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left:
Photo of ArcamFacade erectionFacade images
right:
orientation of Arcam to the sunsunlight and Arcam in all seasons and timesVentilation duct ArcamRadiant fl oor heating ArcamOld summer situationOld winter situation
The climate system of ArcamHow can the climate system in the Arcam building be improvedto get a more comfortable indoor climate in summer and inwinter times?Ruben Smits, 1320106
Arcam (in words: Architecture centre of Amsterdam) was set up as a foundation in 1986 and
concentrates its activities in Amsterdam and the surrounding area. Arcam aims to reach the
largest possible public in order to broaden architecture’s appeal and zeros in on topical issues and
developments in Amsterdam, so that the discussion about the future is constantly fuelled. Arcam also
has a function as co-ordination centre and works together with a large number of institutes in order to
support and co-ordinate existing programs and to initiate new activities.
The Arcam building is located in the heart of the city Amsterdam, on Prins Hendrikkade. The building
was constructed in 2002. The building has been designed by René van Zuuk and consists of a
compact, sculptural structure whose three storey’s are interconnected by voids. Arcam’s offi ce
is situated on the top storey. At the level of Prins Hendrikkade are the exhibition space and the
information point. The lowermost storey, on the water, is used for small-scale discussions, large
meetings and for receiving school groups. The elevation on the waterside is entirely of glass. The
building is clad with coated aluminum, which has been folded over the roof, right down to the ground.
An unusual feature is the sculptural form of the entrance on this side. René van Zuuk has built some
buildings with an aluminum cladding before, but not in this double curved geometry and this extremely
bend aluminum.
There is a lot of activity in the Arcam building going on, from exhibitions to little workshops, etc. but
there are people working and doing their job too. This means that there are many people involved
and therefore the climate in the building has to be comfortable. At this moment people who work in
the Arcam building are complaining about the heat in the summer and the cold in the winter. For this
problem I fi rst have to mention the analysis of the climate system of the Arcam, before I can mention
my proposal for the redesign of the climate system of the Arcam.
First I’ll go to the facades of the Arcam building, it has been built up like this; On the outside there
are bent Kalzip sandwich panels placed, and behind these panels the insulation is situated. Behind
the insulation there is a profi led steel plate that holds the aluminum Kalzip panels, this profi led steel
plate is attached to the structure of the building, steel columns of an IPE 300 size. The fi nishing layer
is attached to these columns and in the interior the facade has been plastered. Nothing seems wrong
with the composition of the facade, maybe the insulation depth (100 mm. with a thermal resistance
of 2,5 m^2K/W) is a little too economical. But what attracted my attention is the empty nonfunctional
space between the plastered board (interior) and the profi led steel plate. This whole space is reserved
for the IPE 300 columns, but these columns only stand there once in the 6 meters, we can conclude
that this is a vacant space which isn’t necessary.
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The Arcam building has its windows orientation on the waterside. From a climate technical point of
view this is perfect, because the closed aluminum facades are orientated on the south and the glass
facades are oriented to the north. The building gets little direct sunlight, because the architect thought
about the climate of the interior building in an early phase in his design process. So this is actually well
designed for the interior climate.
I went to the Arcam to analyze this building and I interviewed some employees of the Arcam, they
thought it is a beautiful and well-functioning building, but it isn’t that comfortable because of the
inner climate. In winter-times it’s too cold and in summer-times it’s too warm. After these interviews I
wanted to research on this indoor climate. What’s wrong with the climate control and how come the
uncomfortable indoor climate in winter and in summer times? It either has to do with the insulation
layer mentioned before, or with the ventilation and heating/cooling system of this building. We’ll have
to fi nd out how this ventilation, cooling and heating system works in the Arcam, before it’s possible to
come with a reliable solution.
The Arcam building works with natural ventilation, so it needs ventilation ducts for sucking air to
get an under pressed air volume and it needs grates or openable windows to suck fresh air into the
building. The ventilation ducts are situated beneath the fl oors and fi nished with another layer of curved
plasterboard. The building has openable windows to be able to let the natural ventilation fl ow. The
fl oors of the Arcam building have radiant fl oor heating, so the concrete core activation takes place
in the fl oors, but this is a rather slow process of heating the building up. I found out that there is no
cooling system in the Arcam building, and this is a problem. There are not enough ventilation ducts
and they are situated quite bad, there isn’t even a ventilation duct in the ceiling of the upper fl oor,
which is the most important ventilation space to suck all the air in the top. Heat normally rises to the
ceiling, especially on the upper fl oor, so heat air will keep circulating in the upper fl oor.
What solution can we bring for these climate problems? I think the solution lies in the unutilized
space in the facade itself. A lot of supporting technical functions of the building are situated within
the facade (all construction elements and the whole thermal shell), except the climate system. Why
not strengthen the concept of the ‘servant shed’ and put the ventilation and cooling / heating in the
spare space of the facade. This concept is the same that Norman Foster did with his design for the
Sainsbury centre for the visual arts. He used two out of four facades and the roof as a servant shed
with all technical supporting functions. So all of the load bearing structure lies within its façade, the
whole climate system is controlled in the façade and the thermal insulation is situated in the façade.
Actually in the Sainsbury centre for the visual arts the architect really exaggerated this concept of the
servant shed by putting toilets and staircases in this two meters wide cavity between the actual inner
and outer façade. Arcam doesn’t have this wide cavity, but the design of the Arcam building really
has the potential to have this concept as strong as the Sainsbury centre for the visual arts, because
it has also this one direction in its facades. It’s not as clear as in the Sainsbury centre for the visual
arts, because the Arcam building is twisted, but that doesn’t matter for the concept of putting serving
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Left:
Sainsbury centre for the visual arts of Norman foster:axonometrysectionexterior elevation
Right:
Sainsbury centre for the visual arts:partial sectioninterior elevation
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ncept
functions of a building in the two closed facades.
In my proposal for the redesign of the climate system of Arcam the spare space between the columns
are used to improve the climate system. We will keep the natural ventilation, but the climate system
needs to be improved with artifi cial heating / cooling ventilation for extreme warm or extreme cold
situations. So the new improved climate system works like this; The spare space between the columns
of the southern facade will function as a ventilation area, constantly there will be an under pressure
in this area, so air will be sucked in and natural ventilation will take place. The spare space between
the columns of the eastern facade will only work in extreme conditions, then this whole area would
be in overpressure. Only for extreme cold or hot conditions we will use the artifi cial ventilation with
cooling or heating device. The air handling unit will be situated like the other installation devices in the
installation room in the basement. Grates are placed in a line high on every fl oor on the plastered wall
of the inner façade. Now we can ventilate the hot air in the upper fl oor in the summer, because we will
put the grates in the inner façade wherever it’s necessary.
The Arcam building doesn’t use air ducts any more, but under and over pressured areas to control
the airfl ow. This means that we can delete all air ducts in the building, included the fi nish of curved
plasterboard at every ceiling, so the building gains in fl oor height. The under and over pressed area
will be stopped up securely by closed fi nishing plates and perforated fi nishing plates, so we’re sure
that there aren’t any other openings than the grates. What needs to be done is replacing the air
handling unit with one exit to suck and one exit to blow air, respectively on the eastern and the western
façade. The IPE-300 columns in the two closed facades have to be perforated, otherwise the air
cannot get into the whole cavity for controlling the inner spaces of the Arcam building.
The redesign fi lls up the unused space between the façade and the fi nishing of the façade with
necessary climate improvements. Although the Arcam building after renovated uses artifi cial
ventilation (at times), the redesign actually is sustainable, because this is only used in extreme
outdoor conditions. The other sustainable thing is that this is a small operation. There isn’t much to
be renovated or changed, so I think this really is an economical solution to the major problem of the
complaints of employees about the uncomfortable inner climate.
So is it possible to improve the climate system in the Arcam building to get a more comfortable indoor
climate in summer and in winter times? Yes it is, it’s possible by using artifi cial cooling and heating in
in extreme conditions and thereby improving the natural ventilation in ‘normal’ conditions. The redesign
did so by replacing all air ducts by over and under pressed spaces, the western façade always under
pressed to ventilate the spaces and the eastern façade over pressed at times, when there has to be
cooled or heated in extreme conditions. These areas are situated in the left-over space between the
insulation of the façade and the fi nishing plates on the interior of the façade.
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Left:
New situation climate Arcam:horizontal airfl ow summersituationhorizontal airfl ow wintersituationfi rst fl oor vertical detail
Right:
New situation climate Arcam:vertical airfl ow summersituationvertical airfl ow wintersituationground fl oor vertical detail
Next page:
Left:
Old situation climate Arcam 1:50Entire vertical sectionGround fl oor sectionBasement section
Right:
New situation climate Arcam 1: 50Entire vertical sectionGround fl oor sectionBasement section
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