Solar design never looked so cool: 7 modern projects
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Photo:
(clockwise from R) Studied Impact, wei-ren/Flickr, James Law Cybertecture
Solar design never looked so cool: 7 modern projects
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Hot stuff
There's a lot more to solar architecture than just strapping a
bunch of solar panels to the outside of a building. Green architects
with an eye for solar also need to think of things like how to maximize
exposure to the sun, how best to design a structure that comfortably
distributes heat, and how to do it all without sacrificing any of the
aesthetics that are so important to design.
With many of the world's most spectacular structures in development
utilizing solar energy in some way, here's just a small sampling of the
wonders of modern solar architecture. (Text: Bryan Nelson)
Cybertecture Egg
Commissioned for Mumbai, India, the Cybertecture Egg will be an
impressive feat of sustainable architecture. The concept for the
structure was inspired "by looking at the world in terms of the planet
being a self-sustaining vessel with an ecosystem that allows life to exist, grow and evolve," according to its designers at James Law Cybertecture.
The eggy shape of the office building isn't just for show; it will
also utilize passive solar design, which will serve to regulate
temperatures within the building by decreasing heat gain and lowering
energy loads. Gardens will be incorporated throughout to provide shade
and a natural aesthetic. This will include an elevated garden at the
egg's upper "tip," which will assist in cooling the building.
The building will be powered using solar panels and rooftop wind
turbines, and it will even harvest its own water for garden irrigation.
Vertical Village
Known for its outlandish architecture, Dubai's latest trend is
sustainable design. Few designs exemplify this more than the Vertical
Village, created by the architects at Graft Lab.
The structure's arrays of solar panels will sparkle in the
scorching Dubai sun, but the real genius of the Vertical Village's
design lies in how everything will be positioned to keep the building
cool while maximizing solar capture at the same time. Each of the
jettisoning "walls" that hang over the structure's base will point their
panels at the sun while also being perfectly placed to provide shade.
Photo:
Rolf Disch
It's one thing to build an energy-independent home or building;
it's another thing to built an entire settlement that produces more
energy than it consumes. That's exactly what the designers at Rolf Disch
have done with the Solar City in Freiburg, Germany.
The rooftops of the settlement's buildings consist of large
photovoltaic panels all pointed in the perfect direction, but they also
act as a giant sun shade. So even as the sun beats down on their roofs,
residents underneath can enjoy cool temperatures.
The solar community is anchored to Sonnenschiff, or the Sun Ship, a
commercial building that is another marvel of solar architecture. In
fact, Sonnenschiff was the first positive energy commercial building
ever built.
Photo:
RAFAA Architecture and Design
Solar City Tower
Designed specially for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro,
this stunning energy-generating waterfall display will be located on
Cotunduba Island and will serve as a beacon to all those arriving in Rio
by sea or air. The Solar City Tower will be the iconic symbol of Rio's
efforts to make the 2016 Summer Games the first zero-carbon footprint
games in history.
Designed by RAFAA Architecture and Design,
the tower's interplay of renewable energies is impressive. It all
begins with the power generated by solar panels, which will produce
energy for the Olympic village by day, then pump seawater by night. That
seawater will then be released to drive turbines. It can also be pumped over the top of the building to create a breathtaking wall of water.
There will supposedly also be a retractable platform equipped for
bungee jumping from the top, which isn't so much sustainable as it is
cool.
MNN.COM › Earth Matters › Energy › PHOTOS › Solar design never looked so cool: 7 modern projects
Stadiums are almost always massive energy hogs, and usually
make for poor examples of sustainable architecture. One exception to the
rule, however, is this spectacular, dragon-shaped arena in Taiwan,
which generates 100 percent of its electricity from the solar panels
lining its exterior.
Designed by Toyo Ito, the energy production of Kaohsiung National Stadium is enough to power 3,300 lights and two jumbo vision screens. Perhaps most impressive, the stadium takes just 6 minutes to power completely up.
Since games aren't played inside the stadium every day, the
building is transformed into a power plant during its "off" days,
capable of meeting almost 80 percent of the neighboring area's energy
requirements.
Created for Za’abeel Park in Dubai, this stunning tower
designed by architect Robert Perry would not only provide its own
energy, but more than enough energy to run the rest of the park too.
224 large heliostatic polished mirrors positioned on the tower's top
platform would rotate to track the sun, which then reflect brilliant
beams of light into a central collector at the tower's tip. This
magnified sunlight would then be used to generate steam to power a
turbine.
The tower would also provide the venue for a cultural center. An observation platform near the top would offer fantastic views.
"Almeisan" is the Arabic name for one of the brightest stars in the
sky from the Gemini constellation. It's a fitting name for a tower that
would surely be defined by the sunlight beaming at its tip, likely
visible from a great distance.
Chicago Solar Tower
Solar architecture doesn't just have to fill the skylines of
foreign cities; it could also soon be coming to North America. Check out
this design for a Solar Tower in Chicago
by Zoka Zola Architects. This skyscraper is almost completely shielded
by sun-tracking solar panels, which rotate like sunflowers to follow the
sun throughout the day.
The panels are carefully positioned to provide shade for the
building's floors but not to obstruct the view. According to its
designers, this tower's "cosmo-bio-logical skin" could have the power to
produce "new and intensified experiences and awareness" for the
citizens of Chicago.
