The Green Building - Great Marlborough Street

Architect	Terry Farrell & Partners
Date Built	2005
Location	Great Wakefield Street
Description
The Green Building sits behind Oxford Road Station on a cramped site wedged in between the railway viaduct and a meander of the River Medlock. The architects, Terry Farrell & Partners describe the projects as, "... part of Terry Farrell & Partners’ Manchester Southern Gateway masterplan, (and) houses a pre-school nursery and doctors’ surgery as well as 32 private residential apartments." They claim that it is, " ... one of Britain’s most advanced ecological residential and educational developments. " This area was once one of the grimmest parts of Manchester. Known as Little Ireland it was home to many mills and factories and packed in around the industrial sites were dwellings of people living in abject poverty. This former brownsfield site has been redeveloped and much of it for residential purposes. The "Designbuild-Network" website says this about the Green Building. "The building employs the concept of low-energy architecture. Its body and skin have been designed to consume minimal energy, and all materials have been chosen to minimise embodied energy. The structure is cylindrical in shape, reducing surface-to-volume ratios and reducing fabric losses. Its truncated roof faces southwards, deriving maximum benefit from solar energy. The reinforced concrete structure acts as a temperature regulator. Energy is absorbed into the thermal mass of the structure during warm weather and released during cooler periods. The use of natural materials ensures low embodied energy and thermal performance. The atrium is at the heart of the building's natural ventilation system. Wind pressures and stack effects mean that during the cooler seasons air moves in from low-level intakes and out at high-level openings."