About
Architect: Van Hegningen & Haward Architects
Contractor: Haymills
Sector: Charity – Public Education Facility
Overview
The client required a new educational centre to be situated on protected marsh land in Purfleet by the Dartford crossing. The site is situated in an exposed area ideal for the monitoring of bird species in the area. The building is designed for education and for visitors to learn more about the wildlife in the local area and for the protection or endangered wild birds.
The Brief
The building was designed to incorporate a main reception area, café, educational display areas and meeting rooms for visiting dignitaries along with good views across the marshes. Being a nature reserve the building was designed to be sustainable and required certain main areas in the building to be naturally ventilated and to provide natural daylight to the spaces below.
The buildings unusual appearance is a striking contract with the surroundings, creating a distinctive addition to this important wetland area. The centre had to achieve BREEM excellent certification and its environmental design features embody the client’s commitment to sustainable development, whilst creating a benchmark for development in the Thames Gateway area.
Our Solution
The roof of the building is supplied with two large ventilation towers each 2.5m in diameter x 5m high. The cones are constructed from two separate 6mm thick polycarbonate sheets rolled around a skeletal internal frame. The inner surface skin is clear polycarbonate whilst the outer is opal to diffuse the light entering the building. From inside the ventilation cone glows with natural daylight that percolates down into the meeting spaces below.
The building is designed to passively ventilate with the exhaust air being controlled by a glazed circular oculus mounted at the base of each turret. As the temperature increases a simple sensor control the opening of the damper to exhaust the stale air.
The top of the cone is fitted with circular solid skin separated from a circular vertical louvre blade design that allows air to exhaust uninterrupted regardless of wind direction or speed. Due to the exposure of the site the external solid cowl prevents water ingress but creates a negative suction pressure around the turret assisting the natural draw of air from insure the building.
