The design of green buildings | By Design - video Dailymotion

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Alina Yeo, Director at WOHA, talks to us about what makes a building "green" and the extensive processes that goes into ensuing that green buildings are sustainable and continue to be.   Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video

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00:00You pretend they are not there.

00:01Okay.

00:02Speed A, speed B.

00:03All three cameras are not there.

00:11Hi Alina!

00:11Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me today.

00:16I'm curious about this term green buildings

00:18and I understand that

00:19ROHA actually does prioritise

00:22this kind of greenness

00:23whenever you design a building.

00:25What is a green building?

00:27A green building basically is

00:28what we call environmentally responsible building

00:31as well as buildings that are resource efficient

00:33throughout their life cycle.

00:34So resource could mean energy,

00:37it could mean water,

00:38it could mean waste.

00:39Yeah, to be as low impact as possible

00:42in all of these areas.

00:43Do you feel that's especially important in Singapore?

00:46Oh yes, definitely so.

00:47I mean, we are a small nation.

00:50We have no natural resources.

00:51So definitely we need to be as efficient

00:54and as optimal in all of our

00:56planning and design as possible.

00:57So Alina, tell me what makes a green building?

01:00Green buildings,

01:01there are various aspects to it, right?

01:03But the first one I would say

01:05at the fundamental level

01:06is starting with the passive design strategies.

01:09Okay.

01:09So passive design strategies would be like

01:11how do you orientate the building

01:13so that it is facing north-south,

01:16it doesn't absorb too much of the east and western sun.

01:18Okay.

01:19Because the more sun you absorb,

01:21the more cooling you need to compensate.

01:25So orientation plays a big part.

01:26Ventilation is another big factor.

01:29So how do we design for more naturally ventilated spaces

01:33as opposed to air conditioning everything.

01:35Air conditioning is the number one energy guzzler of a building.

01:39And then how do you also have some automated systems,

01:42so your active systems,

01:43so that you can cut down on electrical power for lighting.

01:47It can turn off in the day and they come on at night.

01:49The types of lifts, the types of escalators.

01:52Wow.

01:53There are energy-saving versions of all of these components in a building.

01:58As well as how do you reduce the overall heat gain of the building.

02:02And that's where also planting comes in.

02:05Planting to reduce the amount of heat gain

02:07because of the shading that they provide.

02:09I see.

02:10But of course there's also associated maintenance.

02:13So for us, it's important that

02:15whenever we introduce planting to a building's facade,

02:19that we make it accessible for maintenance.

02:23Because if it's not well-maintained,

02:24then the plants are just going to die.

02:27And then that's just not going to be efficient overall.

02:31Being the director of Woha,

02:32and you are spearheading

02:34essentially many of these green building initiatives in Singapore,

02:37is there any one project that you're particularly proud of?

02:40So Woha designed Park Royal on Peckering,

02:43which is a hotel and office development opposite Hong Lim Park.

02:47It had a lot of rethinking when it came to

02:50designing for sustainability in this project.

02:52In Singapore, especially I guess in the hotel industry,

02:55air conditioning is quite synonymous with luxury.

02:58And in this case, we managed to get 50%

03:01of the hotel corridors to be naturally ventilated,

03:04and 100% of the office lift lobbies and toilets

03:07to be naturally ventilated too.

03:09So that really reduced the air conditioning

03:11and energy footprint of the building.

03:14This was really, I would say, radical for its time

03:17because most hotel operators would have wanted air conditioning

03:21for all parts of their building, including circulation.

03:23But we transformed these circulation pathways

03:27into wonderful, delightful tropical garden spaces,

03:29such that guests really don't think about

03:33the fact that it's not air-conditioned.

03:34I mean, there's water features, there's plants,

03:37and you just get to enjoy the sights and sounds

03:39of a tropical country that you're visiting.

03:41And that was a very nice touch.

03:44And then we also have the sky gardens,

03:46the projecting green areas that you see in front of the hotel.

03:49It shades the building itself.

03:51Yeah, so that helps to reduce the cooling load of the guest rooms.

03:54Right.

03:55We treat every building and every project like a prototype,

04:00or a test bed, or a pilot of a certain idea.

04:03And keep improving it as we go,

04:06and keep expanding it with the scale of our new projects.

04:10I think that what you're doing is so important.

04:12So thank you so much to yourself and Boha

04:14for doing what you do, and thank you for coming here today.

04:18Thank you so much, Adina, for doing what you do.

04:20Oh.

04:22Oh, okay.

04:24I don't know, it feels weird to say you're welcome.

04:27Oh, I don't know.

04:29Yeah, sure.

The design of green buildings | By Design

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