The new design for an existing storage center in Heidelberg, Germany attempts to take an existing boring cylindrical tower and turn it into a knowledge center, tourist attraction, and symbol of the transition towards renewables.
The Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA) won a competition that sought a design for an energy park and accompanying energy storage tower. The tower will replace a gas storage tank with a water tank. Wind and solar energy harvested on site will heat the water, which will then be sold.
The new tower, which will be one of the tallest buildings in Heidelberg, is a multi-layered façade structure inspired by the geometries of nature. An inner shell colored in different shades of blue wraps around the building. Tilted elliptical rings are positioned around the cylinder and continue in the outer façade with “energy loops” that circle the structure all the way to the top. A cable network between the steel rings forms the outer façade layer.
Rendering courtesy of LAVA.
The building will receive its striking appearance courtesy of 11,000 diamond-shaped plates made of thin stainless steel. These plates are hooked with a connection system to a steel network that allows them to twist up to 45 degrees in the wind, which makes the building appear to move and fluctuate with the sun and wind.
Visitors to the new tower will enter through an elliptical entrance level where two elevators take them up to the roof, which comprises staggered terraces, event spaces, and a bistro. The roof can also be reached via a spiral staircase that travels around the outside of the tower.
Rendering courtesy of LAVA.
The building has recently broken ground and will rise 56 meters with a diameter of 26 meters. The accompanying energy park site will occupy 10,000 sm. Construction is scheduled for completion in 2019.
Rendering courtesy of LAVA.
Related Stories
| Nov 2, 2010
Yudelson: ‘If It Doesn’t Perform, It Can’t Be Green’
Jerry Yudelson, prolific author and veteran green building expert, challenges Building Teams to think big when it comes to controlling energy use and reducing carbon emissions in buildings.
| Nov 1, 2010
Sustainable, mixed-income housing to revitalize community
The $41 million Arlington Grove mixed-use development in St. Louis is viewed as a major step in revitalizing the community. Developed by McCormack Baron Salazar with KAI Design & Build (architect, MEP, GC), the project will add 112 new and renovated mixed-income rental units (market rate, low-income, and public housing) totaling 162,000 sf, plus 5,000 sf of commercial/retail space.
| Nov 1, 2010
Vancouver’s former Olympic Village shoots for Gold
The first tenants of the Millennium Water development in Vancouver, B.C., were Olympic athletes competing in the 2010 Winter Games. Now the former Olympic Village, located on a 17-acre brownfield site, is being transformed into a residential neighborhood targeting LEED ND Gold. The buildings are expected to consume 30-70% less energy than comparable structures.
| Oct 27, 2010
Grid-neutral education complex to serve students, community
MVE Institutional designed the Downtown Educational Complex in Oakland, Calif., to serve as an educational facility, community center, and grid-neutral green building. The 123,000-sf complex, now under construction on a 5.5-acre site in the city’s Lake Merritt neighborhood, will be built in two phases, the first expected to be completed in spring 2012 and the second in fall 2014.
| Oct 21, 2010
GSA confirms new LEED Gold requirement
The General Services Administration has increased its sustainability requirements and now mandates LEED Gold for its projects.
| Oct 18, 2010
World’s first zero-carbon city on track in Abu Dhabi
Masdar City, the world’s only zero-carbon city, is on track to be built in Abu Dhabi, with completion expected as early as 2020. Foster + Partners developed the $22 billion city’s master plan, with Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, Aedas, and Lava Architects designing buildings for the project’s first phase, which is on track to be ready for occupancy by 2015.
| Oct 13, 2010
Editorial
The AEC industry shares a widespread obsession with the new. New is fresh. New is youthful. New is cool. But “old” or “slightly used” can be financially profitable and professionally rewarding, too.
| Oct 13, 2010
Prefab Trailblazer
The $137 million, 12-story, 500,000-sf Miami Valley Hospital cardiac center, Dayton, Ohio, is the first major hospital project in the U.S. to have made extensive use of prefabricated components in its design and construction.
| Oct 13, 2010
Campus building gives students a taste of the business world
William R. Hough Hall is the new home of the Warrington College of Business Administration at the University of Florida in Gainesville. The $17.6 million, 70,000-sf building gives students access to the latest technology, including a lab that simulates the stock exchange.
| Oct 13, 2010
Apartment complex will offer affordable green housing
Urban Housing Communities, KTGY Group, and the City of Big Bear Lake (Calif.) Improvement Agency are collaborating on The Crossings at Big Bear Lake, the first apartment complex in the city to offer residents affordable, eco-friendly homes. KTGY designed 28 two-bedroom, two-story townhomes and 14 three-bedroom, single-story flats, averaging 1,100 sf each.