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Council House 2

Melbourne, Australia
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The Western facade has timber shutters

Council House 2 was the first building of its kind to be completed in Australia. Completed in 2006 for the City of Melbourne, the mixed-use structure was designed by DesignInc Melbourne and Mick Pearce.

CH2 is a mixed development with retail on the ground floor and nine floors of offices above. It was completed in September 2006 and occupied in November. A post-occupancy survey was made in 2008 by an independent surveyor from London. CH2 achieved 6-star as-built rating in January 2010. It has won numerous awards and international acclaim.

Sustainability

CH2 utilised the occupants as participants in the design process while integrating green technologies which were new at the time. It was the first new commercial building to meet the six Green star rating system in Australia.

A key feature of the building is that it provides 100% fresh air, with an air change every half hour. This benefits the occupants in terms of health by providing superior indoor air quality and conservation of energy costs. It has been estimated that the savings made by using this system will pay for the building within five to ten years.

Other elements that have been incorporated into the design include recycled concrete, recycled timber, timber windows, sewer mining and co-generating using natural gas. Shower towers and phase change material have been employed to produce and store cold water for use by chilled ceilings and beams, while wind turbines are used to extract air during a 'night purge.' Solar hot water heating and photovoltaics were implemented, taking advantage of good solar access as a result of CH2's location within the 40 metre height limit of Melbourne's CBD.

Design

A driving concept of the building is that the architecture and its visual expression should respond to the natural, socio-cultural and economic environment of its location in the same way that an ecosystem in nature is embedded in its site.

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  1. Wikipedia
  2. Mick Pearce Architect
  3. City of Melbourne
vlasta, November 24th, 2013
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