Single glazed Atrium with Kerto-Beams in "herring-bone" geometrie

SAP Galway is a 'contact center' for 360 staff, located on a business park to the east of Galway. The office structure is open plan, creating an open floor extending between the facades to outside and to the atrium. The building is organized as two blocks either side of the landscaped single glazed atrium - a " buffer" space. Based on the local geographical conditions including wind speed and direction, solar radiation and daily temperature swing, the design team developed an integrated building concept, with an environmentally functional approach to the building design at every level. The atrium employs timber elements to shade the glazed facades either side of the atrium. The structural beams supporting the glazed roof make use of the offset in the plan form to generate a herringbone structural system. The 'kerto' plywood beams have an 850mm structural depth and provide shading to the east and the west elevations of the atrium. The structural reason for the herringbone geometry (the zigzagging at the central ridge line) is the reduction in length of the prefabricated timber elements. It is based on the same idea as the ancient timber shells ("Zollinger"), using short overlapping elements for big span roofs.