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Eco Architecture: A-Cero designs sustainable research center for Spain

A-Cero

The world at large is relatively unaware of the looming environmental crisis which most of us are bound to face. However, there is no dearth of designers, who are coming up with designs to combat the same. The modern-day architectural design concepts like A-Cero embrace both the concepts of modernity and sustainability. These are the types of concepts that we are most likely to see in the future. With highly sophisticated designs, these architectural wonders can obviate any energy crisis as they can work completely on renewable energy. Let us see all these designs.

A-Cero

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Eco Factor: Research center for renewable energy sources powered by renewable energy.

Madrid-based architecture firm A-Cero has won a competition to design a research center for renewable energy sources in Murcia, Spain. They have come up with a plan that harnesses renewable energy to the maximum. Furthermore, the building designed by A-Cero will blur the gap between architecture and free space. It would incorporate several energy-generating and saving systems.

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The 9000-square-meter complex will constitute teaching areas, library, audio-visual, auditorium, administrative area and various other facilities including parking. The horizontal plane of the plot bends to produce fissures. These will serve as spaces to access the center and exterior spaces of the teaching areas.

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Furthermore, the complex will have several green roofs and will provide space for solar, photovoltaic panels and other systems of clean energies and energy saving. A-Cero is designed to respect the environment with high sustainability grade.

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Via: Bustler

Some more eco-architecture design concepts like A-Cero

1. ModCell’s BaleHaus

BaleHaus mainly consists of locally available materials. This housing solution uses cladding panels and provides excellent insulating system which is compliant to PassivHaus specifications. Build, rebuild, reuse and recycle is the simple concept of any BaleHaus. BaleHaus reduces the heating demand by 80 percent with the use of ModCell insulation system. All the electrical fittings and appliances are energy efficient and help in reducing energy consumption by 19 percent.

The construction materials used are renewable and efficiently replace materials such as concrete and steel. In addition, these materials absorb and store carbon and give back oxygen atoms to the atmosphere. This is making it a good example of increased sustainability and lesser carbon footprint in the environment.

BaleHaus has adopted the use of wind turbines and biomass powered power and heat plant to provide electric energy. Moreover, it also consciously reduces carbon emission with community projects such as car pools, transport systems, local food production and efficient waste processing. In addition, BaleHaus design is intelligent, easy to operate and significantly reduces carbon emissions without compromising the quality and lifestyle of people.

2. Green float project

Shimizu Corporation dreams of building an entire island that is completely environment-friendly. This botanical city aims to be carbon negative that constantly ingests carbon. The residences and services will be at an elevation of 1000 m above the equator, truly making it a City in the Sky. Moreover, the elevation will maintain the temperature all round the year between 26 and 28 degrees centigrade.

Next-generation technologies are planned to be implemented that will remove fossil and increase thermal insulation. Power generation uses natural resources such as waves, wind and space solar power satellites. In addition, it also aspires for 100% food sufficiency and conversion of waste into energy, which makes the city totally self-reliant and eco-friendly.

3. Timber stadium

With latest development in technology and new innovations, the construction industry has seen a sea of change with respect to the method and materials used for architecture. The Timber stadium has a huge architecture with less materials and waste. The structure consists of huge cross-laminated timber panels. It has a steel cable roof which spans up to 100 m. It has 50 percent of ETFE variable skin roof and 50 percent of composite plywood. This structure has set a good example of carbon-negative timber structures for the future. Cross-laminated panels produce zero waste. One can light and project the stadium to create enhanced effects on the building. This proposal is an ambitious step toward all-timber stadium structure.

4. One main street interior

As a cool initiative towards eco-friendly ways of building, an investment group wants the entire interiors of the building to adopt ways that contribute toward a greener environment. Walls, ceilings, floors, door handles and furniture are made of forested plywood. This conception is miles apart from the usual industrial made constructions. The design offers high flexibility to attain the abnormal arches and curves. It has made deliberate use of carbon negative architecture elements such as glass and plylam to beat the normal mode of building construction.

5. The Langley Academy by Foster + Partners

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Ensuring the use of sustainable technologies in the field of education, Foster + Partners have completed The Langley Academy in Slough, England. The three-story building is designed with a full-height atrium and provides assembly space for 1100 students.

The academy features two-story pods that house the academy’s 10 science laboratories, reinforcing the importance of science teaching. The building also features a dedicated sports and culture block that contains specialist facilities for music and drama.

The building is designed to save 20% in water consumption, by harnessing rainwater and gray water, which is filtered for reuse in sanitation and irrigation. Moreover, the building’s energy-efficient design and the use of solar collectors on the roof help save 150 tons of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere annually.

6. Harvest vertical farm

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In the era where more and more people have given up their country lives and started living in modern skyscrapers, architects have started envisioning a future where animals and plants too will become modern and live the human way. Romses Architects have won the Vancouver’s 2030 Challenge with a vertical farm designed for animals and plants.

The Harvest Green Tower will make it easier to raise cows, chickens and fish to  in an urban city along with varieties of fruits and vegetables. Apart from greening Vancouver’s skyline, the vertical farm will carry photovoltaic glazing and incorporate small and large-scale wind turbines to turn the structure into a solar and wind energy generating infrastructure. Excess energy from these systems would pass on to the grid for other uses.

Large rainwater harvesting systems will provide all the freshwater the tower needs for all the plants and the animals dwelling inside. The vertical farm would also provide space for agriculture students and scientists to study animals and seeds in a confined environment.

7. Cumberland Island Nature Preserve

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Folks over at Vitale Design Studio have proposed a stunning building for Cumberland Island Nature Preserve that showcases the worth of sustainability and green design in buildings that display the goodness of nature. The building incorporates various passive design techniques coupled with technology to ensure a reduction in carbon footprint.

The building doesn’t make use of hi-tech systems for conserving energy, but is actually based on the use of simple and sustainable design like collection of rainwater and renewable energy generation.

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