How To Design A - Building That Breathes - A Sustainable Case Study of Colombia's EDU Headquarters - ArchDaily

11/1/2019 How to Design a "Building that Breathes": A Sustainable Case Study of Colombia's EDU Headquarters | ArchDaily
How to Design a "Building that Breathes": A Sustainable Case

Study of Colombia's EDU Headquarters
by Empresa de Desarrollo Urbano EDU + Salmaan Craig
June 09, 2017
In the Colombian city of Medellin, a new headquarters is being constructed for the Empresa de Desarrollo
Urbano (Urban Development Company), combining optimal thermal performance with local urban
regeneration. The new EDU headquarters is the result of a three-part collaboration between the public
company, the private sector, and Professor Salmaan Craig from the Harvard Graduate School of DesignSave
who
has family roots in the Colombian capital.
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Constructed on the site of the former EDU headquarters on San Antonio Park, the scheme aims to act as a
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benchmark for sustainable public buildings in Medellin, embracing the mantra of “building that breath."
As a specialist in materials, thermal design, and building physics, Professor Craig (EngD) voluntarily o ered
his service to the scheme’s realization. Below, he explains the thermodynamic challenges behind the
building’s conception.
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The design represents a serious commitment to innovation towards the generation of sustainable buildings

in Medellín, through prefabricated façade system, solar panels, solar chimney, temperature calibration,
thermal buoyancy, and an absence of air conditioning.
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The purpose of this project is to use innovation as a tool for the renovation and revitalization of downtown
Medellin, creating a socially safe territory through a healthy mix of building functions and public activity. In
this dynamic, the project aims to stimulate the transformation of the city center to promote a sustainable
habitat and guarantee public freedom - a dual strategy of social urbanism, and a culture of sustainability.
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Its conceptualization is based on "a building that breathes", thinking of "simple materials, intelligent
geometries”. An external skin composed of high-quality prefabricated elements allows the external cold air
to be directed towards an external chimney, generating and influencing thermal mass. Thermodynamic
concepts, such as convection and thermal forces, generate a constant flow of air by a change of temperature,
from cold to hot, creating comfortable air currents in employee workspaces.
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The building is located within an area of a strategic development, the Macro Project of Rio Centro. The
building has a total area of 2,983 m2, including 1,968 m2 of common areas. Its slender quadrangular massing
reaches a height of 37 meters starting from platform level, following the same perimeter as the demolished
existing building.
The building has two basements where there are utility areas for water storage, parking, technical rooms,
recycling, trash, maintenance, and storage rooms. The first floor is catered to the community with a payment
center, reception, gallery of projects, community services and filing area.
The new headquarters has ten floors with an average height of 3.70 meters, distributed as follows: from the
2nd to the 4th floor are o ices; on the 5th are the common areas, a kitchenette and a terrace; O ices from
6th to 8th; the 9th floor is for the general management o ice, while on the 10th, utility and work areas are
distributed, in addition to the elevator maintenance room.
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A new type of ventilation, a new type of experiment
The way we sense heat is more complex than we like to admit. Thermal comfort standards define what is
acceptable in buildings, and these standards evolve as we learn more about thermal sensation. Most people
will agree when it is far too hot or far too cold. But in between, it’ s harder to predict how people will react.
What will they tolerate? What will they enjoy? Any number of physiological, psychological, cultural and
climatic di erences could tip the balance.
At first, the purpose of thermal comfort standards was to define a universal range of temperatures that
would apply to all people in all buildings in all climates at all times. These standards developed alongside
air-conditioning technology and modernist architecture. Together they gave rise to the International Style.
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But new thermal comfort standards signal a change in approach. They acknowledge important subtleties in
thermal sensation, such our tendency to adapt to seasonal changes, or our tendency to tolerate warmer
temperatures
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It’ s hard to overstate the importance of these revisions. The target comfort range is the starting-point or
closing door to all conversations on passive design. Medellín is a case in point. On a typical day, the
temperature will oscillate between 18°C and 28°C in the shade, and there is very little variation throughout
the year.
Most people will instinctively say that the upper part of this range is too hot, leading to the conclusion that
air-conditioning is necessary. But according to the new standards, this temperature range is okay for o ice
activities, so long as there is su icient air movement [2].This raises an important question: If we can’t design
buildings without air-conditioning inThe Eternal Spring, where else can we?
One of the major challenges of natural ventilation is the unpredictable frequency, direction, and strength of
the wind. In Medellín, the direction of the wind is reliable, but it is only strong enough for about 40% of the
year. Thankfully, in the last decade, progress has been made in understanding a more reliable driving force
— buoyancy. Buoyancy ventilation is a di erent kind of natural ventilation. It isn't powered by the wind. It’ s
powered by the waste heat from occupants, computers and other internal heat gains. Save
Hot air rises, as every paisa who ever made a globo knows. We have designed our building to exploit this
e ect. A chimney connects to all the o ice floors. Heated by occupants and computers, the interior air rises
naturally up the chimney. Asit escapes at the top, fresh air is pulled in from the windows and across the floor
plates.
With wind-driven ventilation, the fresh air is pushed in from the sides. But with buoyancy ventilation, the
fresh air is sucked in from the sides—by the warm air column rising up the chimney. So the action is
di erent. And it’ s also more reliable. On a hot day, when the occupancy is high, there may not be enough
wind to flush out the interior. But buoyancy ventilation is di erent: as the occupancy increases so does the
driving force. In other words, buoyancy is a force you can engineer. By design, we can reliably sustain a ‘
breeze’ in the absence of wind.
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How does one know how to size the chimney and the windows? If the openings are incorrectly sized, there
will not be enough air flow, and the interior will overheat. This used to be a di icult problem, especially for
multistory buildings. But new research has provided new insights. We now have simple mathematical
models that retain the most important physics[3]. Now design teams can easily decide if buoyancy
ventilation is feasible, early on in the design process.
The video below shows an‘ app’ based on these mathematical models. I developed it so the EDU design
team could size the windows and the chimney properly, and make any necessary adjustments during the life
of the building.
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The table shows what size the openings should be on each level, to ensure that everyone gets the same deal.
If you increase the fresh air rate per person, the openings increase, while the interior temperature (relative to
the exterior) falls. It turns out that, by adjusting the openings properly, we can keep the average interior
temperature at no more than two degrees above the exterior, while providing three or four times the normal
amount of fresh air per person [4].
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There will be three openable windows per floor, spaced to give an even distribution of fresh air, from the
least polluted and quietest sides of the building. Our current idea is to put graphics on each window,
showing occupants how much they should open the window, depending on how many people are on that
floor that day.
What about in the a ernoon, when the exterior temperature can exceed 28°C in the shade? To tackle this, we
exploit two environmental aspects. First, the chimney faces west, so it will receive a ‘ solar boost’ in the
a ernoon. This will increase the fresh air rate by up to a third. Second, we utilize thermal mass. The exposed
concrete ceilings will cool down at night, staying relatively cool during the day. They will absorb radiant heat
from occupants, making it feel cooler than the exterior for most of the time.
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We see this building as a laboratory. It’ s an experiment in buoyancy design, and a test of the comfort
standards. The occupants are mostly architects and city planners, working for EDU. They will experience the
theory and reality of buoyancy ventilation first hand. They will get to know the successes and the failures
intimately. They will see how to improve the design, and how to apply the concept to di erent building types
across the city.
And it’ s not just an experiment for EDU. We plan to broadcast the performance of the building live on the
internet. Most clients and architects are not prepared to share this kind of data, because it may reveal
oversights in the design or operation. But if nobody knows how buildings actually perform, how can we as
an industry collectively learn from our successes and failures?
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Video Captions
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The Thermal Sensation: here is a video of an old experiment that I recreated in class last year. Santiago
González Serna is the Colombian volunteer. The experiment goes back to at least John Locke, the
Weseventeenth-century
sent you a validation philosopher, who was interested in how whatwith
email to sarumathysaravanan96@gmail.com perceive physically
instructions and how
to activate weaccount.
your perceive
the world. In front of Santiago, there are three buckets of water. One of them is hot, another cold and the last
at room temperature. You can see him putting one hand in the hot bucket and the other hand in the cold
bucket. A er your hands have acclimatized, remove them. One hand is hot and the other is cold. Then dip
both hands into the bucket filled with water at room temperature. When I asked him to guess the
temperature, he had trouble answering. His senses were obviously in conflict: "I can not say, because my hot
hand feels cold, but my cold hand feels hot." What does this tell us? That we judge temperature - and
everything that comes from the senses - in a comparative way. Whether you think the water is hot or cold
depends on what you just experienced. We are deeply comparative creatures.
Multistory Buoyancy Ventilation: I developed this 'app' to help the EDU team design the chimney and
windows on each floor. The buoyancy force is generated by the heat of people and computer equipment. At
higher levels, the resulting suction force on the façade is proportionally less. So the window openings need
to be larger to deliver the same amount of fresh air down. See: Andrew Acred and Gary R. Hunt, "Stack
Ventilation in Multi-Storey Atrium Buildings: A Dimensionless Design Approach," Building and Environment
72 (February 2014): 44-52, doi: 10.1016 / j.buildenv.2013.10.007
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Notes
[1]Richard J. de Dear and Gail S. Brager, "Thermal Comfort in Naturally Ventilated Buildings: Revisions to
ASHRAE Standard 55," Energy and Buildings 34, no. 6 (2002): 549-61.
[2]See for yourself here. Choose the "adaptive comfort"
[3]Andrew Acred and Gary R. Hunt, "Stack Ventilation in Multi-Storey Atrium Buildings: A Dimensionless
Design Approach," Building and Environment 72 (February 2014): 44-52, doi: 10.1016 / j.buildenv.2013.10.
007; Torwong Chenvidyakarn, Buoyancy E ects on Natural Ventilation (Cambridge, New York: Cambridge
University Press, 2013).
[4]The recommended dose for new buildings is usually 10 liters per second per person (depending on the
type of activity and the particular level)
Architects
EDU - Empresa de Desarrollo Urbano de Medellín (Urban Development Company of Medellin)
Location
Carrera 49 #44-94, Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia
Design Direction
John Octavio Ortiz Lopera
Design Team
Víctor Hugo García Restrepo, Gustavo Andrés Ramírez Mejía, César Augusto Rodríguez Díaz, Catalina Ochoa
Rodríguez, Julián Esteban Gómez Carvajal, José Arturo Agudelo, Aurlin Cuesta Serna
Promotion
Empresa de Desarrollo Urbano (EDU) + Alcaldía de Medellín
Thermodynamics
Salmaan Craig
Technical Design Consultant

Juan Fernando Ocampo Echavarría
Structural design
Rafael Álvarez R., Ramiro Londoño Ángel, Carlos Mario Gómez Rojas Save
Construction
WeConstructora
sent you a validation email to sarumathysaravanan96@gmail.com with instructions to activate your account.
Conconcreto
Bioclimatic Consultant
Taller de Ingeniería y Diseño Conconcreto (Concrete Enginerring & Design studio)
Acoustic Consultant
Daniel Duplat
Social Director
Gloria Estela López
Technical Design Intervention

Espacios Diseño Construcción S.A.S.
General Manager EDU

Jaime Bermúdez Mesa (actual), César Augusto Hernández Correa (2016), Margarita Maria Ángel Bernal (2012-
2015)
Area
3660.0 m2
Project year
2016
Photos
Alejandro Arango , Courtesy of EDU, Courtesy of Saalman Craig
Project gallery
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Project location
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Address: Carrera 49 #44-94, Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia
Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this o ice
EDU - Empresa de Desarrollo Urbano de Medellín

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Product:
Concrete
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Projects In Progress O ices Institutional buildings Sustainability Medellín
Material Focus thermodynamics Materials Colombia

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Cite: Empresa de Desarrollo Urbano EDU + Salmaan Craig . "How to Design a "Building
Haven'tthat Breathes":
received A Sustainable
validation Case more
email? Learn
Study of Colombia's EDU Headquarters" [Nueva sede de Empresa de Desarrolllo Urbano (EDU) / EDU - Empresa de
Desarrollo Urbano de Medellín] 09 Jun 2017. ArchDaily. (Trans. Valletta, Matthew) Accessed 1 Nov 2019.
<https://www.archdaily.com/872018/how-to-design-a-building-that-breathes-a-sustainable-case-study-of-colombias-edu-
headquarters/> ISSN 0719-8884
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11/1/2019 How to Design a "Building that Breathes": A Sustainable Case Study of Colombia's EDU Headquarters | ArchDaily

How to Design a "Building that Breathes": A Sustainable Case

by Empresa de Desarrollo Urbano EDU + Salmaan Craig

June 09, 2017

3D concrete printing is a form of additive manufacturing used to fabricate buildings or

Wooden pivot roof windows FYP-V proSky

Ductal® Cladding in Cepovett Headquarters

Retractable Roof System in Union Restaurant

The design represents a serious commitment to innovation towards the generation of sustainable buildings

Haven't received validation email? Learn more

Haven't received validation email? Learn more

Haven't received validation email? Learn more

Haven't received validation email? Learn more

A new type of ventilation, a new type of experiment

Haven't received validation email? Learn more

Haven't received validation email? Learn more

Haven't received validation email? Learn more

Haven't received validation email? Learn more

Haven't received validation email? Learn more

GRC (Glass Reinforced Concrete) molding and on-site installation

Haven't received validation email? Learn more

Haven't received validation email? Learn more

Haven't received validation email? Learn more

Haven't received validation email? Learn more

Haven't received validation email? Learn more

Haven't received validation email? Learn more

[2]See for yourself here. Choose the "adaptive comfort"

Technical Design Consultant

Technical Design Intervention

General Manager EDU

Haven't received validation email? Learn more

Haven't received validation email? Learn more

Haven't received validation email? Learn more

About this o ice

EDU - Empresa de Desarrollo Urbano de Medellín

Projects In Progress O ices Institutional buildings Sustainability Medellín

Material Focus thermodynamics Materials Colombia

ROWSE THE CATALOG

Surfaces - Silestone® Diverse Series

Advanced Composites - ShapeShell™ Cladding Panels

Decking - Block Tek

Shading Screens - Perforated Facade Panels

Minimalist Window - Turnable Corner

Terracotta Cladding in Arkansas University

Energy-e icient roof window FTT Thermo

Porcelain Tiles - Larix Collection

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