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Project Name:
Elephant
& Castle Eco-Towers (Residential)
Areas of Tower #1:
Total gross area: 276,304 sq.ft.
Total nett area: 232,095 sq.ft.
Total area of plantation & circulation:44,209
sq.ft.
Areas of Towers #2&3:
Total gross area: 95,765 sq.ft.
Total nett area: 79,485 sq.ft.
Total area of plantation & circulation:16,280
sq.ft.
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Location:
Elephant &
Castle, London
Nos. of Storeys:
Tower #1 - 35 storeys
Tower #2&3 - 12 storeys
Date Start:
2000 (Design)
Completion Date: -
Client:
Southwark Land Regeneration Plc |
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Development Brief:
The Elephant & Castle development encompasses a vision
to transform over 180 acres in South Central London into
a scheme which will provide:
The project ecological
features are as follows:
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Over 1 million sq.ft. shopping
and leisure |
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3,500 new homes for sale |
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Over 1,100 new social homes |
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New public transport interchange |
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500,000 sq.ft. of offices |
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One hotel |
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800,000 sq.ft. key worker accommodation |
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New community facilities |
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Three major parks (one of 15
acres) |
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Design Features:
The Elephant and Castle regeneration project was jointly
designed by a number of consultants. A new railway interchange
divides the site into two. The left hand side of the railway
track was developed by Foster & Partners and the right
hand side by TR Hamzah & Yeang, HTA Architects and
Benoy Limited.
Benoy Limited designed the retail spaces while
TR Hamzah & Yeang designed the towers with HTA Architects.
The brief calls for the design
of three Eco-Towers for residential use, above a retail
and commercial area. Our design addresses these issues
as follows:
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Social Sustainability |
| a. |
Concept - "City-in-the-Sky".
The design takes the model of a general geographical
area of a city, with its inherent systems, zoning
and social infrastructure and inverts it into skyscraper
buildings.
The skyscraper and its retail and commercial base
is seen as a microcosm of the city, containing within
itself the inherent elements of a city block, i.e.
parks, shops, entertainment centers, community facilities
and housing etc. The "City-in-the Sky"
concept provides for:-
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opportunities for local
employment through mixture of use, both on
ground and upper levels |
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A healthy mix of residents
within the same building. Through "vertical
zoning", resident types are grouped according
to accommodation preferences (single units,
family units, luxury apartments), yet common
facilities (e.g. parks, shopping streets etc.)
are shared. |
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close proximity to basic
amenities, such as the local grocery store,
postal boxes, chemist etc. These are all located
within the ground development and/or within
the tower. |
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a healthy landscaped environment,
with spatial progressions of public open spaces
(parks in the sky) to semi-private (entrance
courts) to private open spaces (balconies). |
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| b. |
Orientation
The towers make the most of a southerly aspect
to catch the winter sun. The views of the city to
the north are also maximised. The internal void
and walkways capture the sun, creating a series
of light wells to brighten the service areas in
the apartments. The wings of the building allow
cool breezes in the summer to enter the central
atrium while shielding it from the winter wind.
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| c. |
Users
Mixture of residents from different ages, occupations
and family structures are accommodated by the provision
of a variety of accommodation types: studio apartments,
2-room apartments and Penthouses. |
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| d. |
Uses
The development will incorporate housing, retail,
leisure, communal facilities and commerce on the
retail levels and up the tower. The location of
housing in close proximity to employment, retail,
leisure and community facilities will reduce reliance
on public transport. |
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| e. |
Open Space Requirements / Outdoor
space
The design seeks to re-create conditions on the
ground up-in-the-sky, with features such as an entrance
lobby, light wells and balconies for every unit
and shared secondary and tertiary landscaped open
spaces and sky pods within groups of housing in
the form of sky courts and communal pods. |
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| f. |
Relationship to Immediate Context
Urban connectivity is a key concept in the design
proposal. The proposal here includes a high level
bridge over the proposed railway station and direct
connections onto the garden terrace and into the
retail zones. |
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Environmental Sustainability
The approach to environmental sustainability here is a
holistic approach i.e. it takes into account the entirety
of the systems and functions of the ambient environment.
It is contended that ecological design must consider the
following aspects of a building:
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it's external interdependencies,
consisting of the designed system's relations to
it's external environment and ecosystems, |
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it's internal interdependencies,
being the designed system's internal relations,
activities and operations, |
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it's external-to-internal exchanges
of energy and matter - being the designed system's
inputs of energy and material, |
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it's internal-to-external exchanges
of energy and matter - being the designed system's
output of energy and materials, |
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[See pages 64-65 of Yeang, K.
(1999), The Green Skyscraper, Prestel (Munich, Germany]. |
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| a. |
External Dependencies:
The Site's Ecosystem
In consideration of the external ecosystem and environmental
interdependencies of our designed system, we start
by looking at the site's ecosystem and its properties.
It is evident that this site is a totally urbanized
and "zero culture" site. The site is essentially
a devastated ecosystem with little of its original
topsoil, flora and fauna remaining.
The design strategy then is to increase biodiversity
and organic mass by revegetating the site in order
to rehabilitate the site's ecosystem. This is
addressed by our provision of a park over the
land and the adoption of a system of continuous
planting up the towers (as "vertical landscaping")
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| b. |
Internal Dependencies: Building's
Operational Systems
Internal interdependencies relate to building's
environmental operational systems.
There are four levels of provisions for internal
environmental operational systems:
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Passive mode (i.e. low-energy
design without the use of any electro-mechanical
systems) |
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Mixed mode (i.e. Partially
electro-mechanically assisted systems that
optimise other ambient energies of the locality) |
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Full mode (i.e. Active
systems, with low energy and low environmental
impacts) |
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Productive
mode (i.e. Systems that generate on-site energy,
e.g. Photovoltaic systems) |
Our design strategy must be to maximize the usage
of passive-mode systems (because of its lowest level
of energy consumption), with the remaining energy
needs to be met by mixed-mode systems, then full-mode
systems and productive mode systems (where affordable).
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Passive Low Energy Responses
The design here starts by optimising all the passive mode
opportunities (i.e. optimising the use of ambient energies
of the locality) in relation to the temperate climate.
The passive methods used are as follows:
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By Building Configuration
The building is configured as 2 blocks with a weather-protected
central landscaped core. |
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| b. |
By Building Orientation
The building has been orientated to maximise solar
gain into the interior spaces in winter and mid-seasons,
and to maximise solar shading in the summer months.
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During the winter months
when the sun is low, the central landscaped
circulation area and south-east units receive
maximum solar gain. |
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Communal sky courts and
pods are positioned to catch the south sun. |
Our design strategy must be to maximize the usage
of passive-mode systems (because of its lowest level
of energy consumption), with the remaining energy
needs to be met by mixed-mode systems, then full-mode
systems and productive mode systems (where affordable).
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| c. |
By Landscaping and Vegetation
Vegetation and landscaping within the private gardens
and sky parks in the buildings act as a wind buffer
while giving users a more humane environment.
In summer, vertical landscaping acts to obstruct,
absorb and reflect a high percentage of solar radiation
thus reducing ambient temperatures. The damp surfaces
of grass and soil will also contribute to a cooler
and healthier building. |
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| Project Team : |
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Principal-in-charge:
Dr. Ken Yeang
Design Director :
Ridzwa Fathan
Design Architect :
Portia Reynolds
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Project Architect :
Chong Woon Wee
Project Team :
Ooi Tee Lee
Loh Hock Jin
Ong Eng Huat |
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LIST
OF CONSULTANTS AND CONTRACTORS |
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