What is Green Star?
Green Star is a comprehensive, national, voluntary environmental rating system that evaluates the environmental design and construction of buildings. With more than 4 million square metres of Green Star-certified space around Australia, and a further 8 million square metres of Green Star-registered space, Green Star has transformed Australia's property and construction market.
Green Star was developed for the property industry in order to:
- Establish a common language;
- Set a standard of measurement for green buildings;
- Promote integrated, whole-building design;
- Recognise environmental leadership;
- Identify building life-cycle impacts; and
- Raise awareness of green building benefits.
Rating Tools
This is the area I am particularly interested in for my Graduation Project. Why is it that there is such a discrepancy between the Green Star rating of a building in the design phase when compared with the construction phase?
Nine categories are assessed with the Green Star tools: management, indoor environment quality, energy, transport, water, materials, land use & ecology, emissions, innovation.
The resulting score is translated into "Green Stars" as follows:
- score 45-59: 4 Star Green Star, signifies 'Best Practice' in environmentally sustainable design and/or construction
- score 60-74: 5 Star Green Star, signifies 'Australian Excellence'
- score 75-100: 6 Star Green Star, signifies 'World Leadership'
Measurement Tools:
I am aware that Steve King's Environment 2 class is undergoing research on the computer labs in the Red Centre in terms of thermal and humidity readings. They are surveying students on their thermal comfort in these rooms at different hours of the day. They have access to a wide array of tools to take these measurements for their class work. Initially I thought that I would have to purchase these items on my own, however it became evident after some research just how expensive these tools were. I have been in contact with Steve King and hopefully I will be able to borrow what he has available when his students are finished with them. Some of the tools I believe he has access too include...
TAYLOR DIGITAL INFRARED THERMOMETER WITH LASER:
Precise within 2 degrees F, this commercial-quality Taylor non-contact digital infrared thermometer shows the surface temperature reading in 1 second. The pinpoint-accurate red laser light, LED white-light illuminating zone and LCD backlit readout provide easy viewing. Features Fahrenheit/Celsius selection button and a temperature range of -58 to +750 degrees F or -50 to +400 degrees C. Distance: 1.33" up to 8". Recessed optics for long-life use. Ergonomic easy-grip handle with user-friendly laser-operating button on the underside.
DIGITAL THERMO ANEMOMETER & INFRARED TEMPERATURE HVAC:
This is a CE certified digital vane anemometer, which is used extensively in the HVAC industry for commissioning air balancing and fault finding of air conditioning and refrigeration systems, although its applications are far more wide reaching. This unit is a serious piece of test equipment and not only is able to measure airflow, but also has a built in Infrared thermometer, which enables remote temperature measurement. When undertaking psychrometric calculations, for ascertaining the performance of cooling systems, both airflow and air on and off temperature are required. This unit is able to do both, and with our psychrometers, relative humidity readings can be taken, which is essential if you are involved in the engineering and design of these systems.
Responsive Architecture:
This video shows a proposal for Clinton Square, Newburgh in New York. In particular I noticed the graph they had produced from an energy analysis. This showed their predicted environmental impact reductions by using a responsive design.
Project Research - LOWY Cancer Research Centre:
The Lowy Cancer Research Centre is a facility at The University of New South Wales. It is Australia's first facility bringing together researchers in childhood and adult cancers, and one of the country's largest cancer research facilities, housing up to 400 researchers. The centre, named for businessman Frank Lowy, who donated $10 million towards the project, was officially opened on 28 May 2010. It is home to researchers from the UNSW Faculty of Medicine and Children's Cancer Institute Australia.
The Lowy Cancer Research Centre was built with funding from numerous private and government organisations, including:
- Australian businessman Frank Lowy donated $10 million.
- The Australian Government made a contribution of $13.3million.
- The Australian Cancer Research Foundation donated $3.1million for the establishment of the ACRF Drug Discovery Centre for Childhood Cancer.
- The bulk of the $127million cost was obtained from the sale of the Little Bay sporting fields at UNSW, which were sold for $103million.
Client Research - Lahz Nimmo Architects:
Lahz Nimmo architects are a Sydney based architectural and urban design practise, established by Annabel Lahz and Andrew Nimmo in 1994. The practise structure involves two directors, two associate directors, one associate and a core team of eight to ten architectural collaborators. This framework provides the practise with sufficient flexibility to complete both large and small scale commissions within a studio environment.
Lahz Nimmo enjoys the challenge of maintaining a diverse range of project types and scales at any given time, providing the practise with considerable breadth and depth of experience. The firm's body of work and current workload, which includes large scale public and institutional projects, interiors, master planning, urban design, feasibility and residential projects, reflects this.
Lahz Nimmo has secured numerous design excellence awards for their work. These include international awards as well as awards from the Australian Institute of Architects at both state and national level for residential, commercial, public architecture and urban design projects.
Lahz Nimmo's work has been published extensively in international and national journals, including publications by thames and hudson, the princeton architectural press, architecture Australia images publishing, Australian architecture review and artichoke.
Lahz Nimmo director, Andrew Nimmo maintains an active interest in architectural discourse through his role as contributing editor and regular reviewer and critic for Architecture Australia.
Rachel Armstrong - Carbon Negative Architecture:
Rachel Armstrong shows us a revolutionary approach to fight climate change, a way to make a building without emitting pollutants and instead captures and stores carbon dioxide. This concept is along the lines of giving control back to the architecture that I outlined in my selected proposal.
