Audiences will help heat the Playhouse 

Sea water and surplus heat from the auditorium of the Royal Theatre's new Playhouse will heat and cool parts of the building on completion four years hence – saving substantial amounts of energy.

As one of the first Danish initiatives involving thermo-active concrete constructions, the Playhouse has been able to draw on practical experience gained from a pioneering research project at the Technical University of Denmark.

Extracting the heat from the auditorium

Thermo-active concrete constructions, or climate belts, are joint heating and cooling systems that utilise plastic tubes moulded into concrete floors and ceilings.

The Playhouse dressing rooms, offices and foyer will be heated by utilising the heat given off by projector lights at ceiling level – and body heat from the previous evening's audience.

This is done by extracting the heat from the auditorium, converting it to liquid and reusing it as floor heating the following day.

Cool and heat the water

Similarly, the location of the Playhouse partially over the water will allow a heat pump to be employed that will alternately cool and heat water taken from Copenhagen Harbour.

Using this method, the Playhouse will reduce energy consumption for cooling the building by an estimated 75-80 per cent - simply by using seawater and a heat pump.

Savings on operating costs achieved

"Reusing and exploiting energy in this way is an interesting concept," comments the Royal Theatre's technical director Nikolai Jensen.

"Given our proximity to the water, it's an obvious solution. This concept means that, in environmental terms, we are in the forefront. And it will give us substantial savings on operating costs – to the benefit of the arts."

As part of a major EU sponsored project called ECO Culture, coordinated by COWI, the company has received a grant of DKK 5 million to test, demonstrate and try out the energy concepts in the Playhouse.

Will inspire other construction projects

As part of the project, Norwegian consultants Erichen & Horgen are contributing energy solutions from the new Norwegian Opera House in Oslo, while Dutch company Ecofys and Amsterdam City Council are trying out sustainable energy systems in Amsterdam’s new central library.

Inspire others

One aim of the project is to inspire other construction projects to utilise sustainable energy concepts rather than traditional methods of heating and cooling with compressors and radiators.

The experience gained from this project will therefore be made available on the Internet, through workshops and visits to the worksite.

By Christina Tækker, cht@cowi.com
Posted: 27.10.2004