The new University of East Anglia Center for Entrepreneurship is the first public building of its size in the UK to achieve both an outstanding BREEAM and Passivhaus energy efficiency rating. The center became the gateway to the university, combining educational and commercial functions. Conceived as a laboratory to nurture specialists in the field of low-carbon building technologies and stimulate the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in this area, it should reflect the declared principles: this reflection has become its thatched facades and roof.
This attempt to combine form and content makes the English Center for Entrepreneurship related to the Canadian Michael Green Tree Center (Archi.ru in detail
wrote about it): the building demonstrates its purpose, advertising the process for the society "outside" and inspiring the result of professionals "inside". The center, which is an example of the use of low-emission technologies, was commissioned by the Adapt Low Carbon Group and the University of East Anglia by a team of Architype architects, BDP engineers and designers and Churchman Landscape Architects.
The striking thatch façade visualizes the idea of sustainable design: integration into the environment, local identity and historical continuity through the use of traditional technologies, local craftsmen and straw itself - an easily harvested, cultivated and quickly renewable crop with negative carbon emissions from sources close to the construction site. In addition, during the construction process, there were elements of waste-free production: the trimming of the facade straw remaining after the completion of the work was sent for processing into flour and wheat beer.
The reed roof was completed in four weeks using traditional tools and building principles, but the thatched façade required new technology to be invented. Together, the specialists from Architype, Morgan Sindall and the installer have developed a system of sliding façade cassettes filled with straw panels. The spruce plywood cassettes of 1.2 mx 3 m were pre-assembled in winter, so as not to occupy the relatively short dry and warm season in England, suitable for working with straw. The filling of the cassettes consists of a mixture of specially selected varieties of wheat straw with shorter stems than necessary for the roof, in order to obtain a ragged, bristly texture. Fresh straw has given the building a golden color, but over time, wind and precipitation will cause it to develop a smoky patina that will accentuate the building's shape.
Also one of the objectives of the project was to maximize the share of local wood species in the load-bearing structure, which is not easy, since today most of the European structural wood is produced in Austria. As a result, 70% of the racks in the facade frame are black pine wood from the Thetford forest 48 km from the construction site, 30% were Sitka spruce, which grew, though in Ireland, but still on the territory of the British Isles; filling - oriented strand board of British production. Larch glued columns "grow" from the forests of the neighboring counties, supporting a spectacular canopy over the entrance from the east. However, the main supporting structure - the glued frame and the elevator shafts made of CLT panels - are Austrian products. The huge efforts to find local suppliers, described by the authors of the project, can be interpreted not as protectionism (although, apparently, it does take place), but - remaining within the framework of environmental discourse - as an attempt to reduce the total volume of CO emissions2, reducing transport costs.
Many old items, including those that have served the university for a long time, have found a second life in the interior and exterior decoration of the building. For example, the canopy over the entrance area is clad in monochrome panels of African Iroko wood: this exotic wood has served as tabletops in the laboratories of the chemistry department since the 1960s. From the Sainsbury Center for the Fine Arts, which belongs to the same university, the reception desk, also designed by Foster, was moved to the main foyer of the first floor: this reuse shows the relationship of the new building with the history of the entire educational complex.
The building with a total area of 3,400 m2 contains a lecture hall with 300 seats, located in the center of the courtyard, and around the perimeter there are transformable office, training and exhibition spaces. The rooms on the second floor are illuminated through skylights above wide corridors - a space designed not so much for transit as for meetings, interaction, teamwork, negotiations.
In the interior, in the common areas, a slatted ceiling made of coniferous wood is used, and in rooms requiring a special sound mode - offices, classrooms, a lecture hall - acoustic panels made of wood fiber; Various natural materials were chosen for the wall decoration: wood cladding, reed panels, textile wallpaper made of hemp and nettle fibers, clay and lime plaster. Recycled car tires covered with natural paint are used as flooring in areas of greatest stress. The roof is insulated with cellulose insulation based on recycled newsprint, and the acoustic and finishing layer is made of a spray applied cellulose product with 85% recycled waste paper.
On the roof there are rainwater collectors for technical water supply, as well as 480 m2 of solar panels with an estimated generation of 43.58 MWh of electricity in the first year: with a projected demand of the Center of 123 kWh / m2, these batteries will generate 10% of the required energy (the total area of the building was 3,400 m2). The projected carbon footprint over the 100-year life cycle of the Enterprise Center is 443 kg / m2 (excluding operating energy): about a quarter of CO emissions2 a structure of the same volume and purpose in a traditional reinforced concrete structure.
The construction cost of the UK's greenest business incubator, funded by the engineering company BRE, several government agencies (UEA, Norwich Research park, BBSRC) and the European Regional Development Fund, was £ 11.6 million.
