The average temperature in Angola is 25°C – but that hasn’t stopped this new university largely eschewing air-conditioning in favour of a more natural solution.

It can get very warm in Angola. So when the government of Luanda set the brief for a 400,000 m2 campus for the University of Luanda “to meet international standards for educational facilities”, it was expecting it to be fully air-conditioned. But there was one problem – the scheme’s budget.

With only £100m to play with, air-conditioning in every room was not an option. “A serious natural ventilation strategy had to be developed,” says Guy Battle, principal of environmental consultant Battle McCarthy.

The initial step in this strategy was to carry out an analysis of the prevailing winds. As a result of this, architect Perkins + Will adjusted the orientation of the campus to maximise opportunities for cross-ventilation. Computational fluid dynamics was then used to design the buildings, and landscaping, to capture and direct airflow. Each building will use natural ventilation on the upper floors, while the ground floor, which is less exposed to the winds, will be air-conditioned.

To help keep heat gains to a minimum, the access corridors are on the sunny side of the buildings, acting as a buffer zone. And to ensure the building’s roof and courtyard areas remain cool the scheme is hidden beneath a vast expanse of steel louvres. “Excess solar gain is filtered out before it can impinge on the occupied spaces,” explains Battle.

With the first phase of the scheme under construction, the team will soon be able see how its innovative strategy copes with the unrelenting heat of the Angolan sun.

Client Government of Luanda
Architect Perkins + Will
Landscape architecture, environmental analysis, structural and building services design Battle McCarthy
Shading supports Macalloy Bar Systems

Source

Building Sustainable Design