CASE STUDY 1

GARDENS BY THE BAY

DARCH/FT/1A/02
P2013565 Deborah Loh Ann Lee
Gardens By The Bay
Introduction
BCA GREEN MARK AWARD
Singapore,2012
Green Mark Platinum
Architect:Wilkinson Eyre Architects & Grant Associates
Features:
Client: National Park Board Singapore  Spectrally selected glass with
Gross Floor Area: 1 010 000m2 motorised shading system
Cloud Forest Cool Conservatory  Biomass cogeneration system
Area: 8000m2 with absorption chiller
Building height: 45m  Provision of photovoltaic system
Man-made mountain height:35m (7 storeys)
at Supertree top
Temperature: 23-25°C
 Thermal stratification +
Humidity: 80-90% Location: 18 Marina Gardens By The Bay,
displacement ventilation + slab
situated on reclaimed
Flower Dome Cool Conservatory
Gardens Dr, land, faces the cooling
Area: 12000m2
Singapore 018953 Marina Reservoir,  Provision of green roof and
Building height: 38m
where it is next to
Temperature: 23-25°C Marina Barrage. vertical greenery
Humidity: 60-80% The park’s- located  Provision of light shelves and
near the Central
Supertrees
Business District area-
skylights for gardens staff office
Number: 18 architecture contrasts  Natural water filtration using
Heights: ranging 25-50m (9-16 storeys) with the skyscrapers lake
Lakes and Ponds in the vicinity. Placed
Lakes: Kingfisher Lake & Dragonfly
in the area of Marina Other awards
Bay, it is not far from  Building of the Year
LakePonds: Duck Pond, Frog Pond, Waterlily Pond, Victoria other iconic
lily pond 2012
Sustainability features architecture-Marina  RIBA Lubetkin Prize
 Use of Sustainable Energy Bay Sands & 2013
 Effective Cooling System ArtScience Museum.  Building
 Water Sustainability Performance
Award CISBE
Use of sustainable energy How is bio-waste used to cool the conservatories?
 Electrical power – produced via a steam turbine generator is
Energy Is generated on-site, Biomass fuel: horticultural and wood
supplied directly to Gardens by the Bay’s power grid
 Heat energy – derived from the steam generated in the boiler system
-harnessed from bio-waste waste(crushed)
is used in the regeneration of the liquid desiccant where it is used to
create a dry atmosphere in the Flower dome cool conservatory
-solar panels Electrical power: 0.93MW
 Heat energy is also used in the operation of absorption chillers
which is used to power the
CO2 reduction: 13,280tons/annum.
(further emphasised in effective cooling system)

chillers in the Cool Conservatories.

The cogeneration of energy is achieved through Combined Heat
1) Biomass cogeneration system in Gardens By The Bay
Power (CHP) steam turbines which harness energy from
Each month, an estimated amount of horticultural waste from the gardens & parks in Singapore
How the main disadvantage of using biomass
2,000 tonnes horticultural waste fuel is addressed
is discarded, processed and used as - One of the main disadvantages of using
biomass fuel. Each year, 13,280 biomass fuel is the release of air pollutants
tonnes of CO2 which cause environmental damage (such as
emission is removed nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide & volatile
organic compounds)
Reduced reliance on - 1 out of the 18
the electricity grid Supertrees located in
because of biomass “Golden Garden ” is
The benefits of using biomass energy;
• renewable source of energy— bio-waste (taken from dead plants) fuel translates to designed with a flue
will not diminish as compared to finite fossil fuel, the use of 30% savings gas treatment system to solve this issue
bio-waste also reduces the reliance on fossil fuel - Allowing the hot air released to the atmosphere through
in energy
• waste management — dumping waste in landfills and incineration
of waste has become a major issue, hence harnessing energy from consumption the Supertree to be clean
bio-waste will help to manage waste
USE OF SUSTAINABLE Solar energy creating light and sound
ENERGY displays at night
2) Photovoltaic system (The supertrees - It was intended as the Supertrees
implemented in Supertrees were designed were designed, that they would have
iconic night character
Other Supertrees are with different - The PV system is mainly used to
designed with heights and facilitate the night and sound
photovoltaic (PV) cells widths, to serve displays at night
at the top of the their specific - Solar energy harvested via the PV
Supertrees functions) cells is sufficient to power the light
The photovoltaic cells at the canopy of the Supertrees harvest
The Supertrees were originally meant to be chimneys and sound systems for these night
solar energy from sunlight annually to release exhaust from the biomass cogeneration displays
The energy is used to power: system gases at a high level. Instead, Grant Associates - Nevertheless, hydroelctricty
- Lighting on supertrees used them to further expand on the use of sustainable
energy, cooling of areas in the garden and water Solar energy used for water pumping is harvested during
- Water pumping to water tanks at the top of Supertrees rainwater collection through
collection. Hence bringing about the design of the The electricity that is generated from the PV
- The cool conservatories Supertrees turbines in these Supertrees,
cells is also used to pump the rainwater
- To aid the water technology within the cool conservatries collected from the canopy of the Supertrees, is also usable at night.
Solar energy cooling conservatories and aiding stored in water tanks underground, back to the
top of other Supertrees
water technology - There is a water tank at the top of
Energy harvested from the PV cells on Supertrees is Supertrees
used together with energy from the biomass fuel and - The water in these tanks are used to water
the electricity grit to power the cool conservatories. the vertical gardens on the “living skin”
of the Supertrees (made of steel frame
The aid in water technology refers to the electricity that and vertically grown plants)
is used to power steam turbines, used to subsequently
power the absorption chiller and the liquid desiccant The Supertrees mimic
regenerator which is important in the effective cooling the characteristics of
system of the Flower Dome biome. actual trees
 • Shadow coverage for biomes
Effective cooling system • Direct evaporative humidification
 An indoor man-made waterfall and misters which deploy mist near
Gardens by the Bay implements a cooling system  Automatic shade sails pathways is a key feature of the Cloud Forest cool conservatory biome
that utilizes energy efficiently in active cooling and  Light-sensitive sensors enable rolled fabric sails to  Though the primary function of the waterfall and misters is to replicate
unfurl from the steel arcs of the biome building the cool humidity of high altitude cloud forests in the wild
designs that facilitate passive cooling, this can be structures to provide more shade, on days when the  The water droplets absorb heat as they, hence cooling the area and
seen in the Cool Conservatories and Supertrees sunlight levels are higher than usual reducing the cooling load
 There are a total of 419 outdoor motorized blinds
Passive Cooling Measures which can be fully deployed in 16 minutes
• Positioning of the cool conservatories  When retracted, the sails are concealed in grooves
 The longer sides of the biomes are facing north & south , while the shorter
sides are facing east & west
embedded into the soffits of the superstructure arches
 Singapore’s annual sun path is from east to west, thus this
building orientation of the cool conservatories ensures the
reduction of solar heat gain of the buildings • Plantation on buildings
 Vertical gardens are grown on the artificial mountain in the Cloud Forest
biome and on Supertrees
 These vertical gardens are not only part of the attraction, but they als help
 Arched beams to shade areas occupied by visitors, hence an effective strategy of passive
 These arched cooling
• High performance glass panels of biomes steel ‘ribs’
shade 50% of
 Which allows 65% sunlight to the cool
enter the building

conservatory
With just 35% heat transmitted
o Thus providing biomes
optimized conditions
E The steel arches were originally designed • Shade provided by Supertrees
for the plants in the x to address the lateral loads (e.g. wind load)  The ‘umbrella-like’ structure of the
domes & natural
lighting with
t to the ‘gridshells’ – the bare structure of canopies of the Supertrees help to
minimal solar heat r biomes provide shade for pathways along the
gain Supertrees
a To improve light transmission, the arches are  Hence reducing the solar heat gain in
separated from the gridshell surface & instead the walkways and cooling the area for
attached via slender hangers visitors to walk and gather around
EFFECTIVE COOLING SYSTEM • Cooling lower levels o Radiant cooling
o Displacement ventilation system
Active Cooling Measures  The cooled pathways absorb solar radiation from
the sun
 So that it does not ‘re-radiate’ as heat into the air
in the biomes
 Hence keeping the area cool
 Air conditioning is introduced from low levels in
areas that are occupied
 Chilled air is supplied through grilles in the edges • Absorption chiller
of flower beds & diffuser bins within planting o The biomass boiler and steam turbine produce a lot of heat
 This reducing energy usage and the need to cool o The 2 absorption chillers are used to modulate the cooling system
• Liquid Desiccant in Flower Dome the entire building o It serves as a ‘heat dump’
(lithium chloride)  The displacement air builds pressure in the biom to  It supplies the cooling coils and floor cooling loads for radiant cooling
o Using liquid desiccant in the cooling prevent infiltration of hot air from outside the  The raised temperature in the evaporator helps to achieve significant energy
process increases energy efficiency biome savings, by increasing the efficiency of the absorption chillers
 The temperature of air is increased upon
drying
 But this process of air dehumidification
allows the air to be cooled off more easily
than the conventional method of removing moisture from the air via passing the air
o Cooled pathways
through a cooling coil. Thus the liquid desiccant speeds up the process by cooling
already dehumidified air, this also ensures than energy is more efficiently used  a network of chilled water pipes is embedded in
o Desiccant is a chemical that removes moisture the concrete of paths and areas of circulation in the
o It reduces relative humidity in the biomes from 90% to 30% cool conservatories, which prevent the heat gain of
o ‘strong’ desiccant solution is exchanged for ‘weak’ desiccant visitors (the bar graph shows
o ‘weak’ desiccant is passed through a series of desiccant regenerators how energy is used
(regeneration process) more efficiently and
 removing water via waste heat from the biomass co-generation saved, upon
system , allowing the waste heat to be used as an energy source implementing these
o Then returning the now ‘strong’ desiccant back to the desiccant storage, unconventional
where it can be reused for dehumidification of the biome cooling measures)
 EFFECTIVE COOLING SYSTEM • Cooling through Supertrees  The Supertrees are integrated with the Cool
conservatries in the biomass cogeneration system to
Active cooling measures create an overall effective cooling system
• Heat displacement
 The waste heat from the desiccant regenerator and
o Heat stacking in the biomes
biomass boiler are disposed through the Supertree
canopies
 The waste heat which is disposed at a high
height ensures that the heat will not affect
circulation areas near the Supertrees, as hot air
rises

o Draughts created in pathways along Supertrees

 Hot humid air is taken in by Supertrees via their canopies
 the cooled air released at low levels gains heats up  Which is processed for dehumidification
and rises to the top of the dome  The dehumidified air is supplied to the cool conservatory
 A portion of the hot air is dispersed through biomes
openable vents  Waste heat from the air handling unit dehumidifier is
 The remainder warm air exhausted up through another Supertree’s canopy
 Used to regeneration of liquid desiccant  The air from the waste heat rises through the Other passive cooling measures
 Recirculated after being mixed with Supertree , causing surrounding air to be drawn in • Walkways
20% fresh air  This creates draughts (breeze) in the pathways o The walkways are specially designed with holes
• Jet diffusers in Cloud Forest the displacement ventilation along the Supertrees, cooling these areas  Suspended walkway in Cloud Forest biome
o Exhaust for biomass cogeneration system  Umbilical pathway in Flower Dome biome
system alone would cause
warm air to be collected o They help to facilitate cooling
near the top of the artificial o By leaving holes in the pathways, it ensures a constant
mountain, areas that are also flow of cooled air that efficiently reaches circulation
occupied by visitors, which areas without the need of implementing several air
will cause discomfort conditioning vents in different areas
Thus jet diffusers are introduced in the Cloud Forest biome to blast cool o It allows the use of an individual source of cooling
air into the higher areas that are occupied in the artificial mountain
Water sustainability o Where

The lake system in Gardens By The

Bay is in conjunction with the
Active, Beautiful , Clean Waters
Programme, thus it plays a huge role
in the water sustainability in
Singapore and the overall
sustainability effort that is
incorporated into the design of
Gardens By The Bay

• Rainwater collection
o This measure is implemented in
the Supertrees (pg 4), but it also
carried out through rainwater run-
off from:
 The Cool Conservatories
 The ground
o After which, the run-off water is
collected in the lakes and ponds