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Siemens Middle East Headquarters, Masdar City, Abu Dhabi by
Sheppard Robson ArchitectsBack towards zeroSheppard Robsons
Neo-High Modernist Siemens HQFelitography by *use
Technical study
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Sheppard Robsons Neo-High Modernist Siemens HQ at Masdar
successfully balances performance with form, writes Felix Mara.
Photography by Nicole Luettecke
In pursuit of efficiency
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N20m0
soQ at Masdar ix Mara. Pho-
Above North-west elevation with ground-floor transfer structure
reducing load points below
Site plan To some, Sheppard Robson was perceived as a commercial
style-monger when it reinvented itself in the 1990s, emulating the
forms rather than the spirit of more innovative and accomplished
practices such as Fosters or Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. Yet
today at Sheppard Robson, a new generation has emerged which is
balancing performance, especially of the sustainable variety, with
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1. Siemens Middle East Headquarters
2. Masdar Institute of Technology
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Abu Dhabi and found they didnt apply, says Sheppard Robson
partner David Ardill. We asked questions until there were no more
to ask.
Perhaps most challenging of all, more than earlier and costlier
showcase projects at Masdar which partly acted as built polemic,
the Siemens HQ was conceived as a highly commercial animal, with
cost levels similar to a typical United Arab Emirates headquarters.
As it happened, this clicked with Sheppard Robsons dogged pursuit
of efficiency and passive, optimal performance balanced with
provision for occupant well-being, which is moredifficult to
evaluate quantitatively. If the building did not fulfil these
expectations or make commercial sense, taking capital and running
costs into consideration, it would soon become obsolete and a waste
ofresources. Efficiency acted as acommon denominator for the
projects sustainable and commerciallogic. >>
form. Its Siemens Middle East Headquarters, opened last month in
the eco-city of Masdar, exemplifies thisspirit.
Siemens Middle East is distinguished not so much as innovative
architecture, but as the outcome of a rigorous, process-driven
design methodology, sharply focused on its site and brief. Sheppard
Robson had to tackle not only an unfamiliar and demanding climate,
but also separate performance requirements set by Masdar City, the
Emirate of Abu Dhabi and Siemens itself, which, despite the
projects name, actually occupies about 70 per cent of the buildings
office floorplate. I took all my European preconceptions out to
The Siemens HQ was conceived as a highly commercial animal
Above View from south with Foster + Partners Institute of
Technology to east. Fins supporting escape stair were not required
at ground-floor level
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Siemens Middle East Headquarters, Masdar City, Abu DhabiSheppard
Robson International
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1. Reception2. Retail3. Office4. Enclosed atrium5. Atrium6.
Fabric canopy
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Typical floor plan
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Ground floor plan
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Sheppard Robson applied a practice methodology which involves
sustainable design at four distinct scales: masterplanning, overall
building form, larger elements such as atria and more detailed
components such as columns. Work at each of these scales was then
integrated with output at the other three. At the same time,
working with MEP and structural consultant AECOM, Sheppard Robson
gauged the design and its environmental performance against three
standards: the LEED Platinum certification demanded by Siemens, the
mandatory requirements of an Emirate of Abu Dhabi initiative called
Estidama (which means sustainability in Arabic), and the 10 key
performance indicators set by Masdar City, which involve a
relaxation of its original CO2-neutral target, but nevertheless
seem ambitious within the context of the UAE.
Following an exhaustive optioneering exercise, Sheppard Robson
arrived at an overall building concept which involved a four-storey
box of office accommodation jacked up above and shading open public
space, alongside enclosed, lobbied entrance foyers and retail units
at ground level. Masdar are looking at revising the masterplan so
that it doesnt have a podium, as in Fosters design, says Ardill. So
all the new buildings will be on grade, and those which surround
the current podium will need to accommodate the resulting level
change. The space below the Siemens HQ, which Sheppard Robson
refers to as a plaza, is therefore stepped and has an elaborate
sequence of ramps.
Subject to other requirements including floor-to-ceiling heights
set by Siemens, the surface area and height of this box were
minimised to limit heat gain and cooling loads, which are principal
drivers in the UAE. The floorplates also had to be subdivisible
into 32 tenancies and flexible, to avoid premature obsolescence, so
Sheppard Robson chose an optimum span of 14.5m to ensure
column-free space and avoid
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Siemens Middle East Headquarters, Masdar City, Abu DhabiSheppard
Robson International
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Right top Aluminium shading panels to south-west facade
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deep floor structures. The cores were located at the building
perimeter and, from the various options, an array of nine atria was
chosen. Three of these are open to the sky and the plaza below,
which they help to ventilate, and like the others, which are
enclosed, channel skylight into the buildings internal and
externalspaces.
The offices were conceived as a box within a box, with an outer
layer of solar shading and an inner layer with high insulation and
low air infiltration, to minimise radiant, convective and conducted
heat gain. As required by the Masdar Energy Design Guidelines, the
proportion of vertical glazing was limited to 35 per cent to reduce
the radiant heat gain through the glass, and Sheppard Robson kept
the construction of the inner box very simple and planar to
minimise its surface area, and avoid air infiltration and dust
collection. Its cladding modules were fabricated off-site for
enhanced performance and made as large as possible to minimise
junctions and interfaces, which would have increased costs and
infiltration rates. Their light colour also reduces heat absorption
and helps to bring inter-reflected daylight into the offices.
Heat loss is less of a concern than cooling and humidity control
in Abu Dhabi, where winter heating requirements are negligible.
Natural>>
between square and Institute of Technology
12. Exposed thermal mass stabilises ambient air temperature in
public realm
13. Afternoon NW-prevailing wind cooled by shade and trees in
square
harvested for site-wide collection
9. Internal areas lobbied to provide thermal barrier
10. Proposal for cooling air into labyrinth reduces temperature
air into AHU. Not adopted
11. Public realm steps to make transition
funnels to reflect light into plaza diffuses light into offices.
Not adopted
7. Light shelves reflect summer afternoon sun into plaza,
maximising daylight. Not adopted above first-floor level.
8. Grey water
1. Corner windows widen to benefit from view on to square
2. Fabric canopy shaded roof terrace
3. Concrete slabs thermal mass acts as thermal store. Option to
remove ceilings in future. Void formers in slab
reduce material use and embodied CO2
4. Vertical louvres prevent solar gain from low-angle sun
5. Atria linked to plaza release hot air using stack effect.
Glazing maximised to optimise daylight into offices
6. Proposed light
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start on site September 2011completion January 2014gross
internal area 22,800m2
procurement Traditional cost Undisclosedclient ADFEC
(Masdar)architect Sheppard Robson Internationalstructural engineer
AECOMmep consultant AECOMcost consultant AECOMproject manager
Morgantimain contractor Al Faraa General Contracting Companyenergy
savings (ahsrae 90.1 2007 baseline) 46% annual energy demand
reduction (abu dhabi baseline) 62% over typical UAE commercial
office 102.6kWh/m2
annual operational co2 reduction 45% over typical UAE commercial
officewater demand reduction 50% reduction over typical commercial
office (US EPA baseline)waste diversion to landfill 98%embedded co2
reduction of materials min 30%estimated embodied co2 8,420.73
metric tons estimated annual operational co2 emissions 2,280.65
metric tons estimated annual co2 emissions (year one only)
10,701.38 metric tons on-site renewable provision 3%
(72,662kWh)calculated annual fixture water use per occupant
2,941.95mannual mains water consumption per occupant 2.18m (not
including irrigation)airtightness at 50pa 3.68m3/h.m2
annual generated solar hot water energy 72,662.38kWhvertical
glazing ratio (gross window-to-wall) 30.6% glazingvertical glazing
shgc (solar heat gain coefficient) 0.42vertical glazing light
transmittance 0.564horizontal glazing ratio (gross
skylight-to-roof) 6.2% roof areahorizontal shgc 0.413horizontal
light transmittance 0.562shgc 0.25roof solar reflective index min
78software used MicroStation, SketchUp, Bentley Architecture BIM
software, IESVE 6.4.0.9 energy modelling software
Project data
ventilation of the offices would have entailed ambient heat gain
and increased cooling loads, and AECOMs energy modelling of various
mechanical alternatives demonstrated that a fan coil system, rather
than chilled beams, would offer the optimal balance of cost and
benefit. The option of windfunnels wasalso explored, but
wasdiscarded after its sustainable andcost benefits were
scrutinised.
Proposals for the Siemens buildings orientation, fenestration
and solar shading were parametrically modelled using bespoke
algorithms and integrated with requirements for views, which entail
LEED points. There are views out from 85 per cent of the
floorplate. Concentrating glass on the north elevations would have
offered only limited heat-gain reduction because of radiation
through the glazing. Although two horizontal strips of glazing per
floor would have provided better daylight, Sheppard Robson settled
for one to reduce costs and rationalise construction.
Each facade has a unique arrangement of 4mm aluminium
solar-shading elements, sculpted by the movement of the sun, and
these provide total shading of the glass for 95 per cent of the
time. Internal glare-control blinds were considered unnecessary.
Because the brise-soleils have large projections from the facades,
it was possible to raise them above occupants views lines without
compromising solar shading. Their geometry is free of horizontal
surfaces which would have gathered dust, and the shelf which
reflects daylight into the plaza is perforated. High-performance or
reflective glass was unnecessary, and the glazing specification was
driven by the need for transparency and insulation.
The design team continued its quest for high performance,
efficiency, waste limitation, flexibility, and low operational and
embodied CO2 emissions in the Siemens HQs structural design,
detailed construction and specification. The floor slabs
are post-tensioned, with EPS block void fillers which the
quantity of concrete, and therefore its load, by 60 per cent. With
no downstand beams, they enabled the height of the office block to
be reduced and provided flexibility in the routing of high-level
services. The brise-soleils, which gain strength from their
twisting geometry, are hung off the facade with no secondary frame,
minimising their weight. Elements such as helical stairs are
suspended from Macalloy tension members to reduce loads.
Self-finishing structural elements avoided the need for
overcladding, and the specification prioritised local, durable
materials, benchmarked against Estidama requirements and Masdar
embodied CO2 targets, with high recycled and rapidly renewable
content and low VOCs. Needless to say, water conservation was also
a top priority.
Theres a fine line between shrewdly discarding preconceptions
and foolishly ignoring hard-earned wisdom. Concepts such as
legibility and flexibility are sufficiently universal to be useful
in any context, but Siemens
Middle East Headquarters has the mark of a project whose
designers have bravely returned to first principles and, like the
exponents of High Modernism, damned the consequences. As a result,
like much of these exponents output, Siemens has a raw, unsettling
quality, and a pioneering spirit. It is, like its context,
unique.
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Siemens Middle East Headquarters, Masdar City, Abu DhabiSheppard
Robson Architects
Right Helical stair in enclosed atrium using Macalloy tension
rods to minimise load from structural members
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1. 4mm aluminium shading panel
2. Insulated render3. Concrete wall and
slab4. Ceiling5. Steel tie6. Double-glazed strip
window7. 150mm raised floor8. 400mm post-
tensioned slab9. EPS void former
Facade detail
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