C-sections at 600 centres

decking

plastic

Breather membrane

Aluminium expanded mesh

Aluminium standing seam on sheathing board

Steel rail system bolted onto primary structure

Air-tight membrane

PLANT ROOM

LIGHTING

The office suite has a fully glazed side along the south-west façade maximising the view and natural light. Using the daylight factor on the working plane equation (Crisp and Littlefair (1984)), taking the transmittance of triple glazing with a low emissivity coating as 0.5:

OFFICE SUITE

However, with the meshing allowing the transmission of only 50%, dfWP is reduced to 3.6%. This would be acceptable for a sunny day but during overcast day or the night time artificial light is needed. This office needs 500 lux and 2,100 lumen LED panels are used.

: SOLAR PANELS

Using Macslab formula, the optimal angle of the solar panels are 34.10 above horizontal to the south. Assuming panel sizes of 0.9m width and 1.8m heigh, has led to a minimum row spacing of 3.5m between panels. From designs 209 panels can be fitted onto the roof, and on top of the loading zone. The graph below shows the obtained energy per month from the layout designed.

Due to New York’s rainy weather, grey water would be collected from the roof and used throughout the building. Collected grey water from the roof runs down to the 40 m3 tank in the basement, this sizing accounts for a 1 in 50 year rainfall event with any excess water running off into the street. Assuming 2l per flush and the average person using the toilet twice a day the following table shows the percentage of grey water needed to service the efficient low demand toilets.

Column1 Rainfall (mm)

Grey water collected (thousand litres)

Grey water needed (thousand litres)

% of grey water needed

January 84 93.2 173.6 53.7

Feburary 78 86.6 173.6 49.9

March 98 108.8 173.6 62.7

April 103 114.3 173.6 65.9

May 107 118.8 173.6 68.4

June 90 99.9 173.6 57.5

July 106 117.7 173.6 67.8

August 102 113.2 173.6 65.2

September 95 105.5 173.6 60.7

October 84 93.2 173.6 53.7

November 104 115.4 173.6 66.5

December 93 103.2 173.6 59.5

CONSTRUCTION SEQUENCE

Excavation Works

Placing one main crane behind one of the cores that will feed all of the structure.

Casting bored piles in-situ with concrete arriving to site via concrete mixer.

Uhh...muskan, there has been a slight change.... in the colUmn layout..

CONSTRUCTION SEQUENCE

Building the raft foundation, retaining wall and leaving steel plate connections for steel columns.

Initiating construction of the core walls using standard form work in the initial floors. It is a self-climbing form work after level 2.

Commencing steel structure construction and installing the general facilities and facade panels.

...............We’re in the middle of week 8....

Considering the 150 year long building life of our design, we aimed to optimise the use of strong, durable materials. This approach reduces the risk of natural degradation whilst minimising maintenance needs.

The total embodied carbon has been calculated for cradleto-gate using the ICE database. Figures included consider the worst case scenarios and can therefore, be considered as an upper limit.

Recycled insulation and hempline have not been included in the calculations but are considered to have a negative value for the embodied carbon which would decrease our figure.

Concrete (30% Fly Ash) 0.113 Kg CO2e/Kg

Concrete (15% Fly Ash) 0.159 Kg CO2e/Kg

%Breakdown of Materials

Total EC (kgCO2e)

Steel Rebar Substructure 18.0% 2,525,209

Concrete Substructure 10.1% 1,417,473

Steel Sections 26.6% 3,728,728

Concrete Core Wall 3.6% 507,192

Rebar Core Wall 6.2% 865,119

Concrete Decking & Stairs 9.0% 1,261,401

Steel Rebar Decking & Stairs 15.5% 2,175,504

Steel Sheet Decking 4.9% 692,145

Aluminium Sheet Façade 6.1% 852,538 14,025 ((tC02e)

Steel Sheet

2.36 Kg CO2e/Kg

Steel Rebar

1.99 Kg CO2e/Kg

Aluminium Sheet Facade

5.65 Kg CO2e/Kg

Steel Sections

1.55 Kg CO2e/Kg

Our building has been designed to reduce the embodied carbon of non-recyclable materials. This has therefore resulted in 22.7%, 3,318tCO2e, being produced as a result of the concrete structure.

Whilst 71.2% has been produced as a result of the steel structure, we have used recycled steel wherever possible which can further be recycled later due to our steel structure being both bolted and standard sections.

Concrete (40/50MPa 15% Fly Ash)

Concrete (28/35MPa 30% Fly Ash)

Aluminium

Concrete Core Wall

Concrete Decking and Stairs

Concrete Substructure

Steel Steel Sections

Core Wall Rebar

Steel Rebar Substructure

Steel Rebar Decking and Stairs

Steel Sheet Decking

Aluminium Sheet Facade

OUR JUSTIFICATION

For a building with a design life such as ours, we aimed to achieve a sustainable low carbon design by creating an integrated system that influences the design and fabric of the building from the forefront and lowers the carbon count.

REDUCE

RATIONALISE OPTIMISE RECOVER GENERATE

Rational glazing

REDUCE AND RATIONALISE

Challenging the traditional ‘glass box’ skyscraper, our building has successfully minimised the amount of external glazing on the facade. The optimised glazing ratio allows the building to maximise gains from both coduction through fabric and the sun, and prevent overheating. An expanded aluminium mesh wraps around the building covering a majority 80% of our building and furthering our agenda.

Furthering our sustainabilty strategy, we have optimised our energy consumption by zoning the services together and usingthe basement as an archive floor due to its steady temperature conditions.

Second skin reduces heating demands

Structural

Durability

STRUCTURAL PERFORMANCE

OPTIMISE, RECOVER AND GENERATE

With a design life of 150 years, optimising structural performance, embodied carbon and durability became integral to our strategy. Using majority steel and concrete meant a higher embodied carbon, but their strength and durability made them an ideal choice by reducing maintenance and operational carbon. The use of renewable energy sources and materials with a negative carbon value such as recycled and hempline insulation, allowed us to offset the higher embodied carbon.

DURABILITY

CLT CLT

Brick Brick

Steel Steel

Aluminium Aluminium

Concrete (30% fly Embodied Carbon

EMBODIED CARBON

Concrete (30% fly

EMBODIED CARBON

Concrete Concrete

EPILOGUE

“ I never imagined I would say this, but I missed the days we spent at least 8h locked in the studio. We reached the interim crit stage with a lot of good ideas, but we just hadn’t been able to represent them accurately and we definitely believe it was a disaster. Since then we all grew closer together as a group, we put all our energy into the project, and I think we can be very proud of the final outcome.”

Gonzalo Garcia Villalba

I started this project with a sense of hesitancy and uncertainty - if the pressure of your final year at Uni doesn’t scare you off, a full blown pandemic is bound to do the trick.

Over the course of the next 8 weeks, our group undertook some intense discussions (read: arguments), faced some harsh realities and celebrated every time we reached any kind of agreement. However, as we reach closer to the end, I feel incredibly satisfied with this experience that I have shared with some exceptionally talented people .

Shreya Sarin

“These last 8 weeks have had more highs and lows than a roller coaster. It has made me doubt my ability as an architect and made me feel like the smartest man alive. However, all that matters is that I will look back at this time with pure joy knowing It has made me a better friend, group mate and architect. ”

Sarthak Saarthi Bansal

“I had heard so much about the dreaded Ted project.. I was both nervous and excited to get started. Being so synonymous with the course at Bath I felt like I wanted to get the ball rolling straight away. I have learnt a lot from the previous group design project, from managing priorities, to working with people from different backgrounds and different knowledge sets. However, working online, due to COVID-19, presented new challenges which I relished..”

George Malone

“

Having heard quite a lot from Basil Spence project, and knowing the conditions under which we would phase this project were completely new and unknown to us, intimidated me at the beginning. This, however, made me go into the project with lots of energy and willing to give everything I had, prioritising work and diving into a project with people from very different backgrounds.”

Maria De La Joya

“Like every architecture student at Bath, I have spent three years looking forward to / feeling intimidated by the fourth year flagship project. As much as i missed working in the studio, I have to say this has been an extremely memorable project. I feel like I have learnt and grown as an individual, made some great friends and produced very interesting work. We hit a few roadblocks on the way, but I am proud of where they let us! .”

Shreyaa Dada

To think back that I was designing a furniture piece 4 years ago, makes me realise how far I have come and how important the journey through architecture school has been! Reflecting this narrative onto this project, I realise how these last two months have been a very wholesome experience for me as an individual and as a team player. This project had its ups and downs, but I am glad of where we have reached today!

Muskan Kheria