Arup unveils world’s first algae-powered building

World's first algae-powered building tested in Germany

News: the world’s first building to be powered entirely by algae is being piloted in Hamburg, Germany, by engineering firm Arup.

The “bio-adaptive facade”, which Arup says is the first of its kind, uses live microalgae growing in glass louvres to generate renewable energy and provide shade at the same time.

Installed in the BIQ building as part of the International Building Exhibition, the algae are continuously supplied with liquid nutrients and carbon dioxide via a water circuit running through the facade.

When they are ready to be harvested they are transferred as a thick pulp to the technical room inside the building and fermented in a biogas plant.

World's first algae-powered building tested in Germany

The facade also absorbs heat from the sun to warm the building’s hot water tank, while sunny weather encourages the algae’s growth to provide more shade for the building’s occupants.

“To use bio-chemical processes for adaptive shading is a really innovative and sustainable solution, so it is great to see it being tested in a real-life scenario,” said Jan Wurm, a research leader at Arup.

“As well as generating renewable energy and providing shade to keep the inside of the building cooler on sunny days, it also creates a visually interesting look that architects and building owners will like,” he added.

The project was led by Arup in cooperation with German consultancy SSC Strategic Science Consult and the building was designed for the exhibition by Austrian firm Splitterwerk Architects. The shading louvres were made in Germany by Colt International.

The International Building Exhibition in Hamburg continues until 3 November.

Algae-powered buildings have until now remained in the conceptual stage, with ideas for a building covered in modular algae pods and a biofuel-powered skyscraper in London previously featuring on Dezeen – see all algae architecture and design.

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Peruri 88 by MVRDV, Jerde and Arup

Peruri 88 by MVRDV, Jerde and Arup

Dutch studio MVRDV is proposing a 400-metre skyscraper for Jakarta that looks like a pile of at least ten separate buildings.

Peruri 88 by MVRDV, Jerde and Arup

MVRDV, alongside American architects Jerde and engineers Arup, designed the 88-storey “vertical city” as a part of developer’s bid for a site in the south-east of Indonesia’s capital.

Peruri 88 by MVRDV, Jerde and Arup

The architects explain that the building would comprise just four staggered towers, which would rise up from a commercial podium at the base. Distributed amongst these structures would be a mix of apartments, hotels and offices, as well as shops, cinemas, a mosque and a vertiginous amphitheatre accessed by outdoor elevators.

Peruri 88 by MVRDV, Jerde and Arup

“Peruri 88 is vertical Jakarta. It represents a new, denser, social, green mini-city, a monument to the development of Jakarta as a modern icon literally raised from its own city fabric,” said MVRDV co-founder Winy Maas.

Peruri 88 by MVRDV, Jerde and Arup

Gardens, swimming pools and terraces would cover the tiered rooftops, which the architects conceive as a jungle filled with local trees and plants. ”Our inspiration for the commercial podium and public spaces was Java’s natural setting; lush jungle and stone surrounded by expansive ocean,” said David Rogers, design director at Jerde.

If the developer wins the bid, construction will start imminently.

Also this year, MVRDV completed a library inside a glass pyramid and a building covered in QR codes.

See all our stories about MVRDV »
See all our stories about Indonesia »

Here’s some extra text from MVRDV:


Peruri 88: MVRDV-Jerde-Arup reveal 360.000m2 green mix use project in Jakarta, Indonesia

An international design team made up of MVRDV (overall design), The Jerde Partnership (commercial podium) and ARUP, together with developer Wijaya Karya – Benhil Property, have collaborated to create Peruri 88 – a new landmark icon for Jakarta. Peruri 88 will be a vertical city in one building combining Jakarta´s need for more green spaces with the need for densification. The tower is a 400 meter tall mix use project with retail, offices, housing, a luxury hotel, four levels of parking, a wedding house, a mosque, imax theatres and an outdoor amphitheatre. The team presented the plans to city and site owner Peruri as part of a developer’s bid competition for the prominent site at Jl. Palatehan 4 Jakarta.

Peruri 88 combines Jakarta´s need for green space with Jakarta´s need for higher densities whilst respecting the typologies of the current urban fabric. The site, which is owned by Peruri, is located at Jl. Palatehan 4 Jakarta, a block formerly used as Mint which sits right next to a future metro station.

The mix use project offers a great variety of office and housing typologies, from large office surfaces to living/working units, from lofts to townhouses, from terraced houses to patio living. Each of these stacked urban blocks comes with a semi-public roof park, an abundance of gardens, playgrounds, spas, gym’s, outdoor restaurants and swimming pools available to the inhabitants and office employees. The tall trees on these decks will provide extra shade whilst the height of the parks allows for a cooling breeze.The high rise, a luxury hotel from the 44th floor to the 86th floor, rises from a platform with park, swimming pool and the marriage house. On top of the hotel a panoramic restaurant and viewing platform complete the structure at the 88th floor.

The commercial podium which is located from levels B2 to the 7th floor is designed by Jerde Partnership with MVRDV. Its most characteristic feature is the central plaza, sheltered by the stacked volumes of the mid-rise it offers multiple outdoor layers of restaurants and shadow and natural ventilation. A series of escalators connects the shopping and retail centre to the parks of the mid-rise.

The Peruri 88 commercial podium reflects the city’s historic islands with reflective bodies of water and landscape traversing the public street levels, while integrating a sunken garden plaza.

The buildings structure has five principle cores and is less complex than visually apparent. Four traditional constructed tall towers rise up between which bridging floors will be constructed. Arup will continue to develop and rationalise the structure to satisfy regulations and the budget.

A number of international hotel, retail and apartment operators have shown interest in the building and if the team wins construction will start swiftly.

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The Guangyun Entrance by Plasma Studio

The Guangyun Entrance by GroundLab

This illuminated, webbed steel structure at the 2011 Xi’an International Horticultural Expo in China is the second project to be featured on Dezeen this week by London architects Plasma Studio.

The Guangyun Entrance by GroundLab

The structure is named the The Guangyun Entrance, as it frames the main visitor entrance to the expo site.

The Guangyun Entrance by GroundLab

It is anticipated that climbing plants will grow over the trellis frame and create a green roof.

The Guangyun Entrance by GroundLab

See all of our stories about the 2011 Xi’an Expo on Dezeen »
More projects by Plasma Studio on Dezeen »

The following details are from the architects:


The Guangyun Entrance

The Guangyun Entrance operates as infrastructure and fulfils the role of bridging the main road that dissects the site. It channels visitors from the plaza at the entrance where they congregate and orient themselves, plotting their direction. Their path over the bridge rises 7m and offers vantage points to gain an overview of the different zones of the Expo displayed ahead.
Bridge design often has two lanes: one for incoming and another for outgoing traffic. However in this case, the flows are uneven and change throughout the day.

The Guangyun Entrance by GroundLab

With inspiration taken from rush hour escalator traffic in the London Underground stations, the bridge has been devised with three lanes, so the middle lane can switch direction from incoming in the morning to outgoing later in the day.
 These three bands read as interwoven braids, and together with a surrounding trellis roofed structure, they give the appearance of bands of landscape peeling off and rejoining the mass at the end of the journey. Between the three bands are green areas and a water feature for visitors to stop, rest and enjoy the view.

The Guangyun Entrance by GroundLab

Above, an open trellis steel structure forms the shading device that is intended to become naturally overgrown with climbing plants, thus forming a green roof, and suggests the theme of the Expo to distant onlookers.
The lightweight roof has been developed together with Arup engineers as an innovative integral structure that appears as beams seemingly free-floating in space.

The Guangyun Entrance has been conceived as a landbridge with a tensegrity trellice structure that will gradually become overgrown by greenery.

International Competition: 1. Prize, 2009
Project: 2009-2011
Opening: April 28th 2011
Completion: March 2011
Client: Chan-Ba Ecological District
Architecture: Plasma Studio, BIAD
Landscape Design: GroundLab, LAUR Studio, Beijing Forestry
University 
Engineers: John Martin and Associates, Arup


See also:

.

The Creativity Pavilion
by Plasma Studio
Hotel
by Plasma Studio
Tetris Haus
by Plasma Studio

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