Educational
UMP Library
- Location
- Mbombela, Mpumalanga, South Africa
- Year
- 2017
- Client
- University of Mpumalanga
- Architects
- Cohen and Garson Architects
PJC Services
- Sustainable Design Management
- Passive + Low Energy Design
- Daylight + Visual Comfort
Key Highlights
- Primary function as a library, also including an auditorium with associated breakaway/seminar/learning rooms and an IT learning centre.
- Building performance modelling and simulations to inform the solar control, daylight and thermal comfort strategies of the building.
- Indirect daylight provided to the areas where books are stored through a high level continuous clerestory over a double volume space, balanced by further glazing adjacent to seated areas where users can control blinds as required and direct sunlight does not penetrate through to the books.
- The ribbon of double volume bookshelves is integrated with a displacement ventilation cooling system, reducing the extent of ducting and outlets, resulting in sufficient cost savings to afford a more complex and efficient packaged rooftop unit.
- PJC undertook prototype testing of the bookshelf displacement ventilation strategy within own office premises to validate building performance simulation results.
- With provision of conditioned air at a higher temperature, over-dehumidification in this sub-tropical climate was reduced, resulting in a 20% reduction in cooling capacity from the overall system.
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