The first building in Turkey appropriate Standards
SUNUM's building was designed and constructed in accordance with the requirements specified in LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and BREEAM (British Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) green building certification systems. Among the building’s features, there are many in accordance with environmental assessment criteria such as
- Collecting rainwater and reusing it for irrigation,
- Designing the lighting to provide minimum energy consumption,
- Obtaining hot water with roof-type solar panels,
- Use for heating-cooling purposes,
- Collecting wastes separately and recycling them.
Green Building
In addition to its high-tech structure, SUNUM's main feature is an environmentally friendly building.
In this context, the SUNUM building differs from its peers in its environmental awareness both in design and operation with some special applications.
- The façade of the building has a design that is both load-bearing and creates a window, and architecturally evokes carbon systems, without the use of columns.
- The building was constructed on an earthquake-resistant raft foundation.
- Pre-stressed, metal and glass fiber reinforced, custom-made modular concrete elements with heat insulation sections were used in the construction.
- Paint, adhesive and insulating materials that produce the least volatile gas were selected in the construction of the building.
- The center building was designed to cause the least damage to the atmosphere by choosing materials that do not affect ozone, and a technology that does not use CFC or HCFC in cooling systems was preferred.
- The roof of the building was covered with special roofing materials to reduce energy consumption and heat escape.
- High energy efficiency technologies were preferred in the HVAC, lighting and other systems of the building, and user comfort and energy consumption were balanced. The building was constructed to comply with the 'ASHRAE 90.1-2007 Energy Efficiency' standard, well above the local Turkish standards, in such a way as to consume 25% less energy.
- With 155 solar energy panels placed on the roof, dehumidification of the building's air handling units, reheating of the cooled air and other heating and cooling requirements are met.
- In order to control energy consumption, all exterior windows were insulated, “solar low-e” coated, and Argon gas filled; all glasses were selected with 65% visible light transmission, 0.27 solar heat coefficient, VNE 15-63 insulation standard.
- The center has the necessary infrastructure to recycle rainwater and use it for irrigation, and plants that use less water and exist in the natural structure of the region were selected in the landscaping.
- The building's domestic water consumption was minimized by means of fixtures that open and close automatically, and water usage was reduced with urinals that operate without water and fixtures with low consumption. Control mechanisms were also added to the building to instantly detect water leaks and shut down the system.
- Vehicles that do not consume fossil fuel (bicycles, electric vehicles, etc.) were given priority in the approach to the building, special parking areas were created for these vehicles, and other measures were taken to minimize the negative effects of personal car use.
- Acoustic pollution was also kept to a minimum in the building design.
- Paper, cardboard, glass, plastic and metal type wastes collected at the center are sorted in a waste management system and transferred to a waste recovery company.