2. BERLIN
duBlin
unit C mountPleASAnt BuSineSS Centre
LOTTUMSTRASSE 9
uPPer mountPleASAnt Avenue
GARTENHAUS
duBlin 6 | irelAnd
10119 BERLIN | GERMANY
t + 353|1 4 96 63 40 10
T 49|30 73 73 96
F + 353|1 4 96 63 41 11
49|30 73 73 96
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BUCHOLZ MCEVOY ARCHITEKTEN GBR
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duBlin
unit C mountPleASAnt BuSineSS Centre
uPPer mountPleASAnt Avenue
duBlin 6 | irelAnd
t + 353|1 4 96 63 40
F + 353|1 4 96 63 41
inFo@BmCeA.Com
WWW.BmCeA.Com
BuCHolz mCevoy ArCHiteCtS ltd
direCtor KAren mCevoy
direCtor merritt BuCHolz

3. SAP BUILDING GALWAY
Client SAP Ireland The speed with which office development happens in Ireland often produces buildings
Contact Liam Ryan, MD that have no relationship to their environment. They are placed and constructed from
Tel + 353 (01) 474 0010
so-called ‘practical’ or ‘utilitarian’ reasons. Given specific time constraints and specific
Size 6,000 m2
Construction period completed Nov 04 environmental and functional constraints how can Architecture be created from purely
Project Value EUR 15 million utilitarian interpretation of these constraints? That is the problem we had to solve in
Contractor Heron Bros Ltd. the design of SAP’s Galway building.
Contacts Manager Noel Mullen
SAP Galway is a ‘contact center’ for a German software company with 360 staff,
located on a business park to the east of Galway, on an exposed site elevated from
the surrounding landscape. Direct technical queries are received and dealt with on
the telephone. The staff are from a variety of nationalities, dealing with technical
queries from around the Western hemisphere according to time zones and languages.
The typical building occupancy is from 7 am to 1 am (18 hours), with teams working
in 3 shifts.
The building had to be completely designed before site selection was finalised;
therefore it was decided to treat the function, a workplace with a specific task for a
software company, and the environment, Longitude 9° W and Latitude 53° 15’ N, as
the site. A building optimised to these conditions could fit in any site. The building is
designed to create a balanced environment for employee comfort and working, which
used the minimum amount of energy from non-renewable resources. The building,
environmentally is a high density occupancy building with high ventilation demand
and high cooling load. Free cooling using outside air is the only cooling source utilised.
An atrium separates office floor-plates which are connected via bridge structures.
On the floor-plates are the work spaces, and on the bridges are the relaxing zone. The
atrium is the driving environmental force for the building and obviates the need for
sap building galway 1

4. SAP BUILDING GALWAY: ATRIUM VIEW
mechanical extraction systems. The atrium is treated as an unheated (thus rent-free)
space, which is used as a low-pressure exhaust air space for the offices in the case of
cross ventilation, and supply air for the offices in case of single sided ventilation. The
air temperature within the atrium floats naturally. In order to enact this ventilation
regime openings at the top and bottom of the atrium are required to establish the
necessary air exchange rate due to stack effect.
The building is organised as two blocks either side of the landscaped single glazed
atrium – a “ buffer” space. The shallow office ‘bars’ (13.0m) are orientated on the
north-south axis to prevent thermal insulation through the long facades, and are
offset to minimize the number of fire escape stairs required, with maximum efficiency
of plan area, and therefore reduction in the amount of building required to provide
the net floor area.
Cross ventilation is employed to naturally ventilate the office and public areas. The
building is ventilated from the outer facades, and the atrium is used as a supply and
exhaust air volume, single glazed and consequently free-floating in temperature. The
ventilation and heating function is controlled by vertical elements which are included
into the façade.
Light is one of the most important ‘materials’ employed in the project. Building structure
designed to optimise daylight penetration, with the arrangement of the plan on the
north south axis allowing maximum glazed area along the length of the office space
with solar gains minimized through the employment of vertical cedar brise soleil.
The atrium similarly employs timber elements to shade the glazed facades either side
of the atrium. Specifically designed uplighters integrated into the concrete structure,
across the section of the offices provide ambient, diffuse light to the work-plane, when
daylight is insufficient. These uplighters project light accross the exposed concrete
soffit, reducing eye strain and eliminating glare on VDUs.
sap building galway 2 sap building galway 3