Federation Square

Federation Square, Melbourne, is the major arts and media development in the state of Victoria, Australia. atelier ten won the competition with architects Lab + Bates Smart to environmentally engineer and design the buildings in the complex.

Federation Square is the home of the new Museum of Australian and Aboriginal Art as well as the National Film Archive and Cinemedia Centre and numerous other arts and cultural bodies.

The Public Plaza around the site has become the new heart of the city housing major public events.

The scheme set out with a strong commitment to environment and energy and this was a key part of the brief. The large glazed atria presented a particular design challenge to eliminate overheating without using cooling.

atelier ten developed a passive cooling strategy for the atrium utilising a thermal cooling labyrinth built into the Plaza below the atrium.

Labyrinth Design

A thermal labyrinth has been employed to exploit diurnal temperature variations to provide the necessary cooling. During summer the labyrinth is purged with cool night air to provide a cooling source for the daytime.

The scheme also includes a central Combined Heat and Power plant with absorption chillers for efficient power generation. Heating and cooling plant is located away from the buildings for simple maintenance.

All galleries are conditioned using displacement cooling for optimum energy efficiency and all air handling and reticulation plant use variable speed drives to match delivery to load.

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Links

http://www.labarchitecture.com - Lab Architecture Studio

http://www.batessmart.com.au - Bates Smart

http://www.federationsquare.com.au - Federation Square

http://www.abc.net.au/fedsquare - History of the Square