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ST Diamond Building
ST Diamond Building
ST Diamond Building
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The Energy Commissions Diamond Building is a standout among the sea of government offices in Putrajaya, in more ways than one. By visual experience, anyone would describe the countrys aministrative capital with the wide expanse of roads and buildings which are mostly brown concrete ones that all look similar, exceptional to one greenish glass upside-down pyramid shape building with the top buried in the ground. Little that many know it is actually one of the most energy efficient, multi award winning office building in South East Asia. The (Suruhanjaya Tenaga) ST Diamond building is a green building landmark in South East Asia that is designed to showcase technologies that cut down energy consumption and potable water usage, promote the use of sustainable building materials and provide enhanced indoor environmental quality. It is a physical evidence reflecting the determination of the nations regulatory body for energy policies, standards and safety implementing arm, Energy Commission to prioritize energy efficiency during 2005 then. However, this double Platinum-rated building has proven itself to be more, as global sustainable community recognizes it as an international standard of showcasing sustainable office building design in the tropics. With just an additional cost of 6%, the ST Diamond Building carries two Platinum Certificates, each one from Malaysias Green Building Index (GBI) and Singapores Green Mark. Besides scoring from the green building rating tools from both countries, the ST Diamond Building also carries several awards such as, the global ASHRAE Technology Award 2013 (2nd place) and regional ASEAN Energy Award 2012, testifying that its innovative design has earned recognition internationally.
DIAMOND SHAPE
The unique shape of the ST Diamond Building was designed according to the climate and solar path of equatorial Malaysia. Solar studies showed that the 25 tilt angle of the facades can ensures that North and South facades are fully self shaded throughout the year, while it reduces the solar impact by 41% for the East and West facades.
The inverted pyramid shape increases ground space for landscaping while maximizing roof space for Solar PV. Photo Credit: Lin Ho. Courtesy of Senandung Budiman Sdn Bhd.
To maximize daylighting, a central atrium was introduced and the diamond shape takes form. Meanwhile, the diamond reflects Energy Commissions role and mission as a regulatory body significantly for its transparency, value and durability. The building includes seven floors above grade and two underground levels for parking. Low-e-glazing with Solar Heat Gain Coefficeint (SHGC) of 0.37 ensures direct solar heat will be reduced, while the glazings visual light transmittance (VLT) of about 50% allows for effective diffuse light to the office interior. The inverted diamond shape also increases the ground space available for landscaping, which helps reduce the heat island effect and also and allows glare free diffuse light to be reflected off the landscape.
Daylight Strategy
The ST Diamond Building is designed 50% daylit, without glare and minimal heat entry, This is achieved through extensive faade daylighting system simulation to able deeper daylight penetration. With the usage of mirror lightshelf, white painted window sill, white ceiling and no interior partitions and no
suspended ceilings, the daylight distribution is improved until 5 meters from the faade + 2 additional meters of corridor space. Fixed white louvers with top surface mirror finish on the top side are mounted with a 30 tilt angle above the lightshelf for glare protection while still allowing daylight to be deflected onto the ceiling. The atrium has been carefully designed to optimize daylight Illustration of Malaysia Office Buildings Energy Indexes indicating the reduction of energy consumption usage in the ST Diamond Building Photo Credit Lim Gene-Harn, IEN Consultants utilization for each floor employing the combination of the following three strategies: 1. Automated blind with six different configuration to maintain the appropriate daylighting levels at all times. The blinds with 30% light transmittance are adjusted every 15 minutes and follow a three different control strategies for morning, mid-day and evening 2. The windows size becomes larger deeper into the atrium to cater for lower daylight levels A band of Tannenbaum reflector panels are applied to 4th and 5th floor to deflect daylight across the atrium to 1st and 2nd floor where daylight levels are the lowest. The christmas tree profile reflectors have an inclination of 10 and reflect about 85% of the light in semi-diffuse manner, hence, avoiding visual glare issues for the building occupants.
The monitored ceiling surface temperature is constantly 2C or higher than the dew point of indoor air, this
Raytrace simulation illustrates the effectiveness of lightshelf and window sill. Photo Credit- IEN Consultants
Water Efficiency
The ST Diamond Building also boasts its extensive water saving strategies. By using rainwater for toilet flushing and irrigation, annual potable water consumption has been reduced by 35% compared to potable water otherwise used for industry standard water fittings and irrigation as defined by the Green Building Index. The rainwater is collected from the 700m2 catchment area and stored in four 2,600 gallon (10,000 liters) rooftop tanks. Also, all water from the sinks and floor traps (grey water) is piped separately through a sand filter to a collection tank from where it is reused for irrigation of a mini wetland instead of going to the sewerage. 2000-3000 liters of water are recycled every week day. The usage of water efficient fittings is able to reduce the potable water usage by more than 67% compared to conventional plumbing fittings.
Green Transportation
Acknowledging the significant amount of carbon footprint per household in transportation, which is 68%, green buildings such as ST Diamond Building is designed to address solutions for occupants to have alternatives towards a lower carbon footprint of transportation. As such, 2 Electric Vehicle charging stations are available, ten percent of parking garage spaces are designated for green/fuel-efficient vehicles and carpool vehicles; secure bicycle racks; location served by public transportation and shaded walkways for pedestrians linking to the master development.
Cross section model shows the self shading design of the ST Diamond Building and the natural ventilated basement carpark. Photo Credit Greening Asia Emerging Principles for Sustainable Architecture
consumption of the building. The buildings eco friendly measures cost about RM3.5 million, representing about 6% of the total construction cost. Savings of almost RM1 million annually in operating costs from energy efficiency and solar power generation, this resulted in an estimated payback of 3.5 years despite Malaysias subsidized utility tariff rates.
Conclusion
The ST Diamond Building has been operating for 3 years since the completion and occupancy during mid-2010. It is learnt that the maintenance team has been maintaining the green features of the ST Diamond Building well and also educating the staffs more about the building they are working in. It is vital that the users could adapt to such green building environment and understand how it works in order for the building to achieve its purpose which is using lesser energy. The ST Diamond Building is a physical demonstration landmark that has served as a milestone to chart Malaysias determination towards sustainable development and smarter, energy efficient buildings.
Different sets of blind configuration as mentioned illustrated here Photo Credit: SunScreen Singapore
Equally important, the ST Diamond building has demonstrated the financial viability of green buildings. By cutting the energy consumption down to 1/3 and with a payback of only 3.5 years, the ST Diamond Building has
shattered the commonly held misconception that Going green is expensive. Instead, the ST Diamond building, which annually saves RM1 million operational costs, has proven that Not going green is expensive.
Picture taken from inside of the Atrium Photo Credit: Gregers Reiman, IEN Consultants
The effectiveness of Energy Management System showing the relationship of daylight availability and lighting power density. Illustration: Charles Loo, IEN Consultants
Graph indicating the operation intervals of floor slab cooling and air handling unit. Photo Credit: CharlesLoo, IEN Consultants
Sectional perspective showing the embedded thermal pipes in the concrete slab for radiant cooling Photo Credit Greening Asia Emerging Principles for Sustainable Architecture
Images showing during the procurement stage Photo Credit: Tan Khim Bok, IEN Consultants
Recorded data showing the tabulation of ceiling surface temperature and room temperature. Photo: CharlesLoo, IEN Consultants
2 Electric Vehicle charging station is available at the basement. Photo Credit: Charles Loo, IEN Consultants
The ST Diamond building energy breakdown for year 2011. Photo Credit: Pureaire , IEN Consultants
Project Name Location Status Completion Date Site Area Gross Floor Area Client/Owner Architecture Firm Principal Architect Main Contractor
Headquarters of Energy Commission of Malaysia Putrajaya, Malaysia Built and Operating since 2010 June 2010 4,000m2 14,690m2 excl car park Energy Commission of Malaysia NR Architect Dr Soontorn Boonyatikam (Thailand) Putra Perdana Sdn Bhd
Sustainability Consultant Mechanical & Electrical Engineer Civil & Structural Engineer Landscape Architect Quantity Surveyor
IEN Consultants Sdn Bhd Primetech Engineers Sdn Bhd Perunding SM Cekap KRB Enviro Design Sdn Bhd ARH Jurukur Bahan Sdn Bhd
This Article above is also printed out Green+ Magazine edition October 2013.