Building controls
Generally
No architectural style or aesthetic limitations are prescribed for future development. All future building should reflect contemporary design thought as interpreted by the architect in consultation with the campus governing body and those planning and environmental considerations identified either by this document or by appendix. The development of the campus buildings shall be designed not only to promote dignity of the facility but to express both the relative equality and the distinct character of each academic area.
While limitations of materials and colours available for campus building design can provide a consistency between varying designs which develop over an extended period of time, a richer result is achieved if a consistent attitude to high quality contextual design is encouraged. This is evidenced in the Phase I development, which has allowed a significantly varied palette of colours and materials. In each case, however, the design approach of the commission has considered the context of the campus, and what may be called the ‘Sunshine Coast Style'. The Master Plan does not limit the colours and materials to a palette, arguing that the desired relationships are better handled on a case-by-case basis rather than by prescriptive specifications.
As a general principle finishes should be modest in character; the use of colour and simple articulation of planar surfaces should be encouraged and decorative approaches discouraged. The intent of this approach is to support more generous spaces, and openness in planning and natural lighting, issues which often require substantial proportions from limited building budgets. Not withstanding the need for a sensitive climatic design using lightweight exterior systems and shaded interior building mass, areas and surfaces subject to pedestrian contact should be of robust character.
ESD principles
There are no general ESD principles for this topic; refer to the sub-topics for ESD requirements.
Sub-topics
Indoor environmental quality
Built form
Internal layout
Material selection
Verandahs and covered ways
Provision for works of art
Indoor environmental quality
Generally
The ideal interior environment is not a replica of that which might be found inside a museum showcase: static temperature, static humidity, and controlled light levels. Rather, it is that environment which results from the building fabric and technology mediating the exterior environment to provide acceptable interior conditions for the activities that occur within the building. The result of this alternative view is an interior environment which, while still meeting the ESD principles specified below, is an environment that varies over time. For example, natural light may be replaced with artificial light at dusk without there being at any time insufficient light for the activities within the building.
This approach is not always popular with building occupants, particularly those used to conventional air-conditioned office environments, and it is important that compliance with comfort standards is made evident. This does not mean that the building fabric needs itself to make this demonstration; only that the occupants must be made aware that the space has been designed to deliver a thermally comfortable environment.
ESD principles
The following concepts have been highlighted as being important to the indoor environment quality of buildings of the USC Master Plan.
Air quality
- The quantity of fresh air, which is relevant during the design of mechanical air conditioning. For example, at least a 50 percent improvement on minimum rates prescribed in the Australian Standard is recommended. Natural ventilation solutions typically introduce high quantities of fresh air which well exceed the Australian Standard.
- Low levels of indoor pollutants: Choosing low VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints, finishes and adhesives, as well as considering low formaldehyde composite wood.
- 100 percent fresh air, which is offered with natural ventilation but not typically offered with air conditioned solutions where exhaust air is mixed back into the occupied space. Air conditioning solutions which do not recirculate air should be encouraged.
- Humidity control is also important, especially in more humid sub-tropical climates for mould prevention and comfort.
Natural light
Daylight is desirable in any learning or working environment. It provides a direct benefit to the users of the building by connecting the occupant with outside, and allowing the body's natural circadian rhythms to function. User benefits are derived from the improved quality of natural light, particularly with regard to colour rendering. Some countries are recognising the importance of these benefits through natural light requirements in OH&S (Occupational Health and Safety) legislation. Natural light is a key factor in improving occupant productivity and concentration, both of which are important considerations for an education facility.
Artificial lighting
Artificial Lighting – Artificial lighting solutions should consider the visual comfort of staff and students by considering lighting solutions which encourage high frequency or electronic ballasts which avoid low frequency flicker and good colour rendering indexes.
Views
Views are important for allowing both long-distance vision and a visual connection with the outdoors for staff and students. Having a visual connection to the outdoors is being increasingly acknowledged as important in allowing a sense of the time of day and seasonal change. The colour rendering properties of glazing should be considered during glass selection.
Glare control
Direct sun in the working plane can cause discomfort to staff and students by causing glare. To mitigate this adequate external shading and/or blinds can be installed.
Thermal comfort
The provision of comfort to occupants is a balance between convective, evaporative and predominantly radiant effects of the indoor environment. Appropriate choices should be made to control radiant heat through the construction of the building envelope. The control of radiant heat through appropriate choices for materials and insulation levels used to construct the building envelope is also important. Thermal comfort for naturally ventilated spaces should be no worse than plus or minus 1.5 times Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) for 95 percent of occupied hours.
Noise control
The control of noise in a learning environment is crucial to the productivity of staff and students. Acoustically engineered solutions are recommended for university spaces which are located adjacent to public areas and are at risk of experiencing noise annoyance. Noise control is particularly important for naturally ventilated buildings.
Occupant control
To offer staff and students control of their own environment improves occupant satisfaction considerably. Internal blinds, air conditioning vents (eg manual open and shut), and lighting (eg one light switch per office) are all aspects of the indoor environment which can be designed with occupant control in mind.
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Generally
While this Master Plan neither prescribes nor proscribes aspects of built form directly, except insofar as the location of building plots and building height controls impose constraints, it is nevertheless the intent that new buildings should respond to both the locale and the context of the buildings already in place. There is not a tropical vernacular for the scale of building that will typically comprise the buildings on campus. However, the built form should adopt those aspects of a natural response to climate that can be translated to a larger scale. For example, several existing buildings use timber screens as a method of mediating sunlight and rainfall without precluding air movement, a device commonly found in the tropical residential vernacular.
ESD principles
Specific ESD principles for this topic are in fact covered elsewhere in this section; for example, rainwater harvesting requires gutters. However, it is important that the importance that the University attaches to ESD, as identified in the Goals, is made evident in the built form. Where a choice exists, that aspect of built form that most clearly demonstrates the ESD commitment should be chosen over another which, while perhaps equally effective, fails to demonstrate its effectiveness.
It is equally important that this requirement is not taken to mean that contrived, gratuitous or decorative elements should be introduced in order to advertise ESD. The built form should naturally express its methods and not require an overlay of additional detail to achieve this.
There are presently no scorecard elements for this topic; however, as it is likely that these will emerge in the next few years, a placemarker is retained below.
Internal layout
Generally
University academic buildings can readily defeat ESD objectives; for example, the traditional monastic cell (the typical academic's office) can easily make it impossible for natural ventilation to work. Therefore it is essential that the principles contained in this Master Plan are incorporated into the building brief and not added as a set of design principles after the brief is signed off.
It is worth pointing out that building users rarely engage with the built form or the facade; since they are nearly always either inside the building or going somewhere else, For the users internal layout will be far more important than most other aspects of a building.
ESD Principles
The internal layout of university spaces should be designed to:
- maximise interaction between staff and students. For example, some internal layout opportunities which encourage more staff interaction include inter-floor staircases and open plan offices
- maximise equality of access to windows and views by locating public areas adjacent to windows and partitioned spaces away from windows
- maximise the effectiveness of cross ventilation for those buildings which are naturally ventilated by not obstructing louvres or other aperture types
- minimise occupation health and safety risk While it may seem that these criteria are not inherently quantifiable, in practice it will be sufficient to demonstrate, by comparison with buildings already constructed on campus and with buildings constructed on other University campuses, how these principles have been satisfied.
Material Selection
Generally
This Master Plan specifies neither materials nor colours, leaving it to the University and the designer to decide the appropriate response to locale and context. Nevertheless it does, through several topics, guide the designer towards a palette of materials that achieve the ESD criteria as well as other criteria such as durability that will be contained in the specific building briefs. That palette of materials is already evident on-campus, and context will guide the designer in a similar direction without the need for this Master Plan to provide a list of rules.
ESD principles
The following concepts have been highlighted as being important to the ecologically efficient and sensitive use of materials by buildings in the USC Master Plan:
- material procurement
- minimised PVC use
- zero ODP (ozone depleting potential) insulants and refrigerant choices (for air conditioning plant)
- recycled (post-consumer) timber, Forest Stewardship Council certified timber, or timber sourced from sustainably managed plantations
- products with the Good Environmental Choice Label, certified by the Australian Environmental Labelling Association
- recycled steel
- recycled concrete aggregate
- concrete with fly-ash cement replacement
- encouraged use of materials which minimise on site intervention and wastage if they are pre-formed, or pre-cast or modular
- recyclability of materials the end of their life. For example plasterboard, concrete and aluminium may be recycled if removed from the building
- low off-gassing materials which do not contribute to the contamination of the indoor environment, for example low VOC (volatile organic compound) paints, adhesives and finishes, and low formaldehyde composite wood products.
This list is specific to a particular time of writing and is liable to frequent change.
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Verandahs and covered walkways
Generally
The nature of the climate and the aspirations of the University dictate that, to the maximum degree possible, circulation between buildings should be by means of a system of verandahs and covered walkways. Interruptions to this system (such as service vehicle access routes) should be brief. While the verandahs and covered walkways will provide necessary building shading and protect people from the sun, the primary purpose is to protect people from rain without forcing them to use interior circulation systems.
It is essential that all frontages to the central Linear Spine are formed from verandahs at ground level, in order that the circulation systems already established on campus are not interrupted. A similar requirement exists for buildings fronting the lake. It is desirable that buildings in other locations recognise these requirements and make their own contribution to it.
ESD principles
There are no specific ESD principles for this topic beyond those covered elsewhere in this Master Plan.
Provision for works of art
Generally
It is the intention of the Master Plan to support and extend the inclusion of works of art and craft within the University environment. This includes the requirement to identify locations for works of art or craft within each building during the design process for review and collaboration with the University Art Committee, and the broader identification of locations and precincts within the campus.
Whilst art and craft works may be acquired from direct commissions, purchases, or the results of on-campus visiting artists, gifts may also be considered, but on appropriateness, merit, and accomplishment as the determining acceptance criteria.
Specifically
Notwithstanding any other requirements that may be provided by the University, it is the policy of the University that each building should provide within its envelope hanging space for at least one significant work of art and hanging space for less significant works in public thoroughfares.
It is also the policy of the University that all formed social spaces within the external environment should provide opportunity for the inclusion of works of art, particularly sculpture, and particularly sculptures of a scale that cannot reasonably be accommodated within buildings. For example, the Art Gallery Forecourt and the Bistro Courtyard are examples of formed social spaces lending themselves to the inclusion of works of art.
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