FUTURISTIC

ARCHITECTURE
SUATAINABLE BUILDING- THE GHERKIN

Submitted to: Ar. Mitali Vavre

Submitted by: Shivangi (15632)
SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS
THE GHERKIN
What is a sustainable building? The Gherkin is London’s most instantly recognizable tower. Totaling 500,000 sq. ft., The Gherkin is an iconic structure
housing a flourishing community and deserves its reputation for being ‘the most civilized skyscraper in the world.
Sustainable buildingis that seeks to
minimize the negative environmental impact Address: 30 St Mary Axe, London EC3A 8EP, UK
of buildings by efficiency and moderation in Construction started: 2001
the use of materials, energy, and Architecture firm: Foster + Partners
development space and the ecosystem at Architectural styles: Sustainable architecture, High-tech architecture, Postmodern Architecture, Neo-futurism
large. Sustainable building uses a conscious Architects: Norman Foster, Ken Shuttleworth
approach to energy and ecological
conservation in the design of the built
environment.
The idea of sustainability, or ecological design
is to ensure that our actions and decisions
today do not inhibit the opportunities of
future generations.
FACTS AND FIGURES
• Ground floor and first floor consist of reception and a series of shops at outer edge of the building with
Height to top of dome: 179.8 m
the arcade.
Height to highest occupied floor level: 167.1 m • Third to sixteenth floor is the office of swiss re insurance company.
Number of floors above ground: 40
Number of basement levels: single basement across whole site • There are private dining area at 38-40 floors.
Largest floor external diameter (LVL 17): 56.15 m • The basement is used for the parking (only two wheelers , no four wheelers are allowed in the parking).
Site area: 0.57 hectares (1.4 acres)
Net accommodations areas: • The design provides column-free floor space, light and views, and incorporates many sustainable
building design features.
Office 46,450 m2
Retail 1,400 m2 • Spiraling light wells allow the maximum amount of sunlight to flood the interiors.
Office floor-floor:
Gross superstructure floor area (incl. light wells):
4.15 m
74,300 m2
• Atria between the radiating fingers of each floor link together vertically to form a series of informal
Tower Structural Steelwork break-out spaces.
Total weight of steel (from Arup Steel model): 8,358 tones
of which:
• Each floor rotates 5 degrees from the one below
29% is in the diagrid
24% core columns
47% beams

Total number of primary steel pieces: 8 348

Total length: 54.56 km

Diagrid column sizes:

Ground –level2: 508mm f, 40mm thick
Level 36–38: 273mm f, 12.5mm thick

Number of piles: 333

Total length of piles: 9 km
Total design capacity: 117,000 Tonnes

The majority of the building is used for offices and residences.

SUSTAINABILITY
• The tower is aerodynamically designed to reduce wind load on the structure, whilst the lower part
tapers so that wind wraps around the tower.
• The six fingers of accommodation on each floor, configured with light wells in between, maximize
daylight penetration.
• The façade design with advance glazing technologies, ventilated cavities and blinds , provides up to
85% solar protection.
• Gas is the main fuel used hence it will only generate half the carbon emission.
• Ample daylight for offices comes both from the curve of the exterior and the wedge-shaped light
wells.
• Building can be naturally ventilated 40% time of the year.
• Overall energy serving is up to 50%.
ARCHITECTURAL FORM

• The smooth flow of wind around the building was one of the main considerations.
• Minimum impact on the local wind environment.
• Flexibly serviced, high specification ‘user-friendly’ column free office spaces with maximum primary space
adjacent to natural light.
• Good physical and visual interconnectivity between floors.
• Reduced energy consumption by use of natural ventilation whenever suitable, low façade heat gain and
smart building control systems.
• There are 2 primary structures Diagrid as main structure (resisting horizontal and gravity loads) and The
Core (resisting gravity loads)
VENTILATION

 The building is composed of a double wall system. The outer wall is a double glazed
glass wall composed of mullions and triangular shaped window pieces. The inner wall is
made of sliding glass doors(accessible only by maintenance).
 In between the two walls is a space and a row of horizontal shading devices. This device
allows for a ventilation chimney to ventilate the whole building. Each floor is rotated 5
degrees from the floor above and below, allowing up to 6 floors to be attached by the
vertical light wells.
 The double wall contains venting flaps, built into the triangular facade , to allow hot air
to travel up and out the building. There is a built in heat exchange system built into the
ceiling of each floor unit, which exchanges for cooling of spaces, running off a cold
water well for summer months.
FACADE
The elements of the facade.
Openable glass screen.
Perforated aluminum louvers
(internal sun-screen).
 The air lateral loads are all absorbed by the glass façade and eventually transferred to
the diagrid. The pressurized air from the wind passes into the building through a
natural ventilation system, which is incorporated through double skin.
 The façade of this building is fully glazed with double skinned glasses.
 This glass façade is cooled by the air extracted from the offices that results in
reducing the overall heat load of the building.
 This façade is designed in such a manner that it can provide a safe and very easy
access to all internal and external glazing and the cleaning surface.

A column casing of aluminum.

Façade frame of extruded

aluminum.
LIGHTWELLS

 Spiraling lightwells maximize natural ventilation whilst enabling the natural light to flood
the interiors. This reduces the electric lightings, thus saving the electricity cost up to a notable
extent. Windows of the lightwells open automatically, playing as a supplementary to the air
conditioning system with the natural ventilation, which can save energy up to 40 percent per year.
 The lightwells are glazed with openable double-glazed panels and a high performance coating
which efficiently maximizes the solar ray penetrations. The highly decorative grey-tinted glass of
the lightwells not only gives a gorgeous outlook but also reduces the solar gain to a maximum
extent.
 The office area incorporates the outer layer with double glazing and inner screen with single
glazing. A ventilated cavity containing solar control blinds, sandwiched between the outer layer and
the inner screen. This central ventilated cavity acts as a buffer which reduces the additional cooling
and heating and gets ventilated by the exhaust air drawn from the offices in the building. This tower
compromised many recycled and recyclable materials for its construction, wherever possible.
SHAFTS

 Gaps in each floor create six shafts which provide natural ventilation for the
entire building. During summer, these shafts push out the warm air from
the building and during the winter, it warms the building using passive solar
heating. Shaft also allows the natural sunlight to penetrate inside the
building, reducing the lighting cost.
LIFTS
 There are 18 passenger lifts in the building.
 378 people can be vertically transported through the building at
speeds up to 6m per second at any time.
 In addition, there are goods and firefighter elevators, as well as a
car park elevator to the reception from the basement.
 Two special shuttle elevators serve the top floors of the building.
KONE Alta™ fulfilled the architects’ requirements for customized
elevator cars and signalization.
 3 different levels:
o Low rise go from lobby to level 12.
o Medium rise lifts go from lobby to 22 stopping from level 11.
o High rise lifts go from lobby to 34 stopping from level 22.
o Shuttle lift goes from level 34 to level 39.
MATERIALS

 • 35 km of steel, 10 thousand tons were used to build

 • 24,000 square meters of glass were used for the exterior of the
building, equivalent to five football fields.
 • The building was designed to use recycled or recyclable
materials whenever possible MATERIALS
 • The glazing to the office areas consist of a double –glazed outer
and a single –glazed inner screen.
 • Sandwiched in between is the ventilated cavity which reduces
heating and cooling requirements.
 • The solar-control blinds intercept solar gain before it enters the
office environment
THANK YOU
ENERGY PLUS BUILDINGS
What is an Energy Plus Building?

It generally means a building with an energy

performance that is so good, that the energy generated
by the building is higher than the energy used by the
building.
This energy balance is mostly done on an annual basis.
The energy generated often comes from photovoltaic
panels or micro-wind generators. Since the spaces for
mounting the photovoltaic panels or the wind
generators are often limited and the technologies cause
investment costs, the building envelope and building
services systems of plus energy buildings are in general
of a high quality as well.Thus the energy use of the
building to be balanced with generated energy is low.