One of the fastest growing universities in Asia since its establishment in 1991, the HKUST has an ambitious campus expansion plan in recent years. Without an integrated auditorium-like facility for three decades, the Shaw Auditorium is set to be home to HKUST’s cultural activities and a landmark for large scale events.
WSP played a vital role in realising this 4-storey auditorium with our multidisciplinary engineering consultancy services, covering structural, geotechnical, civil and building services, acoustics, sustainability and local BEAM Plus green building certification. Our comprehensive involvement, with sustainability and Future Ready in mind, achieved a well-coordinated, integrated solution for this multi-purpose auditorium.
Prefect stage for digital design
BIM-enabled 3D coordination since the construction phase have ensured the overall architectural, structural, MEP coordination were optimised to provide a comprehensive view of the overall design and visualisation for engaging students and users. In addition, the university’s maintenance team could share their valuable perspectives through the 3D BIM model to enrich the design and facilitate their operation and maintenance in the future.
We also deployed a number of smart features in this Future Ready facility. Apart from the centralised control and monitoring system for all MEP systems, the smart ventilation control Aircuity System is adopted for continuous monitoring of the indoor air quality, ensuring sufficient fresh air provisions to the spaces while achieving energy savings with precision sensor suites.
We also equipped the auditorium with LoRAWan network infrastructure for wireless smart sensors. Apart from full 5G and WiFi coverage inside the building, we also designed smart multipurpose lamp poles with built-in WiFi covering the outdoor landscape.
Well-orchestrated green features
HKUST’s commitment on sustainability and energy efficiency in this project has given us a chance to turn this new auditorium into a truly green building.
The elegant elliptic rings, supported by our extensive overhang structural design, provides significant shading of solar irradiation to the building façades with over 70% of total solar heat blocked during cooling seasons, while daylight can still light up the space via atrium skylights and reflective interior surfaces around the atrium, providing a good balance on daylight penetrations while limiting solar gains. The high-performance building façade, integration with campus district cooling system, centralised MEP systems, together with photovoltaic panels covering more than 50% of the rooftop, greatly reduce the building’s energy consumption by more than 20% as compared to the baseline. In particular, the entire renewable energy system would offset more than 2.5% of the total energy consumption.
Top indoor environment performance
The diverse usage of space at the Shaw Auditorium present challenges on the MEP design, yet our engineering solutions achieve extraordinary indoor air, acoustic and lighting quality for world-class auditorium experience ensuring liveliness at all times.
Apart from the Aircuity System, use of MERV 16 high efficiency filters and no-VOC products with increased fresh air inflow ensure the indoor air quality (IAQ) meeting the Hong Kong IAQ Certification Scheme Excellent Class with respect to various indoor and outdoor pollutants.
To create the best acoustic space for top-class performance and lectures, the project team has carefully designed the building with acoustics separation, anti-vibration and noise control measures for all building services equipment and advanced sound absorption solutions.
In addition to the sophisticated architectural lighting design for different spaces in terms of illumination and glare levels, the auditorium is also well equipped with smart occupancy and daylight sensors as part of the overall control solutions for the interior lighting.
