Geyser Building Background Info

- Geyser takes its inspiration from New Zealands thermally active geography.

- Geysers floor plates are divided into five sub-buildings set around a system of atriums,
courtyards and pedestrian linkages. This maximises natural daylight penetration into, and
exterior views out from oce and retail spaces. Each sub-building is wrapped in a dynamic,
semi reflective white twin walled facade which opens and closes in order to moderate the
tenants thermal environment.

- A large team of consultants collaborated on Geyser to design a technologically advanced and

environmentally responsible development for Auckland City.

- Important factors for us are intelligent design, tenant desirability, quality of construction and
minimized maintenance programmes, all of which Patterson designs have achieved. - Marco
Creemers, General Manager, Samson Corporation

- Andrew Patterson (lead project designer, and Director of Patterson Associates Ltd) explains, 'to
get that sixth star you need to have an international innovation. We sliced the building around
each separate floor area and then ended up with a building of separate parts. This creates light
and air around each tenancy.

- The building also features a number of passive and active sustainable systems, making it a
leading example for energy-ecient work environments.

- Passive Sustainability: Each 'sub building' of the Geyser is wrapped in a 3-dimensional, semi-
reflective, white twin-walled faade. This technology creates natural heating and cooling
ventilation as thermal currents rise up through the void between the two walls. In winter, each
building is warmed as warm air rises through the voids, and works to insulate the building
overnight. In warmer months, the entire outer skin opens electronically to fully ventilate the
voids, by way of cross convection currents from the cooler, southern elevations of the
buildings. "From day one this building was to be naturally ventilated," Andrew Mitchell (Director
of Patterson Associates Ltd) explains. "The faade had to perform to Auckland's sub-tropic
weather patterns. It has a fully automated outer skin that opens on hot days, closes in high
winds, and on rainy and cooler days. "It is critical the building's occupants also have individual
passive control of the inner faade and can tap into the twin-skin air at any time. A ceramic frit
to the low-iron glass was added to the outer skin for increased shading co-eciency. The use
of glass across the site also maximises natural daylight penetration into, and exterior views out
from, the majority of the spaces.

- Project Collaboration: To achieve the Geyser's unique design, Pattersons worked with several
external teams, with "dozens of people from a huge range of disciplines [being] involved, from
structural engineers, electrical engineers, hydraulic service designers, mechanical and faade
engineers all working in collaboration."

- Key Facts

Location: Parnell, Auckland

Completed: 2012

Designer: Patterson Associates

Details:

5040sqm of oce space

24 oces

6 retail/hospitality spaces

Automated, stacking carpark for over 160 cars

5 seperate sub-buildings linked via an internal courtyard

5 basement levels

4 above ground levels

- Scott Hodges, Project Engineer, Medland Metropolis says the building is designed to:

use 27% of the energy of a typical retail/oce building of its size;

require only half the artificial lighting of a typical retail/oce building (6 watts per
square metre)

use only half the water of a typical retail/oce building of its size;

provide 100% fresh air to occupants (as compared with the average of 25% for air-
conditioned buildings in New Zealand), and

have 70% of its building waste recycled

Andrew Patterson of Patterson Associates Ltd says the achievement was a collaborative
eort.

- "Dozens of people from a huge range of disciplines were involved, from structural engineers,
electrical engineers, hydraulic service designers, mechanical and faade engineers all working
in collaboration. We wanted to make Geyser holistic, not just about accommodation and
technical performance but also about expressing an Auckland sense of place for people," says
Patterson.

- Each sub-building within Geyser is wrapped in a twin faade two glass walls with an air gap
in between. Inside the two faades is a mirror box. The mirror box traps warm air between the
two walls during winter and then in summer, the outer wall opens electronically to release
excess heat. The innovation is one of Pattersons favourite green features and means air-
conditioning is not necessary.

- The facade also means Geyser is supplied with 100 percent fresh air, compared with the 25
percent most air-conditioned oces in New Zealand have to put up with.Im really happy with
how the mirror box came out, says Patterson. Its a concept thats quite new internationally.

- Additionally, the buildings toilets and irrigation system are supplied by rainwater.

- To be an elegant solution, a design has to solve multiple problems, says Patterson.

- In total, the building has 24 oces and six retail spaces. It has 182 car parks and an automated
car stacker drivers park in a virtual garage, where a turntable spins the car around and takes
it to a space.

- While the faade contributes a significant amount towards the buildings 6 Green Star rating
awarded in 2009 there are a number of other factors that the New Zealand Green Building
Council (NZGBC) have taken into consideration when assessing Geyser for their Green Star
rating. The building has a lower energy demand, which covers the energy ecient building
criteria and is designed to use only half the artificial lighting of a typical retail / ocebuilding.

- Caine Penny, Mainzeals on site project manager, says the project team are actively targeting
additional Green Star points for the Built rating than what was originally awarded in the design
submission. For example, there were some areas of minor ground contamination on the site
hydrocarbon and heavy metal contamination which were unknown during the design
submission but discovered during the building and resource consent stage, says Penny.
Undertaking the remedial action plan requirements to satisfy the council enabled us to target
additional Green Starpoints.

- Patterson suggests that he drew inspiration from the unique New Zealand experience of steam
fields, with the frits making the people in the opposite buildings look as if they are ethereal
children of the mist. This veil-like feature is the modern equivalent of the lace curtain and, in
this instance, rather than twitching the curtains, you can slide the glass windows back at
intervals to let in more of the 100 per cent fresh air that this eco-building delivers.