Friday, January 21, 2011

#1331 ... Architectural Textures

The wooden window shades on the Meridian Building on the waterfront.

THE BUILDING
The design and development of Meridian’s Wellington office accommodation is an exemplar of how collaborative partnerships between designers, users, and financial stakeholders can yield award-winning results.

It is a practical demonstration that good environmental principles and commercial imperatives are not mutually exclusive. Meridian’s brief was for a building to be designed and constructed using Ecologically Sustainable Development principles. The result was the first completed commercial office building to be awarded a 5 Star Green Star Rating by the New Zealand Green Building Council. The building is designed to use 60% less energy and 70% less water than comparable office buildings. It has features such as solar hot water, heat recovery systems, intelligent and addressable lighting controls, mixed mode ventilation (including chilled beams), an active external façade and a rainwater collection system for water re-use within the building.

During construction of the building around 60% of site waste materials were diverted from landfill, and by focusing on recycling, reuse and waste reduction the contractor was able to generate additional revenue streams and apply its learnings into other building projects. The building has been well recognised for its contribution to changing the face of commercial office development in New Zealand.

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