Thermal storage and leisure facility

Helsinki, Finland

Architects: Carlo Ratti Associati

Hot Heart, Carlo Ratti Associati’s winning design for the Helsinki Energy Challenge, envisions a group of islands that combine thermal energy storage with a destination for recreational activities.

Located off the coast of Helsinki, Hot Heart consists of a set of 10 cylindrical basins, each 225m in diameter, that can hold up to 10 million cubic meters of water. The system converts low- or negative-cost renewable energy into heat, which is stored in the tanks and withdrawn into the city’s heat distribution channels when needed.

The facility doubles up as a leisure destination. Four of its basins are designed as floating forests, featuring tropical rainforests from different ecosystems, which are naturally heated by the basins underneath and enclosed in transparent domes.

“Production of renewable energy is getting cheaper, but storage is still extremely expensive,” says Carlo Ratti, founding partner of Carlo Ratti Associati. “Our idea is to use the giant ‘thermal batteries’ to store energy when prices are at low or even negative levels, and extract it when required by the district heating system when demand is high. In addition, Hot Heart offers a unique experience, bringing the natural and artificial worlds together.”

Hot Heart is planned to enter the master planning phase in 2021 and projected to be fully implemented in 2028.

Office, retail and masterplan

Hangzhou, China

Architects: Bjarke Ingels Group

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has designed the new R&D headquarters for China’s largest smartphone company, Oppo, in the heart of Hangzhou’s Future Sci-Tech City.

Named O-Tower, the building features what BIG calls an ‘infinity loop’ shape with the southern façade sloped downwards in an O-shaped ring. The design aims to maximise solar exposure while also creating self-shading for the building in a bid to reduce energy consumption. Adaptive façade elements help toreduce glare, solar gain and cooling requirements.

Sitting between a natural like and a 10,000 quare metre park, the futuristic tower has a public courtyard at its centre, with a landscaped ground floor extending to the neighbouring waterfront to connect it to surrounding public spaces.

“The design expresses Oppo’s mission of the elevation of life through technological artistry, with an overarching vision of being a sustainable company that contributes to a better world,” BIG said of the project.

Campus

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Architects: WOHA

Singapore-based architecture practice WOHA has designed a sustainable inner-city campus and public park for BRAC University in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which is scheduled for completion in 2021.

Inspired by the region’s Sundarbans, which have separate ecosystems above and below tidal level, the development is divided into two levels. A floating ‘Academia’ above the lake will provide private study places with a large overhanging roof topped by photovoltaic panels that provide shade and power much of the building, including cooling fans. A ground-level public ‘Campus Park’ regenerates an existing polluted swamp into a bio-retention pond with native landscaping.

“The vision is to present an innovative and sustainable inner-city campus that exemplifies tropical design strategies in response to the hot, humid, monsoon climate of the Bangladesh region while demonstrating the sensitive integration of nature and architecture,” WOHA said of the design.

The building’s green walls add up to more than 280,000 square feet of landscaping and act as environmental filters that cut out glare and dust, provide cooling and dampen traffic noise. Breezeways and porous facades direct airflow to sheltered gathering spaces.

“The campus is designed to breathe, with cross ventilation and indirect natural daylighting making tropical learning spaces without air-conditioning possible,” the architects said of the approach.

Residential

Quito, Ecuador

Architects: Ateliers Jean Nouvel

Aquarela is a residential complex designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel for the Cumbayá neighbourhood in Quito, Ecuador.

The development’s nine residential towers are designed to become part of the surrounding landscape. Stone-clad facades covered in native plants blend into the topography of Cumbayá, which sits in a valley on the side of a volcanoeast of the Quito.

The complex covers around 130,000 square metres, of which 15,000 will be covered in vegetation in the form of balconies, vertical gardens, rooftop terraces, walkways and fields.

“The project follows an eco-efficiency matrix that dictates the conscious use of materials, construction systems and technical design, which are developed to generate the least possible impact when it comes to the use of non-renewable resources… demonstrating a commitment to environmental responsibility,” developer Uribe Schwarzkopf said of the design.

“Aquarela is meant to appear as a monolith, to become part of the topography of the Cumbayá valley, and to organically create harmony between the edification and the physical features of the valley rather than disrupt its contours.”

Village

Western Desert, Egypt

Architects: Sarah El Battouty / ECOnsult

ECOnsult’s Bahareya Village is an eco-friendly compound for farm workers in the Egyptian desert, around 450km from Cairo.

The main aim of the design by ECOnsult founder Sarah El Battouty is to provide natural cooling for the residents, as temperatures in the region reach up to 50 degrees Celsius in the summer.

El Battouty created natural cooling by manipulating natural airflow and enhancing shade. Cantilevered shelter for walkways and deep shaded areas in dark colours help to reduce temperatures. Limestone from a nearby quarry was used for cladding. Due to its thermal quality, the material remains cool even when exposed to harsh sunlight. Light-reflective rooftop materials and recycled concrete tiles indoors contribute to the natural cooling effect.

The village’s minimalist concrete structures are set on a base of gravel made from recycled construction waste, while cacti dotted around the village add green elements with minimal irrigation neds.

The design also borrows a technique used by desert communities. Raising the foundations of the buildings creates distance from the heat rising off the ground, which reduces indoor temperatures by up to ten degrees.

“Sustainable housing has existed in indigenous communities for millennia. They include the elements in everything that they do,” El Battouty says of the approach.

Office campus

Saint Petersburg Russia

Architects: UNStudio

UNStudio has designed the extension of software company JetBrains’ St Petersburg office as a ‘modern, immersive campus environment’.

The building, located on the Gulf of Finland waterfront, was designed for the comfort and wellbeing of its 1,000 newly housed employees. A central, vertically stepped indoor atrium connects to an outdoor courtyard and terraces. It creates open community spaces that contrast with the office floors, which offer more private and enclosed spaces for teams and individuals.

“The atrium forms the core of the new JetBrains community, as it creates the conditions for physical, mental, social and environmental health,” UNStudio said of the design.

The façade was designed with sustainability at the core. A transparent zigzag façade around the atrium blocks head gain while maximising natural light. On the rest of the building, a combination of acoustic shading devices, cantilevers and protruding glazed ceramic elements provide shade and reflect light from the sky and the nearby waterfront.