Environment
Hotel Uses Seawater for Sustainable Cooling
(archrecord.construction.com - 07/20/2006)
By Amanda
Webb
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| Courtesy Wimberly
Allison Tong Goo |
In June the London-based office of hospitality
firm Wimberly Allison Tong Goo (WATG) revealed plans for the
first high-end hotel in the U.K. to place a heavy emphasis
on sustainability.
The firm was commissioned by Marina
Developments, Ltd. to design the hotel as part of Ocean Village,
a mixed-use waterfront complex in Southampton, England. Since
the 15-story, 255-room luxury hotel is built on a site that
juts out into the harbor, the architects decided to treat
the water as an asset that relieves the burden on the air
conditioning system. The hotel features seawater-chilled ceilings
in guest rooms and seawater in conjunction with a heat exchanger,
along with low air infiltration rates and special glazing
to further reduce energy use.
Environmentalists raised concerns that
the hotel’s release water would disturb nearby salmon
migration routes and oyster beds. WATG responded with a thermal
model demonstrating that the water, though warmer than its
initial temperature, would not harm the ecosystem.
Construction is expected to begin before
the end of the year, with completion scheduled for 2008.
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