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Construction, structures and services integration

Caribbean School of Architecture

Assignment 3 | Ryan Battick | 1106110

The Louvre - Lens: Services report

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Overview

In 2009, SANAA architects won the competition to design the first satellite museum, for the

Iconic Louvre museum. The Louvre, in Lens, France, would showcase some of the most precious

and sensitive pieces of art, dating back to 3500 BC. The architects were faced with a project that

involved designing complex systems, to provide the optimal interior environment for the

protection of the valuable pieces of artwork. As well as protecting the artwork, the architect had

to consider the vast amount of visitors to the building, approximately 500,000 per year. The

Louvre Lens museum has a total surface area of 28,000 m2 that includes 7,000 m2 of exhibition

galleries and storerooms open to the public. The services needed to allow such a building to

function are much greater than any visitor would imagine. Behind the scenes, the building is

rigged with 60 air handling units, 3000 square metres of ducting, complex information

management systems and detailed lighting systems. Many of the functions that this building was

intended to fulfill were designed, by the architects, into the fabric of the building. The Louvre

museum in Lens, is a stunning example of services integration. The architects, SANAA,

implemented their traditional japanese style of designing, making simplicity an extremely

important part of the design. However, the great achievement of the japanese architects, is their

successful integration of complex service systems, without compromising their aesthetic vision. I

will look into how the architects have managed to poetically amalgamate beautiful design and

efficient services design. I will attempt to breakdown the building into its functional parts, in

order to analyse how the architects have dealt with each issue regarding services integration.

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Figure 1. The interior gallery space of the Louvre. (Above) Figure 2. Exterior view of the Louvre (Below)

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HVAC system

Upon opening, the Louvre was expecting approximately 500,000 visitors per year. Accounting

for the specific temperature and humidity that was necessary for the artworks, the HVAC system

for the louvre had to meet very strict criterias. Firstly, the museums HVAC system had to

account for the different zones and heating and cooling requirements. The museum was divided

into four (4) basic zones, support zones this involved cafe and gift shop areas, permanent gallery

spaces this involved art pieces of a specific type, mainly paintings and sculptures, temporary

gallery this space holds a wider variety of art pieces, and finally, the basement storage spaces,

this requires constant air conditioning and dehumidifying. Each zone required a specific air

quality and temperature, and the system was designed accordingly.

The system has 60 air handling units, each zone was further divided into sub zones, where each

air handler serves a specific zone. To ensure their collections are well preserved, museums must

maintain temperatures and humidity at very precise levels. The specifications for the

Louvre-Lens museum stipulated a maximum allowable fluctuation of 1C and 5% relative

humidity. One of the main permanent galleries measure 3,000 m2 and has a ceiling height of 6

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m, creating a volume of almost 20,000 m3. Six air handling units with air flow rates of 25,000

m3/h were installed to meet the room's requirements. AHUs with air flow rates of 25,000 m3/h

were also installed in the temporary exhibition rooms and two 20,000 m3/h AHUs were installed

in the glass pavilion, where the cafe and gift shop are located.

Figure 3. Underfloor cavity, with hvac ducting system. (Above) Figure 4. Complex network of air ducts (Below)

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The Louvre mechanical engineers used underfloor cavities to run complex networks of ducting.

Due to the geographic location of the building, the climate called for greater heating

requirements, rather than cooling. Therefore the diffuser grills were integrated into the floor of

the gallery areas. The system is a centralised all-air HVAC system, which is also subsidised by

natural ventilation.

Figure 5. The integration of underfloor ducting and floor vents.

The architects integrated natural ventilation into the design of the building. Using a double skin

facade, the building provides natural heating by allowing fresh air to enter the cavity of the skin.

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Once the fresh air enters the cavity, the air is heated by the sun as it rises through the cavity,

eventually entering the space as warm air.

Warm air passes into the space

Air is heated as it rises through the cavity

Air is taken in through exterior grilles

Figure 6. How the double skin heating effect works.

Electrical services

An extremely important part of the interior space is the lighting of the galleries. The art pieces

require extremely specific levels of illumination and light color. Allowing a large amount of

natural sunlight to fall in the space was critical to achieving the architects intention. The

architect made special efforts to maintain the light and delicate look of the ceiling, without

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overcrowding it with lighting devices and services. The lighting designer ARUP, explains that it

was a huge challenge, balancing artificial lights and natural lighting. The designers developed a

beautiful combination of skylights, louvres and artificial lighting.

Figure 7. How the track lighting and ceiling louvres are integrated

Arup developed an integrated system of artificial and natural lighting, without compromising the

lightness of the interior spaces. The electric lighting for the galleries is simple and functional. A

regular layout of lighting tracks holds exhibition spotlights as well as an array of ceramic metal

downlights for ambient light to the galleries when there is insufficient daylight. Metal halide was

chosen as an energy efficient, low maintenance, high colour rendering source, with flexibility in

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the choice of colour temperature.They used a track lighting system to allow flexibility of

fixtures. According to ARUP The deep beams of the gallery roof hide all the electric lighting

from view creating calm spaces where all light for the exhibitions appears to magically come

from the sky.

Figure 8. How the track lighting and ceiling louvres are integrated

Fire safety services

Given the exceptional and priceless nature of the works that are exhibited at the Museum on a

regular basis, its fire-protection systems are among the many major requirements for the

architect. The main gallery houses pieces of art over a vast time period, protection of these is

essential in the event of a fire. The main areas of the building, including the main gallery, are

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coated in a fire resistant, high insulative spray, provided by PROMAT. For extra fire resistance,

the buildings restoration and storage rooms are clad in a fire resistant board, also provided by

PROMAT. Around 3,000 m2 of smoke extraction ducts, with a diameter of less than 1,200 mm

have been assembled, made waterproof, and laid. The most important parts of the building are

fitted with underfloor smoke extraction ducts, capable of removing smoke from the galleries at a

quick speed.

Figure 9. Fire protection within floor cavity

Overall building integration

The light spaces and the crisp lines of this building are a testament to successful services

integration. There is no interference with the peaceful planes of the facade or the rhythm of the

ceiling. Mechanical or electrical services have become a part of the design of the building, and

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therefore do not interrupt it, but enhance it. The architect and consultants used different

components of the building to house the building services, by doing this, they greatly decreased

the services zone needed in each building component. By splitting the services up, and designing

cavities in walls, floors and ceilings, rather than only ceilings, these spaces became much

smaller. For instance, the ceiling was dedicated to light, with only track lighting, louvres, the

floors were dedicated to smoke extraction and air conditioning ducts, and the facade was

dedicated to heating and cooling. each building element housed a specific part of the building

services, and incorporated it into the design of these components. Without compromising the

peaceful atmosphere of japanese architecture, SANAA successfully created a highly

technological, highly efficient building and well integrated building.