Kuggen Office Building / By Wingårdh Arkitektkontor

Gothenburg, Sweden
Wingårdh Arkitektkontor
Post By:Kitticoon Poopong

Photo © Courtesy of Wingårdh Arkitektkontor--saw-tooth edge

Kuggen is nestled in among Lindholmen’s big office buildings, like a colorful blossom surrounded by gray leaves. Its form and color are not immediately revealed. The round building looks different from every direction.

Photo © Courtesy of Wingårdh Arkitektkontor--construction view

The upper floors project out over the lower—more on the south side than on the north, so that the building partially shades itself when the sun is high in the sky. A rotating screen shades the top floors, following the sun’s path around the building. These details change the building’s character from one side to another, and over the course of the day. Finally, its brocade of glazed terracotta panels takes on different appearances depending on our viewing angle and the changing daylight conditions. A cylindrical, distinctive building in the middle of the town square is an urban planning motif with roots in the Italian Renaissance. In this case, the building also makes its formerly windy site more tranquil and more usable. Despite its calming effect on the microclimate, the building enlivens the site with a dramatic form that only gets stronger from close range. As we approach, the triangular forms of the windows emerge.

Photo © Courtesy of Wingårdh Arkitektkontor

Their design has less to do with appearance than with function: limiting the glazed area to one-quarter of the wall surface keeps the heat in, while the triangular-shaped openings let in the light where it’s needed most—near the ceiling, from where it can reach deep into the core of the building. Kuggen strives to be an extremely energy efficient office building. The cylindrical form offers lots of floor space in relation to the amount of exposed exterior wall surface, and the triangular windows provide both open-plan office landscapes and private offices with good daylight, reducing the need for artificial lighting. The projection of the upper stories limits the bothersome glare of direct sunlight inside, and also expands the usable floor area. The building grows larger by two facets for each new floor.

Photo © Courtesy of Wingårdh Arkitektkontor--photovoltaic screen

Kuggen makes use of green building technology on four different levels: adaptive ventilation, adaptive lighting, interactive heating and cooling systems, and effective daylighting. There is also a resource conservation perspective on the selection of materials: the facade’s ceramic panels have a longevity that is hard to beat, made with the same technique found in four-thousand-year-old pottery that still maintains all of its original luster—the future possibilities for reusing these panels extend beyond the limits of our own civilization.

Photo © Courtesy of Wingårdh Arkitektkontor--photovoltaic screen detail

Symbolic gestures have been avoided here in favor of green strategies that actually work. The building is constructed entirely of concrete, a shell of prefabricated elements with a high thermal mass. By equipping the building with motion-activated lighting and ventilation systems, energy is used only where it is really needed. The mechanical systems are hidden between the concrete slab and a sealed suspended ceiling in the cellular offices and exposed in the open-plan office spaces, making it easy to change the layout of these areas. The carpeting is glued directly to the slab, thereby benefiting from its thermal mass. The result is a building with a calculated energy consumption under 55 kWh/m2 annually including all mechanical systems.

Photo © Courtesy of Wingårdh Arkitektkontor--interior view of office space

The plan is designed to foster opportunities for informal meetings. The lower floors house a Science Park where students can meet with representatives of the business community over a cup of coffee. The second level is also designed for public use, with its circulation paths providing the most intense interaction between the building’s occupants and its visitors—they can even be used as exhibition spaces. The floors above have general-use leasable offices under Chalmers University management. The building has only one elevator, making the stair the primary means of vertical circulation, which promotes contact between people and is also good for their health.

render view--Photo © Courtesy of Wingårdh Arkitektkontor

Green architecture is about making choices and making compromises. Broadening our tolerance for variations in temperature and humidity generates immediate cost savings. Green architecture is also about social qualities and about planning for an uncertain future. We hope the combination of strong form and flexible-use dimensions will give Kuggen great longevity.

floor plan--drawing © Courtesy of Wingårdh Arkitektkontor

section--drawing © Courtesy of Wingårdh Arkitektkontor

concept--drawing © Courtesy of Wingårdh Arkitektkontor

facaded color concept--drawing © Courtesy of Wingårdh Arkitektkontor

Description from the Architects:

Creating meeting places is a major task in the development of Chalmers University of Technology. Kuggen at Lindholmen will be a hub for formal as well as informal meetings between community and society.The building is named Kuggen (The Cog). It is designed to connect to its environment.
Kuggen is constituted by repetitions of optimal office units. From the northward backbone, the building extends with two room units per floor. This makes the building expand by 1500 mm for
each floor southwards, thereby shading the windows below. A moving screen with photovoltaic cells moving around the building adds shade and electricity. On the roof, sun collectors for tap water completes the solar energy system. State-of-the-art solutions for adapted ventilation, lighting, heat- ing and cooling minimize the environmental impact of the building. The triangular windows maxi- mises daylight to the core of the building and minimises the climatic deficiencies. The size functions for office cells as well as for open landscapes. These solutions will limit energy consumption to
60 kWh/m² a year.

Project Data
Project name: Kuggen
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
Program: Sustainable office building

Area: 5350 sqm

The people

Client: Chalmersfastigheter AB

Architects: Wingårdh Arkitektkontor
Project Architects: Gert Wingårdh, Jonas Edblad
Charlotte Erdegard and Danuta Nielsen
General Contractor: PEAB
Photographs: © Courtesy of Wingårdh Arkitektkontor


Note>>Location in this map, It could indicate city/country but not exact address.

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