NET ZERO BUILDING — Amber Han Works

Net Zero BuildingInteragrated Building System Design
In Collaboration with Jen Chenyu Zhang & Eve Guo

Advisor: Jonathan Knowles
Location: East Providence, Rhode Island
RISD, IBS Seminar

Introduction

Located on East Providence Riverbank, the co-work office building is designed to achieve a net-zero building standard while maintaining the flexibility and transparency of an ideal workspace. The design uses cross-laminated timber as the main material and centralized concrete cores as the primary structures. The first floor of the co-work office building accommodates a lobby, a cafe space, and a loading dock. The rest of the “net” area is devoted to open studio layouts for a multi-tenant building.

The design explores building systems and re-interprets the standards into a zero-energy proposal (site EUI < 20kBtu ft2). An integrated photovoltaic (BI PV) system, rooftop water collection system, hydronic fan coil, and a geothermal system are designed to recycle water and generate clean energy for daily use. Natural ventilation and thermal gaps are created through two layers of the facade system. The first layer is a unitized glazing façade and the second layer consists of triple-glazed windows and sliding doors, which allow people to access the balcony spaces and maximize passive heating for the interior spaces.

Selected Drawings from Drawing Set