African Design Magazine September 2015 | Page 13

African project One Airport Square inclined piers of which confer greater rigidity upon the building and the overhangs, while also featuring as a decorative motif for the front. One Airport Square is the first building in Ghana to have been awarded 4-Stars (Design Stage) by the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA). The project was designed based on a detailed analysis of the site, the topographical and optimal orientation to become a point of reference and example for the new generation of office buildings in West Africa. At this latitude, the sun’s path makes it particularly exposed to solar radiation fronts east and west. This, combined with medium to high temperatures present during the entire course of the year, made it necessary to adopt strategies to reduce the need to cool the building. The plant is based on a principle of distribution of the fresh air conveyed in the floating floor which reaches in a uniform manner throughout the plane. To reduce consumption of drinking water, there are technologies in place which limit the amount of outflow as well as the duration and the time of delivery, while it is expected that the building will reuse gray water and rainwater for the toilets. The sum of all these elements in One Airport Square was determined by a work of integrated design that balances architectural and engineering considerations in order to reduce energy consumption of the building and optimize the use of natural light. The most advanced technologies are balanced with the local tradition, using the most efficient design. All of this brings to the fore a new idea of beauty: the ecological beauty. AD Watch a time-lapse video of the construction africandesignmagazine.com 13