Fancy working in an office where you can open a window on a hot summer's day, rather than being forced to pull on a jumper because you cannot turn the air conditioning down?
For many working in modern, hermetically sealed offices, the idea of opening a window may sound implausible. But the design of the White Collar Factory – a project led by Arup – started with what users want from an office and combined this with sustainability principles. Interestingly, the two are highly compatible.
The idea of White Collar Factory is that it should be a sustainable, healthy and flexible office space that also costs less to run. It is inspired by industrial architecture and brought up to date with iPad-friendly controls that give users the power to customise one's working environment.
Arup, together with AHMM Architects, were instructed by landlord, Derwent London, and Arup's mechanical and electrical engineers to put themselves in the position of potential occupants, which led them to maximise the use of passive systems for heating, cooling and lighting. The design has high levels of daylight and natural ventilation.
The White Collar Factory's design works with the thermal mass of the building's concrete structure to absorb the heat generated in the office. The heat is transferred by a network of chilled water pipes embedded in the concrete, which radiantly cool the building.
It uses up to a quarter less energy than conventional offices. The White Collar Factory will be a 16-storey office building on the south-west side of the Old Street roundabout. The construction, which began in January 2014, will include basement-level secure parking for more than 250 cycles, showers, lockers and a roof-top running track.
Nicolette Fox is part of the wordworks network
The Guardian Sustainable Business Sustainability Case Studies contain articles on all the initiatives that met the criteria for the GSB Awards.
