A new six-tower mixed-use project from Vincent Callebaut Architectures would incorporate community orchards, food gardens, and phytopurification lagoons in an attempt to build a sustainable and eco-friendly community. Named Hyperions after the world’s tallest tree (a Northern California Sequoia sempervirens that’s specific location is kept secret), the New Delhi-located project would be built out of cross-laminated timber (CLT) before being covered with food-producing gardens.
The wood required to build the towers would come from a sustainably managed Delhi forest. The buildings would be made from a superstructure of solid wood columns, beams, and walls and would be reinforced with steel blades where columns and beams meet. There would also be a steel and concrete substructure for earthquake resiliency. In total, Hyperions’ skeleton would be made of 25% inert materials and 75% bio-sourced materials.
The buildings will use solar facades with photovoltaic and thermal scales that follow the course of the sun throughout the day to generate the towers; electricity needs. In addition, wind lampposts would be incorporated to produce electricity via magnetic-levitation, vertical-axis wind turbines integrated on their pole.
Rendering courtesy of Vincent Callebaut Architectures.
Each residential unit within the six towers would have vegetables and herbs such as carrots, tomatoes, spinach, saffron, and coriander growing on the balconies. There will also be an abundance of fruits and vegetables growing in hydroponic greenhouses. These plants will be irrigated with water from ponds housing several different species of fish. The waste from the fish, which is naturally rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, would help fertilize the plants. When accounting for plants in greenhouses, on balconies, and anywhere else they may be growing on the six towers (which is pretty much everywhere), the architects believe the buildings will be able to produce an annual output of four pounds of organic fruit and vegetables per square foot.
The roofs of each tower, joined together by skybridges, will be used as a large orchard space that doubles as a meeting space for the community. There will also be areas for sports, an organic pool, and playgrounds.
Heating and cooling is controlled via a natural climate control system articulated along the vertical circulation cores of wind chimneys. The system takes advantage of the earth’s thermal inertia under the foundations, which remains at a stable 64 degrees year round.
In addition to the residential spaces in each tower, business incubators, living labs, co-working spaces, and multipurpose rooms are all included. The project hopes to create more energy than it uses while also accomplishing its main objectives of energy decentralization and food deindustrialization.
Rendering courtesy of Vincent Callebaut Architectures.
Rendering courtesy of Vincent Callebaut Architectures.
Rendering courtesy of Vincent Callebaut Architectures.
Rendering courtesy of Vincent Callebaut Architectures.
Rendering courtesy of Vincent Callebaut Architectures.
Related Stories
| Feb 23, 2011
Green building on the chopping block in House spending measure
Bryan Howard, Legislative Director of the U.S. Green Building Council, blogs about proposed GOP budget cuts that could impact green building in the commercial sector.
| Feb 22, 2011
LEED Volume Program celebrates its 500th certified Pilot Project
More than 500 building projects have certified through the LEED Volume Program since the pilot launched in 2006, according to the U.S. Green Building Council. The LEED Volume Program streamlines the certification process for high-volume property owners and managers, from commercial real estate firms, national retailers and hospitality providers, to local, state and federal governments.
| Feb 15, 2011
New 2030 Challenge to include carbon footprint of building materials and products
Architecture 2030 has just broadened the scope of its 2030 Challenge, issuing an additional challenge regarding the climate impact of building products. The 2030 Challenge for Products aims to reduce the embodied carbon (meaning the carbon emissions equivalent) of building products 50% by 2030.
| Feb 15, 2011
New Urbanist Andrés Duany: We need a LEED Brown rating
Andrés Duany advocates a "LEED Brown" rating that would give contractors credit for using traditional but low cost measures that are not easy to quantify or certify. He described these steps as "the original green," and "what we did when we didn't have money." Ostensibly, LEED Brown would be in addition to the current Silver, Gold and Platinum ratings.
| Feb 14, 2011
Sustainable Roofing: A Whole-Building Approach
According to sustainability experts, the first step toward designing an energy-efficient roofing system is to see roof materials and systems as an integral component of the enclosure and the building as a whole. Earn 1.0 AIA/CES learning units by studying this article and successfully completing the online exam.
| Feb 14, 2011
More companies willing to pay extra for green office space
New CoreNet Global/Jones Lang LaSalle survey shows real estate executives forging green strategies that balance environmental, financial and workforce issues.
| Feb 11, 2011
Sustainable features on the bill for dual-building performing arts center at Soka University of America
The $73 million Soka University of America’s new performing arts center and academic complex recently opened on the school’s Aliso Viejo, Calif., campus. McCarthy Building Companies and Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects collaborated on the two-building project. One is a three-story, 47,836-sf facility with a grand reception lobby, a 1,200-seat auditorium, and supports spaces. The other is a four-story, 48,974-sf facility with 11 classrooms, 29 faculty offices, a 150-seat black box theater, rehearsal/dance studio, and support spaces. The project, which has a green roof, solar panels, operable windows, and sun-shading devices, is going for LEED Silver.
| Feb 11, 2011
Kentucky’s first green adaptive reuse project earns Platinum
(FER) studio, Inglewood, Calif., converted a 115-year-old former dry goods store in Louisville, Ky., into a 10,175-sf mixed-use commercial building earned LEED Platinum and holds the distinction of being the state’s first adaptive reuse project to earn any LEED rating. The facility, located in the East Market District, houses a gallery, event space, offices, conference space, and a restaurant. Sustainable elements that helped the building reach its top LEED rating include xeriscaping, a green roof, rainwater collection and reuse, 12 geothermal wells, 81 solar panels, a 1,100-gallon ice storage system (off-grid energy efficiency is 68%) and the reuse and recycling of construction materials. Local firm Peters Construction served as GC.
| Feb 11, 2011
Justice center on Fall River harbor serves up daylight, sustainable elements, including eucalyptus millwork
Located on historic South Main Street in Fall River, Mass., the Fall River Justice Center opened last fall to serve as the city’s Superior and District Courts building. The $85 million facility was designed by Boston-based Finegold Alexander + Associates Inc., with Dimeo Construction as CM and Arup as MEP. The 154,000-sf courthouse contains nine courtrooms, a law library, and a detention area. Most of the floors have the same ceiling height, which will makes them easier to reconfigure in the future as space needs change. Designed to achieve LEED Silver, the facility’s elliptical design offers abundant natural daylight and views of the harbor. Renewable eucalyptus millwork is one of the sustainable features.