Chad Mitchell, president of Denver based Meridian 105 Architecture, has shared with us his proposal for a planned mixed use complex in downtown Denver Colorado. After the break, be sure to look over the proposed passive wall systems used throughout the design proposal in addition to the rest of the renderings and description from M1A.
Lincoln Mixed Use is a design proposal for an urban mixed-use complex planned for Denver, Colorado, consisting of a hotel, retail, parking structure, restaurant, and movie theater. The building is sited on a transition lot between high-rise residential and a primary commercial corridor running through the city. Faced with the challenge of bridging these two zones, the design makes use of internal circulation, crossing the site and easing visitors through the various program elements.
The building enclosure employs an aggressive energy strategy, with the hotel facade designed to perform as a twin glazed assembly, but consisting of prefabricated window units in lieu of traditional, labor intensive curtain wall installation. The units have densely fritted top and side panels oriented to resist summertime solar gain, while allowing it in the winter. The facade is naturally vented in the summertime by the heat stack effect, with air intake at the base and exhaust at the top. High efficiency vertical terminal air conditioners are integral to the prefabricated window unit, minimizing both energy consumption and mechanical installation expense.
The movie theater enclosure is constructed with an exterior solar wall, a series of metal panels set in front of the weather enclosure, trapping warm fresh air for distribution to the building interior during the winter season. In the summer months, the panels shade the glazing.
Deep retail spaces take advantage of natural light with repetitive skylights and atriums, minimizing electrical lighting loads by taking advantage of daylighting.
