Renovation of an office building in Bergen: architectural and daylighting design as a tool for energy efficiency

Building renovation can be used as a tool for energy retrofitting of the existing building stock. With rising awareness for achieving environmental goals of the building sector, advanced studies, design methodologies and simulation tools have been established. These methodologies often act as a toolbox for renovation projects but the detailed carrying out of the measures has to fit to the individual project. This paper discusses an integrated approach to renovation as a way to improve the thermal performance and climate adaptability of a typical existing office building stemming from the 1980s. The approach aims to integrate the energy performance into the design process of the renovation strategy. Based on detailed climate, site and wind analysis we investigate the impact of the climatic factors on the energy efficiency and environmental behavior of the office design strategies. Methods for the different design strategies have been selected after careful analysis of conditions and functions of the existing building in order to get a better understanding of advantages and disadvantages related to its environmental thermal performance. An evaluation of architectural elements, design tools and simulation evaluations are carried out in order to improve building program, daylighting conditions and thermal comfort. The implementation of passive ventilation strategies, passive heat gain and passive cooling strategies, are other aspects which have been integrated to improve overall environmental behavior of the subject building. Results at the end show the positive impact of the suggested strategies, in form of approximately 60% decrease in energy consumption of the building and achieve the Tech 10 energy label A.