- A cultural and educational institution for research, creation and exploration of the visual arts.
- The use of innovative design solutions allowed a saving of 75% of conventional energy consumption.
Located at the main entrance to University College Cork, the Lewis Glucksman Gallery is an award-winning building that includes display spaces, lecture facilities, a riverside restaurant and gallery shop.
Opened in October 2004, the building is an architectural masterpiece that has been very sensitively etched into the natural surroundings of the river Lee. Arup carried out the electrical and mechanical engineering. Taking just over four years to procure, this project includes 2,350m2 of floor area spread over seven floors.
Aesthetics
In designing the building services engineers have pushed the boundaries of available technologies to new heights in their aspiration of to mimise the environmental impact of a demanding brief. Local natural resources are used to provide energy for cooling and heating the building.
The electrical services were built on the architect’s vision for the building. Careful consideration was given to the aesthetics of the electrical services and a functional and flexible lighting control system was designed for the gallery areas.
All systems were designed to minimise noise intrusion to the gallery space. This results in larger, low velocity, duct distribution systems and acoustic attenuation, including the use of specially lined drainage systems. A ground source heat pump system was installed to provide a sustainable source of heating and cooling.
Post occupancy monitoring validated the innovative design solutions whereby 75% of conventional energy consumption was saved. This resulted in an annual saving of 250 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
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