A sustainable landmark building. Juvelen’s essential idea is to create an exciting meeting point with an interesting and eye catching architecture, that will function as an entry to the city.

Juvelen meets the municipality's high demands on sustainability. The building will be use as much energy as its solar panels and wind power produces. A, by Skanska pantented, cooling system will contribute to lower the energy use. The aim is that Juvelen becomes the most sustainable office in the Nordic. The project is pre-certified as Platinum, the highest level of achievement according to the international sustainability system LEED. Our ambition is to create a house with high architectural quality with a strong expression in form that is also sustainable, have an excellent indoor climate and consists of materials healthy to nature and humans. A unique building of its kind.

Townscape and architecture
Our work on Juvelen has taken as its starting point the interaction between a unique idea strongly stated, very exacting environmental objectives and a bid to create an aesthetically appealing application of the building’s eco-technological solutions. The basic architectural idea was to create a sculptural, eye-catching jewel of a building. A gemstone (juvel in Swedish) whose facets, as it were, mirror different aspects of the Uppsala region. Juvelen is a beautiful solo number which can be erected using a rational construction system and will meet our demands for architectural complexity, coupled with extremely high ecological aspirations. Our realisation of the building will make the eco-technological solutions a natural and reinforcing component of the architectural expression we are aiming for, without detracting from the original design concept. Juvelen will be an international showcase example of how to create a beautiful, architecturally interesting building with an emphatic sustainability profile. The triangular patterning of the façades is extended into the glazing of the bottom storey, which, with its generous headroom and wooden ceiling, makes the building feel light and airy, readily accessible and inviting. The roof geometry is varied and exciting. Façade and roof hang together, creating a unity of design. The entire bottom storey will be devoted to public functions, plus a communal lobby for all office storeys. The building has entrances in all three façades.

Triangeltorget
The piazza between building and platform will be a natural meeting point for both visitors and residents. The new piazza will be given a number of clear functions, focusing on social environments, commerce and pedestrian and cycle traffic moments. The piazza must function well in both summer and winter. Tema landscape architects have designed a flexible area which will be readily adaptable to seasonal exigencies.

A place for pedestrians and cyclists
The piazza level is free for motor traffic, a public space for pedestrians and cyclists. A parking facility for bikes will be built in the square. Passenger transport will be able to access the piazza via Stationsgatan. For the avoidance of heavy transport in the piazza, goods deliveries and refuse collection will primarily make use of the existing stopping point along Strandbodgatan.

Triangeltorget
Juvelen will present an open, inviting front to the piazza, with entrances to the restaurant, the office section lobby and a travel and bike centre. The uniform design of the piazza, coupled with the outdoor cafeteria adjoining the restaurant, the market place and the green, social environment of the park, will provide a coherent, active piazza space. To underscore the piazza’s character and its connection with the building, the chequered patterning in the ground will also include touches of integrated lighting. After dark, this will reinforce the distinctive form of both piazza and building, at the same time helping to give the piazza a warm and reassuring ambience.

The entrance level
The whole bottom storey is open and contains public functions connected with Uppsala and the station. There are plans for a restaurant/café and delicatessen-cum-outdoor cafeteria adjoin the piazza. The entrance floor will also include a sustainability centre, complete with municipal recycling station, where the general public can obtain help and guidance concerning environmental issues.

Distinct, attractive profiling of Juvelen calls for relevant, attractive content in order to attract tenants and visitors. The following are among the tenant categories and functions we envisage.

Bike, travel and fitness centre
The bicycle as a means of transport should leave a clear imprint on both the building and the design of its immediate surroundings. This being so, we are planning for the premises on Strandbodgatan to include a bike centre whose amenities will, for example, include a workshop, a retail store, parking and changing and deposit facilities directly adjoining a travel store with a cash desk and dispensers for buying intercity and commuter train tickets. A fitness centre is also planned in a semi-basement adjoining the bike centre, offering easy access to both cyclists and other travellers. Travellers with or without bikes will be able to shower and change before boarding the train for work in the morning or can come in for a workout before travelling home again. The placements offer readily accessible solutions which will also activate the south part of the station for travellers.

Restaurant and delicatessen/eco-store
A restaurant/bar/café with an adjoining delicatessen/eco-store will be housed in the north tip of the building. This operation is to have a distinct ecological profile, in keeping with the building’s profile, focusing not least on local produce. There will also be the option of an outdoor cafeteria and market vending in a dedicated zone of the piazza. The store should also be capable of accepting orders for collection en route to and from a journey, so as to further reinforce the attractiveness of this nodal point to commuters and local residents.

The building is based on a rational system with a concrete frame faced with metal coloured cassettes dividing the façade into a number of large rectangles, which in turn are traversed by differently inclined diagonals. The result is a complex pattern of triangles varying in both shape and size. Windows or blank metal coloured concrete units in various shades of golden yellow are then positioned inside the various triangles These irregular formations endow the façades with a beautiful, complex, varied and aesthetically well-integrated form which puts one in mind of the facets of a cut gemstone. The wealth of variety is further enhanced by the ratio between the numbers of blank surfaces windows and solar cells differing between the façades at the different points of the compass, to allow for differing sunlight conditions. The coffer depths too are varied according to the degree of sun-shielding needed on each façade, ranging from about 60 cm on the southeast and southwest façades to about 15 cm on the north one. The recesses for sun-shielding are set diagonally in relation to windows and the blank portions of the façade, so as to further reinforce its faceting. The pulling back of the windows into the façade provides all the sun-shielding necessary, while at the same time giving the façade a more coherent aspect and obviating any need for external screening. This integrated sun-shielding also eliminates the risk of problems during winters with heavy snowfall. The varying colour of the metal, with warm shades of orange and noticeable joins, imparts a living, human, warm quality to the material, and impression reinforced by string lights integrated with the vertical, diagonal and horizontal lines of the façade.

Sustainability as a vehicle of identity
Our scheme aims very high indeed where sustainability is concerned. The new building will attain the highest level, Platinum, in the leading international classification system LEED. With this in mind, we regard sustainability as both a relevant and a strong theme for positioning and communicating Juvelen through all the phases of the project, from basic idea to the type of tenant allowed into the building and right through to ensuring the feasibility of operations. For a greater commercial and communicative potential, we should have a broader perspective on sustainability, taking in not only energy efficiency and ecology but also a number of other factors, such as innovation, education, gender equality, environmental thinking, health, start-ups, civic participation, culture, organic foods, and environmentally friendly transport with special emphasis on cycle traffic and mass transit. A holistic approach to sustainability profiling makes for greater credibility and attractiveness. Here are just a few concrete examples of ways in which the sustainability mindset can be manifested during the planning and construction phases of the project: a gender-balanced workplace, the project as an educational venue, the possibility of field trips here from other countries, and international knowledge transfer on specific issues of sustainability.
An educational venue for both national and international visitors
We intend making the project serve as an educational venue during both the planning and the construction phases, gladly in partnership with the Municipality of Uppsala, with the possibility of receiving both Swedish and international visitors, e.g. students, engineers and construction workers with a special interest in sustainability, showing them how we are working to realise a project with outstandingly high environmental aspirations. The people of Uppsala themselves will be kept updated and informed about developments through recurrent “open house” days which will give them the opportunity of learning more about this unique project. We also attach great value to sharing with others our knowledge and the new experiences generated as the project continues, gladly in the form of ongoing international exchanges.

Educational partnership
Establishing a clear connection with learning and knowledge in the project is interesting and relevant from the viewpoint of the Municipality of Uppsala, with its heavy focus on education. Where Juvelen is concerned, we therefore wish to establish co-operation with Uppsala University, e.g. with its Master’s programme in sustainable development. We also intend establishing close co-operation with the Ångström Solar Center and its leading solar energy research, with a view to experience interchange before, during and, not least, following the building’s completion.

World-class environmental certification

Juvelen will be eco-certified to the global system known as LEED – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (Core & Shell category). Our choice of LEED was prompted by the system’s widespread international currency and its holistic approach, which includes sustainability criteria to ensure a good indoor environment, an energy-efficient building, sensible choices of materials, climate-smart transport and a minimum of waste. The building will attain Platinum, LEED’s highest level, by a generous margin. Not only will this give the building a unique standing in the rental market, it will also make Juvelen a very great asset for communicating Uppsala’s ambitious environmental policy work.

Plus energy
In order to create a plus energy building, we have followed the principles of the Kyoto pyramid, the purpose being to minimise energy demand, to make both passive and active use of solar energy and to visualise and regulate the energy requirement intelligently while the building is in use.

Heating and cooling
To minimise the heating requirement, the building is being given a heavy framework, a high level of airtightness, windows with a low U-value, balanced mechanical ventilation with a high level of heat recovery, and low flush volume fittings to reduce consumption of hot water. Adjustment of fenestration and glazing quantities in relation to useful daylight incidence plays an important part in reducing the need for cooling. The building will have more windows on the north side, because these will reduce the need for cooling and improve the prospects of good daylight comfort. This is being combined with a sun-shielding strategy based on the façade itself being designed as a sun shield, by not fitting the windows flush with the façade. Cooling is being produced by utilising the naturally low ground temperature. No heat pump will be used. The only external energy supply is a small amount of electrical energy for driving pumps and fans. In wintertime the system will be used for preheating the ventilation air.

Electricity and lighting
Electric lighting will be adapted to the maximum amount of useful light in relation to the power requirement. Lighting will be controlled partly by occupancy and partly by not being used when there is daylight available. To minimise the electrical power used for fans, space is being provided for large ventilation ducts, which will mean low pressure losses and low energy requirements for the fans. Regenerating lifts will be used wherever possible.

Measurement and monitoring
The building’s energy consumption hinges to a great extent on the way it is used. Energy consumption measurement is therefore axiomatic and present three clear advantages:

1) Energy use will be displayed in real time to those using the building, which in turn will create awareness and make users more energy conscious.
2) Our continuous monitoring will enable us to quickly discover and remedy any shortcomings in the operational management of the building.
3) Through our monitoring during the operational phase we will be able to achieve our ambitious energy targets through knowledge feedback resulting in ongoing improvements.

Solar energy
Maximum use, both active and passive, will be made of solar energy. Passive use will be achieved by designing the façade in such a way that it screens off a large part of direct incident solar radiation in summertime but not in winter. Active use will be achieved by partially fitting the roof with solar cells. Together with complimentary wind power these will produce enough energy to meet the building’s primary energy requirement for the greater part of the year. A surplus will be exported in summertime and energy purchased from the grid during winter. Taking the year as a whole, the building is expected to generate an electrical energy surplus, making Juvelen a plus energy house. The energy needing to be imported during parts of the year will be chosen with reference to the least possible primary energy requirement. We have chosen district heating for meeting the building’s heating requirement. The electrical energy imported will be wind power based on future wind farms. Instead of purchasing green power already on the market we will ensure that new wind farms are constructed.

Tenants
Our aim as landlord is also to be able, at a later stage of things, to offer LEED certification of the tenants’ operations. As developer we have both an environmental responsibility and an interest in strengthening the building’s positioning and trademark. This we can achieve partly by educating and assisting our tenants in their certification work, gladly in partnership with the Municipality of Uppsala.