Skidmore Owings & Merrill, the architectural firm behind New York’s upcoming Freedom Tower, has just announced its intention to build the worlds greenest office building. Located just outside of Paris, the Energy Plus building will be a zero-energy building, consuming no electricity other than what it produces itself. It will accomplish this by having more solar panels on its roof than any other building - producing enough energy to power the entire building and still feed extra back into the grid. Its unique cooling system will take cold water from the river Seine and pump it around the building - eliminating the need for a traditional air conditioner. The building will also utilize cutting edge insulation, reducing amount of electricity consumption per square meter of office space per year to 16 kilowatts, the lowest in the world for a building of its size.
The 70,000 square meter building will house around 5,000 occupants and is expected to cost approximately 25% to 30% more than a traditional ‘non’ green office building.
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Good show, PSFK!
This is the type of inspirational and “there is no box,” type thinking about which I yearn to hear. This along with the design of the termite hill inspired building in Zimbabwe is the kind of design that will truly change the world. I look forward to the next achievement that I’m sure this firm will produce.
Termite hill inspired structure - http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/12/10/building-modelled-on-termites-eastgate-centre-in-zimbabwe/
January 21st, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Its, not it’s.
January 21st, 2008 at 11:05 pm