Sail @ Marina Bay: Magnificence in the Sky

The Sail is located at the Marina Bay in Singapore, and is a mixed-use condominium apart from being Singapore's tallest apartment and also one among the top 10 tallest residential buildings in the world. This six-star penthouse stands out in the already sky-scraping Singaporean architecture, and gives an on-going view of the Marina Bay. The sustainable design of this waterfront lifestyle residential apartment was the work of Peter Pran, along with leading design firm NBBJ.

Structural Design of the Sail

The Sail consists of two tall-rated glass-clad skyscrapers, resembling wind-blown sails namely - Marin Bay Towers with 70 storeys and Central Park Tower wit 63 storeys. It comprises apartment units, several restaurants, health clubs, air conditioned reception areas, recreation room and executive Club Lounge on the 34th storey on the Central Park Tower, sky terraces on 44th and 34th level, reading room, infinity pools, open-air gardens, tennis courts, parking, aqua gym, gymnasium and spa facilities.

The 70-storeyed Marin Bay Towers is topped up to 245 metres (804 ft.) height. The site area is 9,090.9 square metres with a maximum permissible gross floor area of 118,182 square metres and has 29,000 square feet (2,700 m2) of retail space. It will offer 1,111 99-year leasehold residential units, 438 one-bedroom units, 418 two-bedroom units, 175 three-bedroom units, 75 four-bedroom units, as well as 5 penthouses, with the largest almost 9,000 square feet (840 m2) in size.

The exterior glass facade uses insulated low-E glass to reduce solar heat gain and thereby lowering the air-conditioning usage - first for Singapore residential towers - while taking full advantage of spectacular views with floor-to-ceiling glass in many units. The transparency of glass in the façade floods the aesthetic interiors view outside and the vice-versa. Glass windows in the living areas and study/guest room give an endless view of the Marina Bay.

Sailing in Green

Sail has changed the city into “Green City” and achieved BCA Green Mark Gold Certification - Singapore’s Gold standard of sustainability, by including various green features such as a seven-story car park green wall along a new pedestrian linkage connecting Raffles Quay to a proposed central park; improving the residents’ overall air-quality and living experience and creating a new public space for the City.

The design sets new safety and sustainability standards for all of Marina Bay. The structural design couples a shear-wall and foundation system to withstand seismic criteria, resulting in one of the safest buildings in the country. This building is first to access this system in Singapore.

GRIHA: Necessity, Not Luxury

For those in the know, an introduction would be redundant. But for those who aren’t, an introduction is a must – An introduction to GRIHA, or Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment. It is, essentially,

• A point based voluntary scoring system to evaluate commercial, residential and institutional buildings on "green scale"


• Is based on Indian codes, standards and best practices


• Comprises an evaluation panel of eminent professionals
  

All right, so what’s the news? The news is that the Union Government of India has, in a landmark decision, made it mandatory for all new buildings of the Public Sector Undertakings and the government to seek new green rating norms in an effort to ensure energy efficiency and tackle climate change threats. Every government building, the law says, must get at least 3-star rating (on a scale of 1-5 stars) under the GRIHA scheme. And why not? The idea is to minimise demand for non-renewable resources and maximise utilization.

Take, for example, the Earth System & Environment Science Engineering Building, a research facility located in the Indian Institute of Technology Campus, Kanpur. The facility, as the name suggests, houses laboratories and other facilities for various disciplines of the environment sciences. The facility is nestled into the existing landscape. In siting the building, the natural course was left undisturbed. The architecture of the building has been designed around the existing vegetation, so as to not disturb the natural surroundings and fully grown.

The facility houses wet labs which are non-air-conditioned spaces on the ground floor and dry labs that are air-conditioned spaces on the first floor. Building design and envelope has been optimised through selection of appropriate wall and roof construction and through adoption of passive design measures after studying the sun path analysis to provide shading devices for windows and roof which would reduce energy demand to condition the spaces. This is probably the only existing building in India with a GRIHA rating of 5 stars, though there are several similar proposed projects, such as the Triburg Headquarters at Udyog Vihar in Gurgaon, Integrated Township in Kanyapur, Asansol, West Bengal, and the Office of Public Works Department, Nashik

Today, glass has an almost indispensable role to play in green architecture. Energy efficient glass is the need of the hour, given its unmatched features of optimum transparency that helps in day lighting of interiors, solar control & thermal insulation which cuts down the relative heat gain, and so on. To elaborate, glass can do the following wonders:

Day Lighting - The use of glass allows the penetration of adequate daylight and facilitates a reduction in power consumption.

Energy Efficiency - High performance glass helps control solar and thermal heat gain, thereby cutting down on air-conditioning expenses.

Recyclability – All architectural glass products are recyclable and qualify as “green” building material.

Recycled Content – The production of glass requires a minimum level of ‘cullet’ or broken glass in the Float Glass manufacturing process thereby by qualifying it as a material with high recycled content.

Acoustic Control – Certain types of architectural glass provide a high degree of acoustic comfort by obstructing the entry of sound from the exteriors of a building.

Blending Interiors with Exteriors – Facades made with reflective glass do not obstruct visibility from the inside.

Self Cleaning – The future belongs to environment friendly self-cleaning glass, a type of architectural glass that keeps itself clean and imparts a brilliant aesthetic effect to buildings.

Green architecture – GRIHA becoming law – Glass. Not just alliteration. A symphony, a necessity, a calling.

Patterned glass

Patterned glass is a kind of decorative translucent glass with embossed patterns on one or both surfaces. Pattern Glass or Decorative Glass or Rolled Glass is generally used where privacy or obscurity is desired but light transmission is still important. With the special property of decoration, patterned glass can allow light to pass through, at the same time, it can also prevent clear view. Usually it transmits only slightly less light than clear glass.

Patterned glass is not-perfectly-smooth structure with different patterns impressed on it. The depth, size and shape of the patterns largely determine the magnitude and direction of reflection.

Basically patterned glass has a pattern impressed on one side of the glass which prevents someone from seeing though it, for privacy. Pattern glass can also be ordered in various tints as well. A common application of this sort is when used in privacy walls to separate one room from another.

Rolled Pattern glasses are available in a wide variety of patterns, to add the perfect complement to many interior designs. Heavy patterned glasses provide added strength and support, and are a fast-growing product category. According to customers' requirements, patterned glass can be cut, ground, drilled, tempered, laminated, etc.

Production

Patterned glass is made with a rolled glass process. All rolled patterned glass begins as a batch of materials, including silica sand, soda, and lime. These materials are melted together in a tank, and then the molten glass mixture is fed onto a machine slab. The glass flows under a refractory gate which controls glass volume and speed then moves between two counter-rotating, water-cooled rollers. One of these rollers is embossed, imprinting a distinct pattern onto the soft surface of the glass while the other roller is smooth.

The result is a piece of glass that is patterned and textured on one side, while smooth on the reverse. The distance between the two rollers determines the ultimate thickness of the glass. After it moves between the rollers, patterned glass is annealed or cooled slowly in order to remove any residual stresses. Rolled patterned glass can then be cut into standard sizes or cut into customized sizes for a specific customer application. The glass is then inventoried and ready for delivery.

Applications

Rolled glasses are used in commercial, residential, and specialty applications. End uses include shower doors and tub enclosures including frameless shower doors interior partitions, translucent door and window treatments, foyers and vestibules, patio furniture, shelving, decorative furniture, and lighting fixtures. Comprehensive range of soft natural colours compliments and harmonizes with modern building materials to provide an exciting and different look to new and existing buildings. Pattern glasses are available in large amount of patterns. Patterned glass is most often found in bathroom windows.

Patterned glass is applied to all kinds of public and private places, such as office, meeting room, hotel, hospital, bath room, washroom, etc. It is also widely used as glass table, glass shaft and lampshade and so on. Mainly used in interior partitions, interior design, decorations, street furniture etc.

Russia Nightclub Fire: Fire Safety Lapse Claims over a Hundred Lives

The News

Russia is still coming to terms with its most deadly fire since Soviet times after 109 people died and more than 130 were injured in a blaze at a packed provincial nightclub on December 4, 2009. The fire started when a performance artist threw pyrotechniques too high and burnt the ceiling which quickly ignited the walls. The Lame Horse club, where the disaster occurred, was celebrating its eighth anniversary on the day.

One of the fireworks, tossed into the air and intended to be caught, hit the plastic covering of the ceiling, igniting the explosive. The decorative woven twigs affixed to the walls and ceiling also caught fire, filling the building with smoke. Panic gave way to a stampede when many patrons found themselves cut off from one public exit, management having sealed off other doors and the public unaware of emergency exits behind the stage.

Fire Safety: Why & How

Clearly, the Lame Horse Club owners had been callous about this aspect of safety, given that Russia’s Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu stated that the owners had been fined twice in the past for breaking fire safety regulations.

However, “Fire Safety” is not just a fancy term, and the implementation process not as complicated as is made out to be; there are some key elements of the process which can be easily adhered to.

• Building a facility in accordance with the version of the local building code

• Maintaining a facility and conducting oneself in accordance with the provisions of the fire code. This is based on the occupants and operators of the building being aware of the applicable regulations and advice.

Examples of these include:

• Not exceeding the maximum occupancy within any part of the building.

• Maintaining proper fire exits and proper exit signage (e.g., exit signs pointing to them that can function in a power failure)

• Placing and maintaining fire extinguishers in easily accessible places.

• Properly storing/using, hazardous materials that may be needed inside the building for storage or operational requirements (such as solvents in spray booths).

• Prohibiting flammable materials in certain areas of the facility.

• Periodically inspecting buildings for violations, issuing orders to comply and, potentially, prosecuting or closing buildings that are not in compliance, until the deficiencies are corrected or condemning it in extreme cases.

• Maintaining fire alarm systems for detection and warning of fire.

• Obtaining and maintaining a complete inventory of firestops.

• Ensuring that spray fireproofing remains undamaged.

• Maintaining a high level of training and awareness of occupants and users of the building to avoid obvious mistakes, such as the propping open of fire doors.

• Conducting fire drills at regular intervals throughout the year.

Practical Application



An example of how following these rules could have proved a life-saver in the Lame Horse lies in the fact that most victims died from smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning. There are fireproofing devices available that cut off not just the fire itself but even the radiant heat that emanates from it, as also the smoke and gases that are just as deadly. And in a place like a nightclub where the aesthetics imparted by tasteful and expensive interior décor is just as important as safety, fire resistant glass which offers this kind of protection is now abundantly available. Fire doors that are thoroughly tested for fire resistance and also adorn building interiors with their seemingly delicate appearance are one of the best choices for this purpose.

Also, it is important that a fire exit door opens towards the outside (persons trapped inside must be able to open the door by pushing and not pulling it). In the past, there have been cases where victims have died not because of the fire itself but thanks to a stampede caused by large numbers of people rushing towards the fire exit door at the same time, making it impossible for the door to be pulled open.

NOT an option

Russia records up to 18,000 fire deaths a year, several times the per-capita rate in the United States and other western countries; worldwide, nightclub fires have killed thousands of people. Another similar accident anywhere in the world will only establish deliberate carelessness by responsible authorities, because as is abundantly clear, fire safety is neither complicated nor expensive; not as compared to a human life anyway.