Australia strikes once more with another pristine building, flexing its environmental muscle 💪🏼 🌱
Parliament House is one of Victoria’s most famous historic structures, built in various phases over several decades from the mid-nineteenth century. The annexe building provides expanded office accommodation for up to 102 members of parliament and their supporting staff. After a very long period of makeshift and subpar member’s offices, along with many failed schemes to extend Parliament House, the new property finally solves a long standing accommodation problem.
One of the important parts of the design was to maintain sustainable solutions across the build, leading to a multitude of awards from organisations like the Australian Institute of Architects. Additionally designed to a 5 Star Green Star Design and As Built and Interiors equivalency, Parliament House meets its sustainability targets and manages amenities within limited space by incorporating a fully accessible intensive green roof which links to the surrounding gardens. What else?
Cooling and heating is provided by a geo-exchange system that consists of a network of 100-metre deep boreholes, allowing all equipment to be hidden within the shell of the building and getting rid of the need for a gas supply for heating. Not only that; it also offers excellent operating efficiencies across the board. The ventilation system also benefits from the semi-underground location by making use of a labyrinth system to pre-cool fresh air and provide passive cooling.
Another interesting element was that the building was designed with an understanding of the ways in which Parliamentarians interact with one another. To put it plainly, they are territorial. While the distribution of the offices was not aligned to political orientations, the shape of the pavilion (the idea of the wings) created space suitable for the ‘emotional territories’ of the building’s users.
An incredible effort from all the #buildingheroes involved! Parliament of Victoria Chris Jones Sean van der Velden Tim Foster Justin Mallia WSP in Australia Green Building Council of Australia U.D. URBAN DESIGN AB Irwinconsult Cockram Construction Australia Pty Ltd Glenn Waters Douglas Partners Pty Ltd Slattery AECOM Philip Chun Building Compliance Andrew Long + Associates
📸 : John Gollings Photography / Dianna Snape
#sustainability #sustainablebuildings #greendesign #climatechange #realestate