Environmental Impacts of Multi-Storey Buildings Using Different ...

- 26 -School of Biological Sciences at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch. It wasdesigned by local Christchurch architects (Courtney Architects) and structural engineers(Cusiel Lovell-Smith) with conventional pre-cast reinforced concrete as the main material forthe structure, envelope walls, floors and roof slabs. This building - currently underconstruction – will be linked by an atrium to the present Zoology building at the University.Figure 4.1: Perspective view of the new Biological Sciences laboratory at the School of Biological Sciences,University of Canterbury.4.3 General Design ConceptsThe above building design was modified to provide a simplified template for the developmentof the four alternative case study buildings covered by this report.Each case study was designed as a stand-alone building, keeping the same original orientationbut removed from the adjoining Zoology building and redesigned internally as a commercialoffice building. All new case studies are based on the same simplified template as that of theoriginal laboratory building, as shown in Figure 4.2, where the stand-alone laboratorybuilding in plan view (left hand) is compared with the concrete case study building (righthand) used in this research. The part of the atrium which contains the stairs, lift, bathroomsand corridors remains attached to the simplified template building. The six storey building isapproximately 36 metres by 20 metres in plan with one stair and one elevatorAll four buildings are designed as the same simple commercial (office type) building withopen plan floor spaces rather than the complex laboratory layout of the actual building butretain the ‘plant / riser ducts’ (two enclosed void areas closed to the south façade). Each ductis approximately eight meters by four meters and the length of these is placed transversally to