Seven-story timber building makes high-carbon concrete unnecessary.
"The system was informed both by traditional Swiss craftsmanship and the elaborate joints of Japanese miyadaiku carpentry."
Yes, it still has a lot of Bauhaus glass. But
"Beyond just triple glazing, Ban installed additional energy-efficiency measures including a three-metre-deep double facade on the river-facing side, in the space between its double row of columns."
https://www.dezeen.com/2023/03/17/tamedia-office-building-shigeru-ban-timber-revolution/
Port Plus, Yokohama, Japan.
"The structure is also a deeply ambitious statement and exploration of how architects and builders can navigate the climate crisis. "
@CelloMomOnCars it's beautiful. RIP privacy but beautiful.
Japanese offices tend to be cubicle-free anyway.
I do wonder about the thermal properties of the glass cladding. Would love to know about the temperature control.
@CelloMomOnCars
It was hard to find detailed information, so this is rather sparse: temperature control is by district heating and heat pumps, somehow connected to neighbouring buildings and coordinated by some adaptive "ai-system".
Overall the building is allegedly 20% below the energy use required by law from passive elements only, and supposing the requirements on energy use is purely thermal lossses this probably means the cladding has a therma coefficient around 0.4 Watt m^-2 K^-1.
In any case, they claim the building is slightly climate positive using the mentioned heating system and solar panels in a building at 64 North, so energy losses can't be too bad.
@falcennial
@tobychev
Thank you for this - it makes sense that the architects paid attention to overall energy use, that's cool (and necessary)
@falcennial