Issues

One of the largest and most prestigious retailers in South America, sought only the most advanced, energy efficient air conditioning equipment for its world-class Costanera Center in downtown Santiago.

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Designed by world-renowned architect César Pelli, Costanera Center’s Tower 2 is the tallest building in Latin America at 300 meters (980 ft). Also known as the Gran Torre Santiago, Tower 2 rises above the city’s financial hub next to the Mapocho River and is designed with state-of-the-art structural systems, mechanical systems, and responsiveness to the environment.

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Among other energy-saving materials that support the building’s anticipated LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, Tower 2 features a 64-story glass curtain wall with high-performance coatings that permit only low levels of radiant heat in to keep the indoor environment comfortable.

Costanera’s Tower 4, located at the other side of the complex, is a 28-story office building and four-star hotel with similar energy efficiency, HVAC design, and LEED requirements.

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Solution

The Costanera Center engineering team specified water-cooled condensing units with heat recovery as the air conditioning system. “Building owner Cencosud’s decision drivers were efficient design, the capability of receiving factory and local technical support, local presence (including after-market service), as well as the ability to collaborate closely with the project team,” says Julio Almonacid, general manager at Daikin Air Conditioning Chile, S.A.

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Daikin VRV heat pump technology with heat recovery provides high energy efficiency and thermal stability.

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Daikin VRV systems provide customers with individual zone control in each room and floor of a building, by circulating refrigerant around the building via a Direct Expansion (DX) design. The VRV heat recovery systems provide performance and design attributes similar to a 4-pipe chiller system.

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As an alternative to traditional chiller plants and centralized equipment, Daikin’s water-cooled VRV systems offer a compact design and lightweight structure that make the equipment ideal for buildings with limited area available for mechanical equipment. Units can be stacked and deliveries to mechanical rooms are easily made via elevators.

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“Daikin was selected by demonstrating the technical advantages of our solution against the competitor’s solution, which was initially specified in the project,” Almonacid says, crediting the entire Daikin technical team. The project team included Daikin Chile and Daikin Japan which worked closely with the Cencosud technical team, consulting firm Cintec International, and engineering services company Cruz & Davila.

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