The Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Buddhists had several clear needs for the building, the main purpose being to provide a new Butsuma, or chanting hall.
The building also needed to have low energy use, and be constructed from sustainable or renewable resources with a low impact on the environment. "The clients were strong on the ideas of light and air, and decided virtually at the outset that perimeter areas would be naturally ventilated," states Gerald Wooldridge of m&e consultant Atelier Ten.
That quest for light and air has been closely followed. Visitors are greeted into the building by an open, white-painted space and sight of a sweeping semi-circular hallway, which curves into the distance. Roof-level perimeter windows let daylight into the building.
The walls of this circulation hall are washed from floor to ceiling with 24 low-voltage dichroic lamps. Shuttered projector lamps installed along the route will allow the Buddhists to display artwork, the beams being adjustable to "pick out" the desired features.
On one side of the hallway lie a series of perimeter rooms, providing space for various functions ranging from plantroom to first aid room. On the opposite side, held in the protective semi-circular curve of the building, sits the Butsuma.
This 500-capacity chanting hall is immediately enthralling. The shadows from its large gothic-like columns give a spiritual feel, while the sheer enormity of the room, with its 21 m width and ceiling sloping from 5 m to a majestic 8 m peak, could not fail to give the feeling of space desired by the client. At one end sits a 2.5 m-high Butsudan – an elaborate black and gold laquered cabinet specially imported from Japan to hold the special prayer of the sect.
Displayed on an A2-sized manuscript and written by one of the sect's most important members in Japan, this prayer, the Gohonzun, brought a lighting challenge to the engineers. Worshippers must be able to read their prayer books and the Gohonzun clearly, and with the people at the rear of the room around 30 metres away from the Butsudan, this was not an easy task. Added to the distances involved, was the need to avoid light damage: the manuscript is irreplaceable.
Fibre optics provided the solution. One fibre optic projector has been installed on either side of the Butsudan, with 12 individual lights directed onto the script.
A second, smaller, Butsudan sits at the opposite end of the room and will be used for smaller prayer groups. The Butsuma can be divided into two spaces using full height partitions, to enable both to be used simultaneously. The services are split for separate control of each area.
Religious services
As far as the structure was concerned, Atelier Ten's Patrick Bellew observed: "This was an unusual project only in the purpose...in a sense it is no different to a gallery or any space that will have a lot of people in it." The m&e servicing was not quite as straightforward. The client desired pure, simple spaces, so the architect instructed that all pipes and cabling should be concealed – nothing was to be on show. The curved shape of the building added to the task; fitting rectangular floor trenches was described as "quite tricky".
The main mechanical services distribution runs along a single trench around the internal perimeter; services to individual rooms trunk off from this. A similar trench on the outside of the building contains the electrical services.
One of the principal client specifications involved the main Butsudan: nothing could pass over, under or touch the structure, and it had to touch the ground. This meant careful design of the services and ductwork.
A large amount of structural integration was needed to achieve this, and the floor slabs have recesses in them to cope with the m&e distribution. The large distances involved, especially in the main Butsuma made careful planning and design essential, and floor boxes have been included for access around the building.
All the perimeter rooms are heated from an underfloor system. This was again an aesthetics decision: the architect didn't want trench heaters on view. The pipework for this system undergoes close turns at the window edge so natural convection will reduce condensate build-up on the windows. The temperature in each room can be individually controlled via a zoned system.
This underfloor heating continues into the circulation hall. After this a separate system is applied, where air handling units with low temperature hot water heating coils provide an adiabatic system and also give 'free' cooling through the perimeter to the main Butsuma.
The philosophy behind the lighting scheme was two-fold. "It had to be low-key," stated Wooldridge, "especially in the perimeter rooms and the hall, and it had to be multi-purpose." A noise level of NR35 was imposed as the humming from metal halide lighting in the old temple was one of the problems SGI wanted to improve. To keep within environmental criteria, 80% of light sources used are low energy compact fluorescent.
In the perimeter rooms, compact fluorescent wall lights met the architect's demands for warm colouring. The shape of these rooms, sloping from 4.5 m down to 2.3 m roof height, led to the addition of 4 x 55 W compact fluorescent uplighters – to give a throw of light to the back of the room and provide for glare-free use of video monitors. A 250-300 lux level is acheived in these rooms.
Lighting of these rooms also adds to the building's external form: a row of 'chimneys' running around the roof are in fact Monodraught Sunpipes. These are fitted at the deepest points of the room, 7 m from the windows, and bring in daylight via mirrored surfaces.
The sunpipes also add to the ventilation strategy: automatic actuators on the units open louvres to enable night cooling and cross-ventilation with the windows. Air conditioning plant has been avoided by devising a control system which maintains comfort conditions using this ventilation approach. A more unusual function of the units is for toilet extract: they act as the exhaust and intake.
In the main Butsuma, the level of air quality demanded could not have been maintained with natural ventilation alone, so a displacement ventilation system was included, adding to the underfloor complications.
Partnering a giant
"SGI was a many-headed client," states Atelier Ten's Patrick Bellew candidly. Very much a democratic organisation, the client held a series of workshops before the project began, to assess the needs and desires for the building. Around 500 SGI members contributed to these meetings.
Progress meetings were also larger and more frequent than usual. "There were lots of meetings and an unusual approach," states Bellew. This democracy meant that around ten or 12 SGI representatives would attend each meeting. "And they were not always the same people either," exclaimed Bellew. These members each represented different aspects of the group, and after a meeting would report back and consult with the other members in their specific area before final decisions were made.
The number of client representatives may seem daunting compared to an average project, but Bellew and Wooldridge insist that the project ran smoothly and talk fondly of SGI as a client. Perhaps the message of peace from the SGI Buddhists started long before the building's opening.
Source
Electrical and Mechanical Contractor
Credits
Client SGI-UK Electrical contractor Radford Electrical Mechanical contractor Aircool Engineering Main contractor Hinkins & Frewin M&E consulting engineer Atelier Ten Architect Architype