The University of Southern Denmark in a class of its own

In 2013 when the University of Southern Denmark will inaugurate its new building in the town of Kolding, students and employees will be provided with a study and work environment in a class of its own.

The building is characterised by a significant and innovative architecture - not only in terms of its shape and function but its energy consumption is so low that the building is classified as a low-energy class 1 building. This means that the University of Southern Denmark will be the first low-energy university in Denmark with an energy consumption of only 48 kWh/m2/year corresponding to only 20-25 % of the energy consumption of similar buildings.

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Henning Larsen Architects won the assignment in an architectural competition in 2008 and already in the earliest phases of the project, focus was on optimising the design as regards energy consumption. It is essential to look at the energy consumption early on in a project as new research and examples show that 75-80 % of the energy consumption of a building is determined in the early design phases.

From the beginning, the University of Southern Denmark has been a compact building with a spatial arrangement providing the opportunity for natural ventilation. In the design phase, architects and engineers have collaborated on further optimising the design in order to maintain a high level of ambition as regards the environmental sustainability of the building.

The strategic approach consists of three steps, where architects and engineers first have sought to energy optimise the design, second to incorporate environmental and energy-efficient solutions and third to implement a variety of energy producing, green technologies

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Sustainable building blocks

As regards the design of the building, Henning Larsen Architects has not only minimised the need for energy for lighting, heating, cooling and ventilation; the architects have also focused on optimising the passive properties of the building to allow for the shape and construction to contribute to solving some the tasks that would otherwise be solved by means of energy intensive technologies.

Daylight is an important parameter in a building to ensure a healthy indoor climate and the well-being of the users.

However, the approach should be to balance the inflow of daylight by means of large glass areas and window screenings as large glass areas could also have negative consequences as regards heat loss, increased requirements for cooling and ventilation. In the design phase, focus has been on providing all study and work spaces and teaching rooms with the right amount of daylight.

To a high degree, the facade, i.e. the building envelope, determines the indoor climate of the building just as it provides the building with a significant, architectural expression. The facade consists of movable, triangular elements that regulate the inflow of light in front of the highly insulated facade.

A combined heating and cooling pump installation, which uses the ground water to regulate the temperature inside the building, has been fully integrated into the design. This means that the installation works together with the other opportunities of the building in relation to, for instance, using the outside air to cool down the atrium at night.

In addition, the University of Southern Denmark in Kolding will feature solar collectors, solar cells, an opportunity for natural ventilation of the atrium at night, low-energy mechanical ventilation, computer equipment with a low energy consumption, a concrete cover accumulating heat and cold and a number of other environmental and energy efficient initiatives that will provide the university with a significant, sustainable profile.