Building Orientation and Envelope



In the LEO Building, the windows are primarily orientated to the North and the South. This orientation receives less direction sunshine, and only shallow out shading is required to shade off the sun. East and west orientation receive more sun, and the sun is more difficult to shade difficult to shade off due to the low sun angles for the radiation in the morning and in the afternoon.

Exterior shading is most efficient, as the sun is stop before it entering the building. In the LEO Building, two type of window façade are used: The punch hole window facades in the lower floors, and curtain wall windows with exterior shading louvers in the upper floors. Towards the east, shading is deeper to protect against the low morning sun. The windows constitute 25 – 39 % of the façade area, depending on orientation.

The western façade has virtually no windows. The window glazing is a 12mm thick light green tinted glazing. The walls of the LEO building consists of 200mm aerated concrete, and exterior surface have light colours to reduce solar heating of the walls. The lightweight concrete walls have an insulation value 2.5 times better than that of a traditional brickwall. The roof of the building is insulated with 100 mm of insulation, compared to normally only 25 mm of insulation. Furthermore, the roof surface is protected by a second canopy roof, which prevents direct solar radiation onto the roof. Along the perimeter of the roof, green landscaping provides shading and improves the aesthetics of the roof areas, which can be used for various functions.