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

- 30 -Calculations of the foundation size for the Timber and Concrete building showed that the sizeof the foundations required is comparable. This is unexpected due to the lightness of theTimber building intuitively leading to a reduction in foundation size. However, the foundationsize was principally governed by the overturning moment applied by vertical members duringa seismic event, and not gravity loading. It can be expected that a significant reduction infoundations between the Timber and Concrete structures will occur if a building is gravitydominated or is situated in soft soil.Figure 4.4: North-east façades perspective view of the simplified Concrete building, north façade.The north-east perspective view of the Concrete building in Figure 4.4, is also representativeof the Steel, Timber and TimberPlus buildings. The overall architectural design is the same inall four buildings but built in different materials and using different building techniques.In Figure 4.4, it is possible to identify the layout of the north face curtain wall behind theparallel louvres. The seven structural columns from floor to roof slab are visible. The eastface wall is the same as the west face wall and it is possible to see the stair well coming out ofthe service area in the south end of the east face wall.The stepped shape of the roof is due to the plant room which increases the roof height on thesouth side of the roof. Inside the plant room, chimneys exhaust the air from the offices whenthese are being naturally ventilated. The roof-top plant room in the Concrete, Steel andTimber case studies is designed to have a combination of profiled metal cladding andaluminium opening louvres to the walls. Offices have opening vents which will allow heat tobe purged into the chimneys when not required and from these to the plant room whereopening louvres will exhaust the air to the exterior of the building. The TimberPlus buildingreplaces the metal cladding and aluminium louvres with cedar timber components.