How to Build Sustainable, Healthy, and Profitable Office Buildings in 10 Simple Steps – ArchDaily

How to Build Sustainable, Healthy, and Profitable Office Buildings in 10 Simple Steps

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One of our responsibilities asarchitects is to understand how to implement strategies into our designs that consider the people who inhabit the spaces, our natural resource consumption, and ensuring these projects are profitable. All of this can be achieved through three main goals: Reducing our carbon footprint, creating healthy workplaces, and the design of efficient and profitable buildings.

Reducing our Carbon footprint

Create healthy workplaces

Design efficient and profitable buildings

Based on my experience with working on office buildings of different scales at TIBA Architect Studio, Budapest, this article reviews ten key actions to improve early design decisions.

A large amount of construction materials are used to build the core and structure of the building itself. Often times, these materials, such as steel and concrete, have a large environmental footprint (3). To immediately solve for ways to reduce the quantity of these materials used, there are different construction techniques that can be explored. For example, opting for cantilevered slabs instead of having columns at the perimeter, results in thinner floor plates, saves edge beams and increases the overall span with the same number of columns. This solution can save as much as 15% of structural material and it also speeds up construction thanks to its simpler geometry. Incorporating a column-free perimeter also offers plenty of design opportunities to form the building envelope's geometry.

Floor slab height ultimatelydetermines abuildings overall height and the material quantity required need for exterior cladding, structure and interior partition walls. Interiors with exposed ceilings easily adapt to tenants needs, and in most of the cases it is possible to add higher clearance at workstations without increasing structural height. Visible MEP systems give the feeling of spaciousness and an industrial, contemporary look. Eliminatingdropped ceiling means immediate material savings in the interior and rationalizing floor height can reduce exterior faade surface by 6-7%. This approach also helps to reduce waste and resources in the future when the interior fit-out changes.

One of the most productive ways to cut down material and embodied carbon is to design a building that can be easily adaptedto different circumstances and future tenant scenarios. By preparing for flexible floor divisions with strategically positioned cores, adequately sized support spaces, and independently accessible tenant areas, building owners will save significant costs and construction time when it comes time to turn over these spaces.

For a high-performance sustainable building, it is critical to understand how to develop a design that reduces a building's energy consumption. One of the first steps in the pre-design phases is to explore the site's solar orientation and develop a building form based on the results of this study. It is also important to explore a building's materiality, and understand how much glazing will beincorporated in order to factor in heat transfer and solar gain.

Sharing parking spots, providing bike and scooter storage,and creating privileged places for car sharing are great strategies that benefit both the design of a building and help the environment. There is currently so much emphasis being put on exploring the reality of using driverless cars, which means that as a whole, cities will eventually need less space for parking. As this idea grows, it will be important for new construction of parking garages to consider the designs of these structures andhow they might someday be outfitted with mechanical and electrical systems and transformed into a new program.

It is fundamental to minimize service areas to save money and avoid unnecessary environmental impact. Lowering energy loads by Simple Box Modelling in early design phase can simplify MEP systems and reduce the area dedicated to them. Optimizing fire compartments andegress routes is also a good strategy that canlower the number of people evacuating in a given direction and reducing the dimensions of corridors and emergency stairs. Service zones are normally not part of the leasable area; therefore, this action will also impact efficiency and the developers profit.

Fire stairs are not typically heavily designed and are often located in the corners of a building to maximize code requirements. We must differentiate vertical circulations by designing simple and small stairs solely for emergency, and creating attractive, spacious stairs for daily use to enhance peoples physical activity. In both cases, it is convenient to move them to the faadeto maximize natural light and ventilation.

One of the most effectivedesign strategies in a workplace is to force building users to move during their regular working activity, sometimes without them even noticing it. By locating internal stairs in a highly visible location and enhancing them with user experience elements such as artwork, lighting effects, and vegetation, employees are more likely to use them to move from floor to floor. Another strategy is to add centralized copy rooms, garbage collection points and drinking fountains that stimulate workers to stand up, interrupt their sitting activities andencouraging them to move around the office.

Well-designed communal spaces are important elements of modern office buildings. These areas helpemployees relax during the busy day, encourage social interactions, increase general well-being, and foster efficiency. These areas should be removed from typical workplace neighborhoods and given some type of design differentiation that indicates that these are socializing zones.

It'simperative to bringthe outside inby adding large windowsthat both bring innatural light and provide quality views.Buildings withdeep floor plates often times separate employees from natural light, which may disrupt their circadian rhythm, and cause other negative health side effects. Designing a variety of elements that incorporate vegetation is also key increating a healthy workplace, since spaces such as green terraces are typically hubs of social activity and reprise.

Design Credits:

RK60 multi-tenant office building, Budapest, invited competition

TIBA Studio, Lead Architects: Balzs Beczner, Zoltn Kirly, Tams Niczki

Design team: Zita Csnyi, ron Fekete, Gyula Vgh, Zoltn Virgh, Mrton Zdori

Startup office in Graphisoft Park, Budapest, invited competition

TIBA Studio, Lead Architect: Tams Niczki

Design team: Buzder-Lantos Zsfia, Kalszi Zoltn, Mester Anita

Kopaszi Tower, Budapest, invited competition

TIBA Studio, Lead Architects: Viktria Honti, Tams Niczki, Jnos Tiba

Headquarters of Magyar Telekom and T-Systems Hungary, Budapest

TIBA Studio, Lead Architects: Jnos Tiba, Viktria Honti, Flra Kszeghy, Melinda Matz (Concept Design), Zoltn Kirly, Balzs Beczner, Viktria Honti, Tams Niczki (Execution Design),

Communal Area interiors: STUDIO URBA and HD Group

Footnotes:

1- Source: International Well Building Institute.

2 - According to the 3-30-300 model, increasing by 1% the building occupants performance has 100 times more impact on the companys revenue that having the same efficiency growth in energy savings.

3 - Concrete accounts for 8%, the steel industry around 5% of total global carbon dioxide emissions.

4 - According to the Harvard Alumni Health Study, daily 3-5 flight-up can reduce by 29% the risk of having stroke or other cardiovascular and heart diseases.

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How to Build Sustainable, Healthy, and Profitable Office Buildings in 10 Simple Steps - ArchDaily