COWI has developed a number of green solutions to reduce the energy consumption of a skyscraper project in China. The buildings currently are only on the virtual drawing board, but designers hope to bring it to life.
Perched on the hilltops overlooking Beijing, the five skyscrapers of the Bamboo Towers construction project should have a bright future.
Feng Shui meets green design
The classic Chinese aesthetics of Feng Shui predict that such a lofty address brings happiness. Designers have ensured as well that the project draws on the most modern environmental technology to reduce the skyscrapers’ energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
Although the project is currently only found on the virtual drawing board, the design has all of the hallmarks of a real project.
Cutting emissions
Designers at architect firm Arkitema and COWI believe the project can make a contribution to reducing China’s massive environmental problems. Energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the towers are cut by 90 per cent compared to similar construction projects in the area.
A model building
The head of Arkitema China, Per Feldthaus, believes projects like Bamboo Towers are sorely needed in China.
“The country has a need to build an enormous number of new buildings over the next 20 years when millions of people will be migrating from the countryside to cities,” says Feldthaus.
“Projects such as the Bamboo Towers can really make a difference when it comes to reducing the construction industry’s CO2 emissions,” he adds, noting the architecture provides both high energy efficiency and good living quarters for people.
Form and function
COWI and Arkitema have co-operated closely on the energy building concept so form and function supplement each other. The energy solutions are specified and calculated by COWI. Project manager and Head of Department, Jens Ole Hansen, highlights that the use of passive technology – which has yet to win widespread acceptance in China – secures major energy savings.
“Passive technology such as using energy-saving window panes and drawing on the sun’s energy can provide savings of 50 to 70 per cent,” says Hansen. “Savings reach up to 90 per cent with active technology such as solar panels, solar cells and a high technology heating system.”
Gardens on the roof
The Bamboo Towers project was warmly received at a Danish-Chinese climate conference in China in October. Now the only thing lacking is a contractor for the ambitious construction project, which will be ‘green’ in a literal sense, as designers have plotted in flowerbeds and miniature rice fields among the five towers.
By Eva Isager
Published: 27.11.2008
