Page 89 - ELEMENTS EUROPA (EN)

ELEMENTS EUROPA THE BAROQUE ELLIPSE AND ITS TWISTS AND TURNS
THE CORRIDOR CEILINGS
The space above the corridor ceilings was also the subject of
extensive design work. Air supply and return ducts, water pipes
for the fire sprinkler system, conduits for low and high-voltage
cables are all to be found in the suspended ceiling, supplying
the rooms leading off the corridor. All these mains have to share
a space limited in breadth and height, while at the same time
allowing for the crossovers needed to connect up the rooms
on both sides of the corridor and for ease of maintenance.
The management of the crossovers proved to be the key to a
successful layout, and a large number of sectional drawings
were needed to ensure that each duct/pipe was in the right
place.
The central part of the ceiling is higher than the sides to allow
for indirect lighting. The signage is affixed to the side of it. The made of standard parts for the heating tubes and supply pipes.
white metal panels covering the central part can be removed for
maintenance purposes. All ducts are positioned with great care
so that all control devices are directly accessible.
THE OUTER OFFICES
The technical facilities are virtually invisible in the offices.
The suspended ceilings made of white perforated sheeting
mounted on a layer of acoustic insulation are used to supply the
necessary heating and cooling. At right angles to each window,
a 30 cm wide white strip contains all the visible equipment:
lighting, supply air outlet, fire detector, sprinkler, loudspeaker
and motion detector.
The return air inlet is at the edge of each room, concealed
in the free space between the ceiling panels and the partition
walls.
All office windows in the listed building can be opened, and a
number of them provide access to a balcony. Mirror-coated on
the upper surface, “light shelves” reflect the natural light onto
the ceiling. Penetrating deep into the offices, they reduce the
need for artificial lighting.
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VISIBLE TECHNICAL FEATURES
Achieving thermal comfort in the atrium in winter requires a
hot-air curtain in front of the glazed inner wall of the double
skin to avoid the emergence of descending cold air currents.
This effect is achieved by a series of 100 mm-finned heating
tubes running along the entire length of the north and east
facades on the 1st floor, with two supply pipes 38 mm in
diameter running parallel. The facade’s transparency rules out
the idea of concealing the heating tubes and pipes in a non-
transparent convector, the solution generally used in such
cases. The system was thus integrated into the architecture just
by carefully designing its components.
The key feature of the system is the combined support
Prefabricated and fixed to each of the facade’s posts, each
support is made up of a vertical plate bolted onto the fixing
plate of the glazing, three cylindrical tubes forming consoles,
a horizontal plate welded to the central console and four
standard clamps. The horizontal plate is sized to take up the
difference between the distance between the supports (2.70 m)
and the standard length of the finned tubes (2.35 m) The
difference of 35 cm is used for connecting the finned tubes to
the supply pipes via two small bent pipes.