Art of Airconditioning
The
Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum of Art will be SA’s second largest public art
gallery and a focal point of the Landmark building.
Among the museum’s many special requirements is an airconditioning system that delivers appropriate humidity and temperature levels for sensitive works of art, 24 hours a day.
The innovative SA-designed Shaw Method Air Conditioning (SMAC) system, which differs from conventional
airconditioning systems by treating temperature and humidity loads separately, was chosen by Landmark’s architects to meet that challenge, following its successful installation in 2004 in the west wing of the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA).
Wayne Ryan of Air Con Serve, the SMAC patent holder, said the AGSA installation has outperformed the previous airconditioning system.
"Artwork preservation has a number of criteria that have to be met, temperature, humidity and the rate of change of those variables. Not only have those criteria been met at the AGSA, the performance exceeded all expectations. And energy use has also been reduced by more than 50 per cent," Ryan said.
SMAC was invented in 1998 and only a handful of buildings so far use the system.
"One of the biggest barriers and hurdles, and I think any new technology would have a similar issue, is the verification processes," Ryan said.
This is where Martin Ho, a 26-year-old mechanical and manufacturing engineering international student, comes in. Ho is working with Air Con Serve to compare computer modelling of SMAC and conventional airconditioning systems with actual performance data. The measurement and reporting processes will go a long way to showing the precise outcomes of using SMAC.
Ho said he has already found the project an "enriching experience.
"I have already learned a lot about SMAC and conventional airconditioning systems," he said. "And I’ve had exposure to industry people, as well as very good opportunities to experience meetings with people who come together from different areas."
Ryan is pleased to have Ho on board and believes the collaboration will have many positive outcomes.
"Not only is Martin engaged in a leading edge, world first technology coming out of SA, there’s also a practical outcome in respect of his results," he said.
And the airconditioning industry is likely to benefit, too – the project has persuaded Ho to enter the sector once he graduates.