g Tower Report

Building Science 1(ARC2413) | Case Study : Identifying Innovative Passive Design

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[G TOWER]a sustainable tower

Architect :BEP Akitek Sdn BhdThe Architectural Network

Project :GTower

Location :199 Jalan Tun Razak, 50400 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Client :Goldis Tower Sdn Bhd

Property Type :Office & Hotel

Date Completed:June 2006

IntroductionThe G Tower, is a new working concept incorporating an office space, a members-only

private club and a hotel called aptly, The G City Club Hotel, is the first fully certified green

building. Given the Green Mark Gold Rating by standards of the Singapores Building and

Construction Authority(BCA).

Being strategically located at the crossroads of Jalan Tun Razak and Jalan Ampang in Kuala

Lumpur, this 30-storey building with a total land area of 2000m encompasses a 180-room

5 star hotel, 112 CEO duplex office suites and a club was designed by BEP Akitek under

Goldis Tower and was completed in June 2009.


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Site Plan


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Concept & Ideas

GTower is Malaysias first green and smart building which implemented the idea of

environment sustainability, RETHINK, REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE.


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Concepts Application

Rethink Not restricted in the building only. Site orientation is considered

to reduce usage of energy.

Sustainable green building technologies and systems are added.

Rethink Reduce energy consumption:

-Usage of double glazed low-emission glass. (Allow maximum

light, minimum heat transmission)

Chilled water centralised air-conditioning chillers are used.

Low energy LED lighting which will reduce energy consumption

by 80-90%

Cleaning agents that are eco-friendly are used in the hotel.

Eco-friendly infinity pool on the rooftop is conditioned by salt

instead of chlorine. The pool is also heated by the heat waste

from the air-con units.

Reuse Harvest of rainwater in the water catchment areas to provide

enough water for the green roof and the vertical green walls.

Crawling plants on the faade wall and in the interior walls

helps purified air in a natural way.

Heat waste from air-con is also reuse for heating the water in

bathrooms.

Recycle The staffs in the hotel learned to separate recyclable waste.

The furnishing of the interior of hotel are made of recycled

materials.

Even the paint that is used is made of organic compound.


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Energy Efficiency

To increase the overall energy efficiency, the air conditioning which consumes the largest

amount of energy has been replaced to operate at low system efficiency. Included are

motion and photo sensors which reduces energy consumption from lighting. The use of

greenery in landscaping, green roof can assist in alleviating urban heat islands through

shading and evaporative cooling.

Water Efficiency

As an initiative to reduce water consumption, water efficient fittings were installed so that

facility staff can monitor daily water usage and detect any leakage occurring in the building.

Rain water harvesting system has also been implemented for irrigating the landscape and

vertical greening areas.

Sustainability


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Provisions for Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Carbon Dioxide (CO) monitoring systems which

BMS to circulate air inside the building to provide better indoor air quality. The use of low

VOC paint helps prevents from getting exposed to chemical particles.

Project Management

An estimate of more than 30% of construction materials such as carpets, landscape draining

cells, external wood decking, and kitchen cabinets are of recycled contents as an

environmentally friendly approach.

Indoor Environmental Quality & Protection


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Malaysia is located in the equatorial region and has a tropical rainforest climate which is

causes it to remain hot and humid throughout the year. It experiences two types of climates

which are rainy season (mid- November to March) and dry season (May to September).

However, the temperature in Malaysia varies a little from season to season since it is close to

the equator.

The average annual temperature of Malaysia ranges between 24C to 33C. During the rainy

season, the average rainfall throughout the year is 217.5mm and November is the highest

rainfall month. The humidity in Malaysia is very high. The relative humidity varies from a low

80% in January to a high of 85% in October. For the average daily sunshine hours in Malaysia,

the daily sunshine hours is about eight hours in the dry season and range from six to seven

hours throughout the rainy season.

Temperature & Climate Data


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70

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Average High Temperature(C)

Average Low Temperature(C)

Average Temperature (C) - Kuala Lumpur

77

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79

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81

82

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85

86


Average Humidity (%)

Average Humidity (%) - Kuala Lumpur


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Average Daily SunshineHours

Average Daily Sunshine Hours - Kuala Lumpur

0

50

100

150

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350


Average Rainfall (mm)

Average Rain Days

Average Rainfall (mm) - Kuala Lumpur


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Wind Direction Analysis

Northeast Monsoon (November March)


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Southwest Monsoon (May September)


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Sun Path Analysis

9am

12pm


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4pm

6pm


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Passive Design

The orientation is important to maintain the building indoor temperature within the thermal

comfort range. According to ASHRAE Standard, the thermal comfort range Is stated around 24

to 26 Degree Celsius. In order to achieve thermal comfort, there are a few criteria should be

noted.

The orientation of building plays important role in manipulating indoor temperature. The

front faade of G Tower is defined by the site and main road access. According to the map

above, the main entrance of G tower is supposed to face to south-east direction. However,

the building orientation has been adjusted to east of northeast by adding a path to allow the

car access.


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According to the ecotect diagram, there are most sun radiation from 10 a.m to 1 p.m. As to

avoid the raise of temperature in the building, a few design moderation have been made.

The front faade of G tower has lesser surface area compare to other elevations. As when

the surface area increases, more sunlight is allow to penetrate into the building, causing

indoor temperature roses. As the location of G Tower is in the city, limited area can be used to

do planting as sun shading and temperature cooler. Hence, the changes are made on the

building itself.


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The front faade of G Tower is substrated as shown in diagram above to

minimize the total amount of morning sunlight penetrate into the building. Besides, it

also provides shadings to the users and achieve thermal comfort.

The front faade has replaced with vertical garden. Vertical garden has similar

function as green roof. It undergoes photosynthesis, which required sunlight, and releases

oxygen to cooler the surrounding temperature. Hence, the heat energy does not transfer

into the interior spaces of G Tower.


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Sunlight radiation is most received on North East Faade from 10 am to 1pm

Differential in pressure of clouds causes clear skies by late evening after 2pm onwards


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Since the main of the facades of the GTower consist of glass, there is a large area of the exterior

will be shined with direct sunlight. The cons to this is that glazed faade allows solar radiation to

go through the glass facades into the building and then trap the heat energy indoor causing the

interior to be heated up.

GTower uses low-e glasses for the glass facades because the solar rays passes through the

glasses as short wave (radiation) and goes through the glass to be absorbed by the interior of

the building. Most of the longer wave heat energy is reflected back into the surrounding by the

low-e glass filtering out most of the heat wave and reduce the increased of heat indoors.


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The glass facades of GTower are also double glazed. Double glazed glass consists of two panes of

glass with a gap in the middle which enable sunlight to me reflected back to the surroundings.

The two pieces of glass and an insulated frame are sealed together as one unit. The gap in the

middle is usually vacuum and sealed tight. Nowadays a certain amount of Argon gas, which is a

naturally occurring inert gas, is inserted between the panes of glass. Argon gas has a density

higher than the surrounding air and this reduce heat energy to be transmitted into the interior

spaces. The gas acts as a barrier reducing heat loss as well as heat absorption in the building.

The combination of both of low-e glass and double glazed glass can ensure a better heat

insulation for the building improving the thermal comfort of GTower. The glass can reduce heat

loss up to 50% of the heat radiation that passes through the double glazed glass. The double

layers of glass helps to reduce noises from the external too. This type of glass increases security

and protection for building because there are double layers which means double protection.

.


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Sustainable Design System


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Reference http://www.goldis.com/media/doc/Architecture%20Malaysia%20G%20Tower%20a%20S

ustainable%20Tower.pdf

http://gtowerhotel.com/index.php

g Tower Report

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