Ticking all the right boxes, the Pixel prototype has been termed ‘the office of the future’ for its pioneering impact on sustainable building.
A laboratory for sustainable building, the project addresses energy efficiency, reduced embodied energy and use of renewable energy sources to achieve carbon neutrality. And it showcases new technologies like wind turbines, carbon reduced concrete and a biogas system using an enaerobic digester to convert waste to energy.
It also covers about 74 per cent of the site area with vegetation, including gardens on the perimeter of each level and a green roof. Water balanced, average Melbourne rainfall would allow the building to be disconnected from the water grid and remain self-sufficient.
The awards jury comment: “The project should be applauded for it’s environmental achievements and its educational perspective for developers, building owners and tenants although the building is the smallest in the category.”
Director of studio505 Dylan Brady says setting out to score every possible point in the Green Star rating system for a commercial office was quite a challenge.
“To get every single point we had to achieve a theoretical 120 points. It was not without its challenges, but we’re extremely excited about the idea that we now know how to create a building that would achieve the rating in all the different zones,” he says.
