Building V at Mawson Lakes campus
The University of South Australia’s Building V - Mawson Institute at Mawson Lakes Campus has been awarded a 5 Star Green Star - Education Designs v1 Certified rating, which represents ‘Australian Excellence’ in environmentally sustainable design/construction. Building V - Mawson Institute was the first laboratory intensive building to achieve a 5 Star Green Star rating in South Australia in 2011.
In 2010 Building V at Mawson Lakes Campus was also awarded the top prize for sustainable architecture at the Australian Institute of Architect’s South Australian State Architecture Awards.
Designed by Guida Moseley Brown Architects in association with Russell & Yelland Architects, Building V expresses both the fundamental principles of environmentally sustainable design and the innovative research of the Mawson Institute’s advanced manufacturing research groups. The design of Building V is centred around promoting interaction between each of the Mawson Institute’s advanced engineering research groups to encourage innovative and leading edge research that can move beyond the University and into pre-commercialisation.
The air conditioning system serving Building V comprises of a central thermal plant (chillers and boilers) located in the Power House and serving the entire Mawson Lakes Campus. The Power House contains 3 chillers and 2 boilers, which reticulates chilled and heated water to the air handling units located throughout the campus including Building V.
Building V is also served by one air-cooled chiller, which provides stand-by chilled water capacity to the clean rooms only in the event of a primary chilled water system failure.
Building V contains chilled water and heated water pumps which reticulate chilled/heated water from the ring main to all the air handling units located around the building. The air handling units then deliver primary air into each air-conditioned zone.
Each zone is provided with a minimum outside air volumetric flow rate which is at least a 100% improvement on the minimum outside air flow rates specified by AS1668-1991.
The building form and orientation represents best practice environmental sustainability through demonstrating best practice passive solar design. The distinctive building form, including the green wall and services corridor represent innovative responses to the need for a flexible, highly specialised collaborative research environment. This innovation reflects the ideals and motivations that the building users will be pursuing in their own research.