Arkitema project to the climate in Beijing cut 90% of energy
In addition to acting as co-organizers of the recent Danish/Chinese climate conference in Beijing, the CEO of Arkitema China, Per Feldthaus unveiled a virtual high-rise residential project. The project is an example of how sustainable construction can create a sharp reduction in the CO2 emissions of the Chinese construction sector.
On the Climate Conference held in Beijing on 23 October this year with, among others Danish Premier Anders Fogh Rasmussen and the Chinese Vice-Minister Xie Zhenhua as keynote speakers, Arkitema presented a virtual housing project stipulated to be located in Beijing. The project, Bamboo Towers, has been created in cooperation between Arkitema and the Danish engineering company COWI and designed entirely as a real project and has then then been subjected to an analysis by experts from the consulting house McKinsey. It turns out that by using passive technologies alone the buildings get a CO2 saving of 69% compared with existing Chinese high-rise buildings, and if you add active technologies such as solar panels, and geothermal heating, a saving of 90% can be achieved. Quantities that really matter considering that China expects upward of 300 million people to migrate from rural to urban areas in the next 20 years.
"As architects we can influence the climate debate, because we know how we can address the totality of the problems and achieve savings. We can combine the various energy producers with our knowledge of good housing, and we can involve all stakeholders in a network, and provide complete solutions – from an individual building to an entire city, "says Per Feldthaus.
Sustainable architecture - how?
The fundamental idea behind the Bamboo Towers Project is that we think a building as an organism that exchange energy with its surroundings and its users. The Bamboo Towers must not be just skyscrapers in the city, but high rise housing integrated in the city. Integrated in the lives of people and functioning as a medium for integrating nature in urban life.
Our proposal is based on context analyses, which, besides the obvious focus on environmental sustainability also have a focus on social sustainability. When we build in China, it is important to integrate the Feng Shui tradition and therefore as a starting point we have made five buildings, on five hill tops, which according Feng Shuis principles imply happiness. The five towers, built as compact blocks are located in five types of landscapes, each of which takes up a principle of Feng Shui. One landscape is densely planted with trees in forest-like formations, one landscape with a soft terracing evokes Chinese agriculture with its green paddy fields. There is an urban landscape, a landscape with a focus on water and a finally landscape with flowering meadows as main theme . All gardens equipped with features that suit the individual themes.
Close to the architectural idea
An important active and sustainable architectural element is the compact blocks with continuous atri that wedge them selves vertically through the building ending at the top of the skyscrapers. The atrium serves as a big lung, which draws sunlight and air into the middle of the building and by using mirrors along the internal cladding also draws daylight all the way down through the building. The atri also provide natural ventilation, for example helping cool the buildings in the hot Beijing summer nights.. The atrium maximizes the passive sustainability features.
At the top of each block is the whole roof is covered with solar panels. In addition to beig linked to the sky through the atri and the solar panels each block has "roots" in the ground. Geothermal drilling helps the buildings keep the right comfort temperatures by exchanging hot and cold water.
Each building is full of natural surfaces, which all capture and distribute energy and thus reduces the total CO2 emissions radically, in an architecture that has focus on combining space, materials and technology to create the highest possible energy efficiency and quality of life for its users.
Garden in the building - building in the garden
Not only are all the towers located in man made gardens: The towers are also planted both horizontally and vertically. In the corners of the blocks we establish visible gardens - vertical gardens designed to emphasize the vertical in the bamboo tube and serve as green spaces, ventilating and purifying the air in the buildings. Additionally we add horizontal gardens, which will act as shared exterior spaces, which the residents can use as active meeting points. The horizontal gardens also help breaking the turbulence that would otherwise occur down along the buildings. Once again, an image of bamboo plants - here as an echo of the sharp growth rings that characterize the bamboo trunk. In addition, all apartments have smaller external spaces, which act as a winter garden that can be opened up during summer and act as a vent and as a green lung.
The residents must always be close to something that grows and gives life – close to green growth.