Masdar Institute, Abu Dhabi
An Epitome of Sustainability
Masdar Institute of Science and Technology is the world’s first graduate-level
university dedicated to providing real-world solutions to issues of sustainability,
which is situated in Masdar City. It is a city that witnesses an emerging global
clean-technology cluster that inspires innovation and empowers business. With an
infrastructure that meets the needs of the high-technology, knowledge-driven organisations
operating in the renewable energy and clean technology sector and a live-work space
that is at the cutting edge of sustainability. The institute has been designed by
the British architectural firm Foster and Partners, which is also chosen to design
the entire Masdar city.
The Masdar institute is a key catalyst for the development of Masdar City as the
campus itself symbolizes the energy sustainability. The urban form of the Masdar
Institute Campus is a microcosm of the fabric of the sustainable city as:
- The campus is bisected by the linear park.
- An environment intelligent orientation of the buildings that optimises
the outdoor thermal comfort of the public realm.
- The creation of walkways inside the city which are always shaded
through overhangs and narrow streets.
- The creation of a variety of façades which enrich the image
of the city.
- The creation of an interesting variety of open public and private
spaces.
The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology is studying a number of renewable
technologies for applicability in the desert, including the performance implications
of sand collecting on PV arrays. The institute has been behind the engineering plans
of Masdar City and is at the center of research and development activities. The
institute, developed in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
uses 70% less electricity and potable water than normal buildings of similar size
and is fitted with a metering system that constantly observes power consumption.
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Located in the Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates,
Masdar Institute aims to support Abu Dhabi’s economic diversification by nurturing
highly-skilled human and intellectual capital and partnering with industry leaders.
This will help the Emirate in its transformation to a knowledge-based economy and
enhance its position as a leader in global energy. The Masdar Institute is the first
part of the wider Masdar City master plan to be realised and creates an educational
focus for the entire programme. The Institute embodies the principles and goals
of Masdar to create a prototypical and sustainable city and is the first building
of its kind to be powered entirely by renewable solar energy. The design incorporates
a variety of passive and active environmental strategies and will be used as a test-bed
for the sustainable technologies that will beexplored for implementation in future
Masdar City buildings.
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The Institute's residences and laboratories are oriented to shade both the adjacent
buildings and the pedestrian streets below and the facades are also self-shading.
Over 5,000 square metres of roof-mounted photovoltaic installations provide power
and further protection from the direct sun. A 10-megawatt solar field within the
master plan site provides 60 per cent more energy than is consumed by the Masdar
Institute, all of which can be fed back to the Abu Dhabi grid. The campus also uses
significantly less energy and water than average modern buildings in the UAE. Horizontal
and vertical fins and brises soleil shade the laboratories, which have highly flexible
'plug and play' services to encourage interdisciplinary research. The laboratory
facades are formed from highly insulative inflatable ETFE cushions, which remain
cool to the touch under the intense desert sun. Cooling air currents are directed
through the public spaces using a contemporary interpretation of the region's traditional
wind towers, and green landscaping and water provide evaporative cooling.
Meticulous design to attain utmost energy efficiency
The creation of shade routes encourages pedestrian activity at street level. Colonades
have been incorporated into the design in all buildings within the Masdar Institute.
These colonades are cooled by high thermal mass materials applied to soffits, walls
and ceilings. The building’s façades have been developed to passively
mitigate heat transfer while also being highly sealed to minimise the energy required
with conditioning the internal spaces. Materials with high thermal mass, if strategically
used in shaded location to radiantly cool shaded colonades.
The emphasis in the choice of sustainable materials and products for the Masdar
Institute buildings has been to have them locally sourced and manufactured. Where
possible, consideration has been made to sustainable factors such as recyclability,
low embodied energy properties, low emission materials and finishes, within the
building’s specification in line with Masdar’s sustainability standards.
Key landscape design elements at the Masdar Institute Campus include:
• Reduced air temperature in public spaces through use of shading by buildings
and planting.
• An attractive, high-quality, accessible environment for all users.
The Masdar Institute Campus consists of a series of courtyard and street spaces,
each with a distinct theme derived from characteristics of the regional landscape.
A dramatic main courtyard, ‘the Oasis’ provides the campus with a flexible
space suitable for individuals, small groups or large gatherings, with numerous
seating areas surrounded by lush planting and gently bubbling water features beneath
the iconic wind-tower.
The Masdar Institute building has been designed to minimise water consumption and
maximise the efficiency of treatment and production techniques. Water-use reduction
technologies include high efficiency appliances, low-flow showers, highly efficient
laundry systems, a water tariff that promotes water efficiency, incentives, real-time
monitoring, smart water metres that inform consumers of their consumption, reducing
leakage ultimately to 1%, treated wastewater recycling, and high-efficiency irrigation
and low-water use landscaping, particularly through use of indigenous desert flora.
The current wastewater system combines grey water and black water for processing
and treatment at the city’s membrane bioreactor (MBR) plant. The treated sewage
effluent produced at the MBR will be used for landscaping. The bio-solids resulting
from the wastewater treatment can be reused for compositing and in any future waste-to-energy
plant.
Residences exterior
The residential concept for the Masdar Institute focuses on the creation of lively
energetic neighbourhoods. The university campus is conceptualised around a hierarchy
of streets and squares that form the backdrop to an environment of integration,
communication and co-operation; a place active day or night.
The high density low-rise living is a major component of this low impact development
and is vital in achieving a balanced socially and commercially sustainable campus.
The marriage of traditional Arabic building practice and modern technologies satisfy
demands for style, adaptability and flexibility while keeping a sustainable footprint.
Frames for the windows and doors are made of FSC timber frames provide enhanced
thermal performance at the lowest possible ecological impact.
Knowledge Centre
The slightly flattened spherical shape of the university’s Knowledge Centre
reflects the designers’ efforts to optimise the building’s photovoltaic
(PV) energy harvesting – based on its orientation, the inclination of the
PV panels and maximisation of the roof’s surface area. As well, a large self-shading
overhang allows for a full wall of glass. Generally, in order to reduce building
cooling loads, all windows in Masdar City must be shaded to prevent direct sunlight
from reaching inside.
The interior of the Knowledge Centre is divided into a vertical hierarchy of spaces,
with social gathering on the ground floor, group study and technology-driven research
in the central level, and private, quieter research areas dedicated to individual
use on the upper level away from the noise and activity of the active ground floor.
In Knowledge Centre, the building orientation has been done using three-dimensional
form developed using computational solar analysis to maximise the efficiency of
the PV array and thermal tubes. The performance data regards the PV panels stated
in the roof shell fact.
The laboratories and residential accommodation are supported by a variety of social
spaces, including a gymnasium, canteen, café, knowledge centre, majlis -
or meeting place - and landscaped areas that extend the civic realm. One, two and
three-bedroom apartments are housed in low-rise, high-density blocks, which provide
a social counterpoint to the research environment. Windows in the residential buildings
are protected by a contemporary reinterpretation of mashrabiya, a type of latticed
projecting oriel window, constructed with sustainably developed, glass-reinforced
concrete and coloured with local sand to integrate with its desert context and to
minimise maintenance. The perforations for light and shade are based on the patterns
found in the traditional architecture of Islam.
The campus, which consists of a main building, a knowledge centre and student quarters,
use significantly less energy and water than business as usual. In particular, residential
quarters of the complex are designed to use around 51 percent less energy than average
buildings in the UAE, and 54 percent less water. Around 30 percent of the campus’s
energy will be covered by solar panels on the roof, with 75 percent of hot water
also being heated by the sun.
Facts
Construction start: 2009
Completion: 2010
Area: 4 000 m²
Client: Mubadala Development Company
Structural Engineer: Adams Kara Taylor
M+E Engineer: PHA Consult
Additional Consultants: Gillespies, Claude Engle Lighting Design, RFD, Decarbon8,
Systematica, Lerch Bates, Arup, Sandy Brown, WS Atkins, Acentech, RWDI, Mott MacDonald,
RW Armstrong
Awards:
British Expertise International Awards, Outstanding International Architecture Project
– Masdar Institute
RIBA International Award – Masdar Institute
Source:
www.masdar.ae and Foster+Partners