World’s largest building
will be largely green
Home sweet
solar home
Foster+Partners have preliminary plans approved for the construction in Moscow of
the world’s largest building. Known as Crystal Island, this place will be HUGE. With
over 2.4 million sqm of floor space it will be able to accommodate 30,000 people.
This city within a city will generate low carbon energy from in-house solar arrays
and wind turbines. It will also regulate its internal temperatures by utilising vast
atriums to cope with the extremes of Russian weather. This precinct is destined
to become a self-contained world for some. It will include exhibition, performance
and cultural spaces as well as 3000 hotel rooms, 900 serviced apartments along
with offices and shops. Outside, the integrated park will cater to a range of sporting
pursuits including cross country skiing and ice skating. n
This modest Wisconsin bungalow
looks anything but a sophisticated
hub of clean power generation
but it’s so efficient it makes
money-making electricity. It
also shows that bioclimatic
design doesn’t necessarily mean
minimalist and modernist, it can
be suburban and cosy.
The secret energy punch here
is a tracking solar array in the
backyard along with a geothermal
heating and cooling system in
the basement which keeps Glycol
fluid circulating through pipes laid
within the foundations. The home
also has the best energy-efficient
appliances and top insulation. n
innovation
15
Crystal Island, the metropolis of the future in Moscow.
These could grow on you
Study in sustainability
This is the new headquarters for China’s Centre for Sustainable Energy
Technologies. The design by Mario Cucinella of Bologna, Italy, is inspired
by “Chinese lanterns and traditional wooden screens” and is completely clad
in a double skin of glass. The building
is filled with energy-saving innovations
and aims to be self-sustaining and an
exemplar of state-of-the-art techniques
for environmentally sound construction.
Ultimately it will accommodate
laboratories focusing on renewable
energy, which include thermal testing,
a climate chamber, a daylight and solar
modelling lab and a weather station. n
Inspirational – Ningbo
HQ in China.
We’ve all seen those dinky little solar garden lights
but this is an energy-saving idea on a much grander
scale. In Europe street lighting consumes 10 per
cent of all power but these “solar trees” generate
their own and are smart enough to run for days
without sunshine and sense when to turn themselves
on and off. So why aren’t all cities lit this way? So far,
they’ve been installed for a short time only on the
Ringstrasse in Vienna, Austria, but fans predict that
one day they will light up every Main Street. n
Cutting edge design
– believe it or not.
3 megawatt
megaroof
A Spanish company, PGIGrup is about
to build a solar array on a rooftop over
a kilometre in length and covering
57,000 sqm. The roof of the building
in Madrid will use 16,600 photovoltaic
solar panels to cover an area of 21,000
sqm. The roof is expected to generate
3.6Gwh every year, enough to save 34
per cent on the summer aircon bill. n
Roof power – the top-up from up-top.
