Curl la Tourelle Head Architecture has created a concept for a school that would sit on the Thames wharf side at Cannon Street and could become the greenest building in London. The Thames Tidal School concept is “an exemplar of low embodied energy and carbon construction technologies,” according to the architect.
The school would be built using natural and bio-renewable materials sourced through local supply chains. The key component of the building’s many sustainable elements, however, is not the building materials it would use, but how it would generate its power.
Rendering: Forbes Massie.
The Tidal School would be built on the shore at the narrowest section of the Thames. The building would extend over the river and use turbines underneath to capture the tidal power. The build site at the narrowest section of the river is important because that is where the velocity of the tidal flow is at its highest point. The submerged turbines would harness the tidal power four times per day and use the energy produced to supply the building with carbon neutral power.
The Thames Tidal School is designed to meet the certifications of the Passivhaus standard and the BREEAM Outstanding rating.
Rendering: Forbes Massie.
Related Stories
| Aug 14, 2013
Green Building Report [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Building Design+Construction's rankings of the nation's largest green design and construction firms.
| Aug 12, 2013
New York’s first net-zero school will be a sustainability lab for city school system
An elementary school on Staten Island will be the first net-zero energy school in New York City and the Northeast. The school is designed to use half the energy of a typical New York public school. Construction will be completed in 2015.
| Aug 8, 2013
New green property index could boost REIT investment in more sustainable properties
A project by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT), the FTSE Group, and the U.S. Green Building Council to jointly develop a Green Property Index could help REITs attract some of the growing pool of socially responsible investment money slated for green investments.
| Aug 6, 2013
Australia’s first net zero office building features distinctive pixelated façade
Australia's first carbon neutral office building, featuring a distinctive pixelated façade, recently opened in Melbourne.
| Aug 2, 2013
Design of world’s tallest wood skyscraper would be more sustainable than steel alternative
Architecture firm C. F. Møller has proposed building the tallest wooden building in the world in Stockholm, Sweden.
| Jul 26, 2013
LEED V4 includes controversial cradle-to-cradle materials provision
Cradle to Cradle certification, a strict assessment of the environmental qualities of materials used in green buildings, is a controversial provision in LEED V4.
| Jul 17, 2013
CBRE recognizes nation's best green research projects
A rating system for comparative tenant energy use and a detailed evaluation of Energy Star energy management strategies are among the green research projects to be honored by commercial real estate giant CBRE Group.
| Jul 10, 2013
TED talk: Architect Michael Green on why we should build tomorrow's skyscrapers out of wood
In a newly posted TED talk, wood skyscraper expert Michael Green makes the case for building the next-generation of mid- and high-rise buildings out of wood.
| Jul 2, 2013
LEED v4 gets green light, will launch this fall
The U.S. Green Building Council membership has voted to adopt LEED v4, the next update to the world’s premier green building rating system.
| Jun 28, 2013
Calculating the ROI of building enclosure commissioning
A researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory calls building enclosure commissioning “the single-most cost-effective strategy for reducing energy, costs, and greenhouse gas emissions in buildings today.”
