SCENE TWO APARTMENT PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

Elliott Chang
18 Beach Road Auckland City Central ecsrm.weebly.com
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SCENE TWO... IS IT SUSTAINABLE?

In this report I will be analysing a buildings performance in architectural point of
view. This is a necessary step in understanding how efficient that building is and
how it can be improved in order to become sustainable and resource efficient. I
decided to look at Scene Two Apartment. I chose this building because I am
currently living here at the time of this writing and so I have some background
knowledge of how this building works and I can easily find the information I need
at any time. I did not include Scene One or Three apartments because they have
different floor layouts and I did not have access to those buildings. Scene Two:
how much power does it use? Are they used in a sustainable manner? What
about water? What are its weaknesses, strengths and potentials?
 2

LOCATION
Auckland city was known for its terrible urban design
and the Scene Complex made the matter worse1. In
the past, Britomart Car Park was an empty plot of
land and nothing stood in the way between the
ocean view and the university and the law court as
well as many other buildings up the hill. Then Scene
Complex was built and it was considered to be atro-
cious. This is because Scene Apartments is consid-
ered to be very tall in the Auckland cityscape, which
was more than enough to obstruct the views from the
neighbouring buildings. Additionally the first few
stories were car parks so there were no amnesties to
bring the streets to life. Outside pedestrians were
barely benefited from this with only two restaurants
placed on the ground floor and the rest of the tower
being entirely residential.

On the contrary this is a perfect place for apartment.

It is true that there could have been more venues to
make Beach Road feel livelier but in terms of sus-
tainability I feel that having Countdown nearby gives
it the huge advantage because residents do not
need to take their cars to go for grocery shopping.
This significantly reduces the carbon footprint and
pollution. Even with a car, I did not have to use it very
often because of its location. Also the buses are
easily accessible and there is a cycleway directly in
front of the front entrance. I feel encouraged to walk
or take a bus when I am going out for a short
distance trip. SUPERMARKET

Fig. 1 Rising Roads, More thoughts, 2015, photograph, Auckland City.

(Photograph by Rising Roads, 2015, http://risingroads.com/2015/07/14/781/. Copyright 2017 by Rising Road.)

1 Simon Wilson, "The City's Shame: Why is Auckland's Urban Design So Bad?"Noted, accessed May 7, 2017, http://www.noted.co.nz/life/urbanism/the-citys-shame-why-is-aucklands-urban-design-so-bad/.
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WALDORF APARTMENT
The building is constructed by Richard Priest Architect
and the main structure is made of concrete and steel2.
These are not sustainable but high rises in Auckland
City are commonly made of these two materials so I
will examine and criticise the project on other aspects.

This apartment is not built on a freehold land. From

the personal experience, a real estate agent told us
that Scene Complex is built on the leasehold land
owned by Maoris. This can easily be verified in the
Trade Me Apartment Sales. This means buying the
apartment here can be significantly cheaper but it
comes with the annual fee, and selling the apartment
can be very difficult. This is the reason why many
apartments here are owned by Waldorf and are lent
out as rents. This is another reason why I chose to
analyse Scene Two because the appliances should be
the same if they are rented by the same organisation,
and so calculating the energy and water will be much
more accurate.

According to Waldorf, there are only four types of floor

plans in Scene Two3. I was able to find out how many
rooms are in each apartment unit as well as the
number of bathrooms via the High Profile website. I
live in one bedroom unit and this apartment type
accounts for half of all the units in Scene Two. The
other half was two bedroom units. Only four units have
three rooms4.
Fig.2 Waldorf On Scene Apartment Facilities and Inclusions, 2005, illustration, Auckland City.
(Illustration by Waldorf, 2005, http://www.waldorf-on-scene.co.nz/apartment_accommodation.htm. Copyright 2005 by Waldorf.)

2 "Scene One Apartments," Apartments, accessed May 7, 2017, http://www.apartments.co.nz/buildings/detail.lsd?ref=se1044.

3 "Waldorf On Scene Apartment Facilities and Inclusions," Waldorf, accessed May 7, 2017, http://www.waldorf-on-scene.co.nz/apartment_accommodation.htm.
4 "Scene Two Apartments," Highprofiles, accessed May 7, 2017, http://www.highprofiles.co.nz/friendlyErrorPage.htm?aspxerrorpath=/highprofiles/fpbda-11-1911-Scene-Two-Apartments-floorplans-18-Beach-Rd-Auckland-City-Auckland-504.aspx.
 4

# RESIDENTS
POPULATION
If I want to calculate the water usage, I
need to find the number of residents in Minimum
the apartment. I looked at the floor plans 1 0 1 1
to estimate this. From my experience, I
know that one bedroom apartment is
suited for up to two people and two bed-
room units are suited for up to four
people. There are 34 one bed room
apartments so these have the range of
150
34 to 68 people. A unit with one bedroom
with one studio is suitable for having up
to two adults and a child. There are 24 of
these units so I estimated from 24 to 72 Assuming all
residents would live here. There are 44 THIRTY FOUR U TWENTY FOUR U apartments
two bedroom apartments and these are occupied
could have between 88 to 176 residents.
There are 2 two bedroom with one studio
that can house up to 5 people, so these
Maximum
could have between 4 to 10 residents.

If we assume that all apartments were

occupied, there will be at least 150
people living in Scene Two. It can theo- 2 0 2 1
retically have up to 326 residents but this
seems unlikely because some apart- 326
ments are empty. It is impossible for me
to know how many residents are in
Scene Two so lets work with the mini-
mum number of residents.

But only
in theory
FOURTY FOUR U TWO UNITS
 5

WATER 206.8L
I recorded my daily activities. I flushed TOILET
the toilet 5 times a day, showered every
day for a minimum of five minutes, let the
tap run for at least 5 minutes a day, used
315L
the dishwasher at least once a week, and SHOWER
used the washing machine at least twice
a week. The flow rate for the taps is 6L
/min maximum. The showerhead flow 885.3L
rate was 4.5L per minute when I meas-
ured it but it can vary between the users. 210L
The installed dishwasher uses as little 7.5L SINK
as 7.5L and laundry machine uses 73
DISHWASHER
Litres per wash . I used 885.3L every
week. 146L
LAUNDRY
I multiplied this number by 150 (minimum (my water consumption every week)
number of resident expected) to get the
minimum amount of water consumption
expected in Scene Two. I calculated that
Scene Two apartment uses at least
132795L of water every week with the
conditions above. The actual usage is
much higher as some people take longer
to shower, do more laundries, take
bathes, and more. Most importantly the
cold water is free. So naturally people do
not care about their own water consump-
tion and use it without haste. This is one AT LEAST
of Scene Twos biggest weaknesses x10
when it comes to sustainability.
132795L
Hot water is not heated by electricity. It is every week
supplied by gas. Gas is not a very
efficient method nor is it sustainable.
Heat can be lost through atmosphere.
The process of producing natural gas Fig.3 Water gets heated by gas. Elliott Chang.
and burning it creates pollution.

5 "Fisher & Paykel DS603," AjMadison, accessed April 9, 2017, https://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/DS603.html.

6 "Fisher & Paykel 5.5kg White Top Loader Washing Machine. Model: MW512," Graysonline, accessed April 9, 2017, http://www.graysonline.com/auctionproduct/f-pmw51262337254/appliances-and-whitegoods/_sher-paykel-5-5kg-white-top-loader-washing-machine-model-mw512.
 6

POWER
If I want to calculate the power usage, I need to focus on the applianc-
es that are powered all the time. Without doing any calculation I know TOTAL # BULBS
that Scene Twos power performance is poor. This is because most of
the light bulbs in the public spaces are on 24/7. This includes places
like the car park, corridors, and the main hall. I wanted to know how
many light bulbs there were so I recorded all the ones I could find.
1 0 1 1
By default I know that there are 11 incandescent light bulbs and 4
halogen light bulbs in one bedroom apartment. The halogen light
bulbs are permanently attached to the ceiling and it is unavoidable to
turn them on when I have to use the bathroom. I do not know how
many light bulbs there are in other units so I had to look at the floor
plan and make a roughly estimate. Fortunately the spaces are rela-
tively similar in size. For example the bedrooms are very similar in
size and shape. My bedroom has four incandescent lights so I 11 4 14 4
assumed the other apartments would be the same. I assume there
will be 14 incandescent and 4 halogen lights for one bedroom & one
studio apartment. There would be 17 incandescent and 6 halogen THIRTY FOUR U TWENTY FOUR U
lights for two bedroom apartment, and 20 incandescent and 6 halo-
gen lights for three bedroom apartments. There are eight light bulbs
on each corridor with the exception of fifth floor which as seven light
bulbs due to different layout. These are dimmable recessed LED ceil-
ing lights, used to save energy because the corridor is lit up all the
time with no exception. There are 27 compact fluorescent light bulbs
1498 508
in the main hall and post box space. A decorative corner near the
reception has 6 halogen light bulbs. These are lit up all the time.
2 0 2 1
Scene Complex also features a swimming pool and it uses light
roughly between 6 to 11 p.m. until it closes. There are 56 CLF and 2
fluorescent tubes. The four CLF lights in the reception are only lit up
during the working hour.

Lights on the emergency stairs are not powered unless someone

triggers the switch. The elevator bays also have CLF lights but these 17 6 20 6
are controlled by motion sensors. I decided not to include these in the
performance because there is no way for me to know how much These can
energy they really use. be replaced
FOURTY FOUR U TWO UNITS

5 "Fisher & Paykel DS603," AjMadison, accessed April 9, 2017, https://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/DS603.html.

6 "Fisher & Paykel 5.5kg White Top Loader Washing Machine. Model: MW512," Graysonline, accessed April 9, 2017, http://www.graysonline.com/auctionproduct/f-pmw51262337254/appliances-and-whitegoods/_sher-paykel-5-5kg-white-top-loader-washing-machine-model-mw512.
 7

POWER
The car park is undoubtedly the most 34*11 one bedroom apartments incandescent
34*4 one bedroom apartment halogen
energy consuming space in Scene Two.
24*14 incandescent
The lights are on all the time and it 24*4 one bedroom and one studio halogen
covers the huge area. There are two 44*17 incandescent
tubes per capsule so I had to double the 44*6 two bedroom apartment halogen

number of lights I counted to get the total 2*20 incandescent THESE ARE ALWAYS
2*6 two bedroom and one studio halogen
number of tubes. These could be fluo-
rescent or LED tubes so I looked at the 8*9 corridors with eight LED lights
7 Fifth corridor with seven LED lights
product name. They are all Philips Fluo- 8*2 elevator bays CLF
31 the main hall CLF
rescent T8 58W/865 Tube. 6 the main hall halogen
56 Swimming pool CLF
2 Swimming pool fluorescent tubes
Are these light bulbs efficient? According 4 traffic lights CLF
433*2 Car Park fluorescent tubes
to the Philips these fluorescent tubes 25 exit signs CLF

were graded A in the energy efficiency I estimated there are total of 1498 incandescent lights and 508 halogen lights in all the apartments.
level7. However CLF is not recyclable. It 79 LED lights in the apartment corridors (always on)
56 CLF (always on)
is environmentally harmful because of 6 halogen lights (always on)
Fig.4 Decorative Corner Halogen Lights, Elliott Chang Fig.5 Philips Fluorescent T8 58W/865 Tube, Elliott Chang
56 CLF (conditional)
mercury, whereas the incandescent, 2 fluorescent tubes (conditional)
halogen, or LED is recyclable8. Light 866 fluorescent tubes (always on)

bulbs in the apartments are not the most

efficient either. Halogen lights are
attached to the ceiling so I cannot
replace them. The incandescent lights
however can be changed to CLF to save
energy or LED lights to save energy,
maintenance cost, and be environmen-
tally friendly9.

With the car park alone, it is using

50.228 kilowatts per hour. The incandes-
cent light bulbs are 75W by default. I ON.
generally use at least one light bulb from x 433
6 p.m. to 2 in the morning. This is 8
hours a day, which adds to 600 watts. If
everyone needed at least one light bulb
like me, it would take 90 kilowatts a day.
In real life people would use more than
just one light bulb.

Fig.6 Fluorescent Tubes and Recycle Area, Elliott Chang Fig.7 LED Lights in a Corridor, Elliott Chang

7 "TL-D 58W/865 1SL/25," Lighting Philips, accessed May 7, 2017, http://www.lighting.philips.com/main/prof/conventional-lamps/fluorescent-lamps-and-starters/tl-d/tl-d-lifemax-super-80/927983286536_EU/product.

8 "Are LEDs Cost Effective?" LED Evolution, accessed May 7, 2017, http://www.led-evolution.com/Technology/are-LEDs-cost-effective.html.
9 Khanh Pham-Gia, Radical Innovation and Open Inovation (Germany: Diphloma Verlag, 2011), 102.
 8

POTENTIAL
985m2 Scene Two could potentially benefit from
the large building facade and roof area.
ROOFTOP 2125m2 The roof area can be used for harness-
NORTH FACADE ing solar energy or rain water. I calculat-
ed that roof area was roughly 985m2
and only 213m2 was used for ventilation
systems. The remaining roof space was
simply a slope. There are Britomart car
park and Countdown on its North side
14h 38min but these building heights are short in
comparison to the height of the tower.
Summer Daylight The most they could do is cast shadow
on the car park and the shared courtyard
9h 39min space. The tower itself is facing north
Winter Daylight with less than 15 degree rotation to the
east. Most part of the building gets sun-
light so it can harness the solar energy
from it. I modelled a simple mass and
calculated that the North building facade
is roughly 2125m2. I used Revit to see
how long the sun will provide light. 4th of
July had the least amount of daylight
from 7.35 a.m. to 5.14, which is 9 hours
and 39 minutes. 24th of December had
the longest daytime from 5.01 a.m. to
7.39, which is 14 hours and 38 minutes.

N

Fig.8 Taped Window due to Poor Insulation, Elliott Chang
Fig.9 Easily Accessible Garbage Chute, Elliott chang
9
WEAKNESS
Scene Complex has garbage recycle
area. There are garbage chutes on
every floor level but the recycle area is
located on the ground floor so people
have to carry it downstairs. It is an incon-
venient system so not everyone recy-
cles.
Another aspect that can be criticised is
the insulation quality. The window
frames are made of aluminium and it is
known for its weak insulating properties.
I had to tape the window frame to stop
cold air from coming in. Sound insulation
is also poor. 70dB inside my apartment
can be heard from the corridor 10
meters away.
Fig.10 Hard-to-access Recycle Area, Elliott Chang
 10

SO SCENE APARTMENT IS...

Scene Two Apartment was by far one of the highest quality apart-
ments I have seen in Auckland City. However after thoroughly
analysing it, I realised that this building is not sustainable with
the way it handles power and water. However I also see great
potentials that can be used to overcome these weaknesses and
help make Scene Two into a sustainable building.
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