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
| Sep 16, 2010
Gehry’s Santa Monica Place gets a wave of changes
Omniplan, in association with Jerde Partnership, created an updated design for Santa Monica Place, a shopping mall designed by Frank Gehry in 1980.
| Sep 16, 2010
Green recreation/wellness center targets physical, environmental health
The 151,000-sf recreation and wellness center at California State University’s Sacramento campus, called the WELL (for “wellness, education, leisure, lifestyle”), has a fitness center, café, indoor track, gymnasium, racquetball courts, educational and counseling space, the largest rock climbing wall in the CSU system.
| Sep 13, 2010
Second Time Around
A Building Team preserves the historic facade of a Broadway theater en route to creating the first green playhouse on the Great White Way.
| Sep 13, 2010
Richmond living/learning complex targets LEED Silver
The 162,000-sf living/learning complex includes a residence hall with 122 units for 459 students with a study center on the ground level and communal and study spaces on each of the residential levels. The project is targeting LEED Silver.
| Sep 13, 2010
World's busiest land port also to be its greenest
A larger, more efficient, and supergreen border crossing facility is planned for the San Ysidro (Calif.) Port of Entry to better handle the more than 100,000 people who cross the U.S.-Mexico border there each day.
| Sep 13, 2010
Triple-LEED for Engineering Firm's HQ
With more than 250 LEED projects in the works, Enermodal Engineering is Canada's most prolific green building consulting firm. In 2007, with the firm outgrowing its home office in Kitchener, Ont., the decision was made go all out with a new green building. The goal: triple Platinum for New Construction, Commercial Interiors, and Existing Buildings: O&M.
| Sep 13, 2010
'A Model for the Entire Industry'
How a university and its Building Team forged a relationship with 'the toughest building authority in the country' to bring a replacement hospital in early and under budget.
| Sep 13, 2010
Data Centers Keeping Energy, Security in Check
Power consumption for data centers doubled from 2000 and 2006, and it is anticipated to double again by 2011, making these mission-critical facilities the nation's largest commercial user of electric power. With major technology companies investing heavily in new data centers, it's no wonder Building Teams see these mission-critical facilities as a golden opportunity, and why they are working hard to keep energy costs at data centers in check.
| Aug 11, 2010
CHPS debuts high-performance building products database
The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) made a new tool available to product manufacturers to help customers identify building products that contribute to sustainable, healthy, built environments. The tool is an online, searchable database where manufacturers can list products that have met certain environmental or health standards ranging from recycled content to materials that contribute to improved indoor air quality.
| Aug 11, 2010
29 Great Solutions for the AEC Industry
AEC firms are hotbeds of invention and innovation to meet client needs in today's highly competitive environment. The editors of Building Design+Construction are pleased to present 29 "Great Solutions" to some of the most complex problems and issues facing Building Teams today. Our solutions cover eight key areas: Design, BIM + IT, Collaboration, Healthcare, Products, Technology, Business Management, and Green Building.