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hello@oneltd.com

HQ: +44 (0) 1905 362 300   |   London: +44 (0) 208 0596 526   |   Birmingham : +44 (0) 121 312 3876   |   Cardiff : +44 (0) 2920027983   |  

City Academy Aston

The City Academy, an inner-city college in the Aston area of Birmingham, incorporates a sunspace façade, creating a prominent feature that demonstrates the benefits of seamless collaboration between engineer and architect.

Location

Birmingham

Client

City College, Birmingham

Value

£3M

Services

Building Services,

Project Overview

Being an inner-city college, traditionally take-up of further education has been low. It aims to encourage more students from the local community to enter further education. The college and the design team wanted to reflect the values of the college in the structure of the building – providing a space that was open and welcoming on a restricted city site.

Part of the solution was the construction of the sunspace – a dramatic glass structure that dominates the rear face of the college. However, a double-glazed wall of around 500 sqm inevitably has a huge effect on the temperature of the adjacent spaces. The major challenge for our building services team was to integrate the sunspace into our heating strategy. The engineers needed to ensure it worked like a conservatory, not a greenhouse – a task that needed the specialist skills of architects and engineers, working collectively.

The quantity and quality of the natural light that streams into the college helps to reduce the total energy costs of the building. The sunspace brings daylight and warmth directly to the heart of the building, transforming what could be bland circulation areas and stairwells into bright, uplifting sunlit spaces.

City Academy, Aston, image

Project Benefits

  • Using the building’s orientation and design to heat and cool the building -

    The building acts as a thermal buffer between the inside and outside. Its orientation on the building’s eastern elevation allows the morning sun to pre-heat the space before anyone arrives. The potential greenhouse effect was countered by a natural ventilation strategy, as the opening lights at the top of the structure ensure the space is never over-heated.

  • Passive ventilation approach to lower energy costs -

    Because the new bespoke external façade traps heat from the sun in winter and then radiates it throughout the rest of the building, it requires less energy to heat. Similarly in summer it also protects the building from overheating through careful ventilation placement, ensuring mechanical ventilation is at a minimum. Because it contains so much glass, natural light is maximised reducing the need for artificial lighting and its associated energy costs.

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