Wildlife park enjoys natural environment in new cafe
Energy-efficient ventilation and lighting for animals and humans in new buildings at Marwell Wildlife are provided by Monodraught Windcatcher natural-ventilation system and Sunpipe natural lighting. The buildings are Cafe Graze and the ungulate building that houses Congo buffalo and bongos.
The concept brief from Marwell Wildlife for Cafe Graze, which provides grandstand views of the African valley where Grevey’s zebra, ostrich and waterbuck roam free, was to make the building as sustainable as possible.
Garry Reynolds of Ray Hole Architects explains, ‘With a lot to achieve within the project’s £1.2 million budget, there were fairly tight limitations, so we adopted back-to-basic philosophies, one of which was to naturally ventilate the building wherever we could. Another was to provide as much natural daylight into the building as possible. Importantly, both reduce energy costs.
‘At first, we were concerned that it would mean using a mechanical system. However, the M&E contractors suggested a hybrid system, using a mechanical extractor in the kitchen, as required by Building Regulations, and Monodraught natural-ventilation units installed in the restaurant roof area.’
The mechanical ventilation creates sufficient negative pressure to draw in air through the Windcatchers, which have control dampers linked to the BMS via a Monodraught INVent control unit.
Because all the glazing of the Cafe Graze is concentrated at one end of the building to maximise the main view over the valley and many back-of house areas are highly insulated with no windows, Sunpipes have proved to be very effective at getting natural light into those areas, and far fewer units than expected were needed to achieve the levels of daylight required.
Windcatchers are also installed in one of the ungulate buildings to ventilate it overnight when doors are not open to allow animals access outside.
