A 3rd dimension in
environmental design introduces the number three....The small sub-headline reads: "In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments. There are consequences. " ..a quote attributed to Ingersoll, but frankly it belongs more to Disraeli, and Samuel Drew. On a more down to earth note, the copy goes as below:

The Charities Aid Foundation Headquarters in Kent is one of the most energy efficient offices in the UK.

We believe the mixed mode approach provides a different dimension when making a building work for its occupants, allowing people to open a window or switch on a light when they want to, rather than when the automatic controls dictate.

The project has involved the application of many passive design principles in a way which will provide comfort with minimal environmental impact - a modus operandi which is likely to become the norm in the next decade of designing office and work-oriented space.

All of the services have been routed beneath the raised floor, leaving the profiled concrete ceiling clear of obstructions and making its thermal mass available.This mass acts to attenuate swings in temperature. It is effectively a thermal flywheel.

External shading devices, or lightshelves, provide perimeter shading to limit solar gain, at the same time reflecting daylight through the upper part of the window to redistribute natural light into the office space.

In winter and summer the building switches to mechanical mode. Fresh air is introduced through the raised floor and ventilates by the displacement principle. The air is extracted from concealed holes behind the light fittings in the dimpled ceiling, further reducing heat gain.

The central plant incorporates 90% efficient two-stage heat recovery for maximum ventilation in winter at minimum cost in both energy and economic terms. In summer, an evaporative cooling system has the reverse effect, pre-cooling the incoming air. It is water based and CFC free. .