Wallpaper* EcoEdit
Pearl River Tower, China, by SOM
Sustainability poses serious questions. Just as the motor industry has to decide whether cars are actually needed in every situation, the purveyors of high-rise architecture have had to look long and hard at the role of the skyscraper in the modern city. The general consensus is that building tall and green structures takes effort, but the alternative - traditional glass-walled boxes - is anything but eco-friendly. That's why the big firms - Foster, Arup and SOM, HOK and KPF - are researching ways to exploit the advantages of superstructures.
The Pearl River tower in Guangzhou is SOM's solution. Due for completion in 2009, the 309-metre tall tower has a sculpted facade that is intended to channel the high winds created by its height into a set of custom-designed turbines that will provide power, light and heat to the structure. The architects say that the building 'potentially produces as much energy as it consumes.'
Sustainability poses serious questions. Just as the motor industry has to decide whether cars are actually needed in every situation, the purveyors of high-rise architecture have had to look long and hard at the role of the skyscraper in the modern city. The general consensus is that building tall and green structures takes effort, but the alternative - traditional glass-walled boxes - is anything but eco-friendly. That's why the big firms - Foster, Arup and SOM, HOK and KPF - are researching ways to exploit the advantages of superstructures.
The Pearl River tower in Guangzhou is SOM's solution. Due for completion in 2009, the 309-metre tall tower has a sculpted facade that is intended to channel the high winds created by its height into a set of custom-designed turbines that will provide power, light and heat to the structure. The architects say that the building 'potentially produces as much energy as it consumes.'
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art 15 Jun 2007
101 beautiful, innovative but environmentally friendly designs - from the worlds of architecture, beauty, fashion, food, packaging, product design, transport and travel - from all over the world.
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