Tag Archives: solar energy

This solar-powered luxury resort has 100 sustainably designed villas spread over 90 islands that boost eco-toursim!

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Nothing will stop me from dreaming about endlessly traveling the world again. So I am building out a 10 year travel plan to make up for this pandemic and I am adding the Red Sea Project by Kengo Kuma & Associates to it – who wouldn’t want to spend time in an oasis of luxury villas in Saudi Arabia? The project was commissioned by the Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) hence the name of the resort and it aims to set new standards in sustainable development while making its mark as a global tourism destination.

This ambitious resort will span over 90 currently undeveloped islands between the cities of Umluj and Al Wajh on the west coast of Saudi Arabia. There will be 100 spacious villas on the Ummahat Al Shaykh Island with low-rise curved roofs and curvilinear facades that change based on whether the villa is built on land or over water. Due to the relatively flat terrain of the island, the team recommended a design that would work with low, horizontal volumes and therefore the gently curves the roof find a harmonious relationship with the ground. The land villas emulate the sand dunes while the ones on the water called coral villas showcase a spiraled form that offers 360-degree-views of the sea. The team also designed two specialty restaurants, one on land and one over water that will have a curved, shell-like canopy, as well as a community building, a spa, a reception pavilion, housekeeping villas, and a guest jetty.

The Tokyo-based architecture studio is all about embracing the natural setting and drawing inspiration from the existing landscape as well as the rich heritage of the region. The natural setting compliments the architectural language and frames the buildings with artificial sand dunes and locally sourced vegetation. “Our design for the island buildings was inspired by the beautifully natural occurring elements of the island. The relatively flat terrain of the island suggested a design that works with low, horizontal volumes and that we should look to gently curve the roof of the buildings to find a harmonious relationship with the ground,” said the team at Kengo Kuma & Associates. The studio chose to use salt-resistant Accoya wood, suitable for the saline-high environment, and clay plaster for their designs.

Meanwhile, TRSDC is developing a range of policies that focus on zero-waste-to-landfill, zero discharge to the sea, and zero single-use plastics. The company has also made a commitment to achieve 100% carbon neutrality as they want to boost the eco-tourism industry using the Red Sea Project. The villas and all their surrounding structures will run completely on renewable energy without being dependent on the national grid – a decision supported by the leadership of the Kingdom as it encourages a balanced development of their pristine local area and entices international tourists to visit places outside the famous cities. The teams decided to minimize the use of concrete as it contributes 8% to the world’s carbon emissions. They will facilitate offsite manufacturing to reduce construction timeframes and waste. “The remote and pristine site suggested the use of prefabrication systems. We are using a mix of volumetric and panelized prefabrication,” added the team.

The Red Sea Project is a luxury retreat that is being built as part of a large-scale infrastructure focused on renewable energy, water conservation, and re-using resources to minimize waste. “The best location for the water buildings was chosen through accurate bathymetry investigation, biodiversity studies, and marine engineering studies, in an attempt to prevent any damage to the coral reef and avoiding interfering with the sea currents,” explained the team at Kengo Kuma & Associates. The grand plan even includes a special airport designed by Foster + Partners exclusively for this destination! The first phase of construction is set to be completed soon and a part of the resort will open in 2022 which will have five developed islands as well as two inland sites. By 2030, the destination will be complete with 22 islands and six inland sites. The Japanese architecture studio has taken all measures in their design to respectful of the extreme environmental sensitivity of the region by choosing a light-touch approach that will have the least detrimental impact on the rich biodiversity of the islands.

Designer: Kengo Kuma & Associates

This sustainable “vertiport” powered by photovoltaic panels will use air taxis to boost eco-tourism!

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It is 2021 and for some weird reason when we entered the 2000s we all dreamed now would be when we would have flying cars or “air taxis” if you want to make it sound more realistic. However, there is one thing we didn’t include in our imaginative stories, these flying cars or air taxis will pick us up and also land in specific places only unlike Uber or Lyft that comes right outside your door. Keeping the future and these logistical details in mind, Chinese air mobility company EHang announced plans for a “vertiport” in Italy called Baobab designed by Giancarlo Zema Design Group (GZDG). Baobab will be an innovative eco-sustainable vertiport that produces energy and recharge the drones wirelessly!

EHang is developing an eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) vehicle which will be capable of picking up one to two passengers (initial model) then autonomously flying them to their destination. It is actually not a distant dream, EHang has actually already delivered 40 functioning air taxis to customers for testing, training, and demonstration purposes. So the company joined hands with GZDG to build a vertiport that has been inspired by the African baobab tree. The 30-meter-tall (98-ft) tower will have 360-degree windows and will be constructed from steel + laminated wood. The passengers will take an elevator to the platform for takeoff and landing on the roof terrace. Below the terrace, there is a waiting room as well as a 200 sq m (2,153 sq ft) panoramic restaurant that will offer views of the lush landscape. The vertiport will feature several photovoltaic panels that will generate over 300 kilowatts of power per day. On the roof, there are green areas with seats and three landing areas for electric drones that are recharged wirelessly from the landing pad floor which will feature some of the non-slip photovoltaic panels integrated with LED lights for night lighting and signage.  Baobab, the three independent plug-and-play charging stations, and two-passenger EH216 eVTOLs will run on the power provided by clean energy.

Baobab is a vertiport designed with the intention of boosting the eco-tourism industry – air taxis will pick passengers up at the tower and take them on sightseeing tours of the surrounding countryside. While the exact location for this project is yet to be announced, the EHang is already working on additional structures for Europe and Southeast Asia.

Designer:Giancarlo Zema Design Group

This sustainable floating luxury hotel powered by clean energy has a revolving platform & is mobile!

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This Eco-Floating Hotel in Qatar is raising the bar for eco-friendly travel and tourism! Powered by wind + solar energy it also features tidal sustainability mechanisms and a revolving restaurant to give you ALL the best views. Designed by Hayri Atak Architectural Design Studio (HAADS), the hotel would span over 35,000 sq m (376,000 sq ft) and house 152 rooms. The giant glass donut-shaped structure has a lush green cover integrated into its exterior and a mesmerizing indoor waterfall with a huge vortex-like glass roof.

Sustainability is at the core of this project and all of the design details are centered around it. The vortex shape of the roof will actually be used to collect rainwater for irrigation and more while solar panels + wind turbines will provide clean energy. Even the water current will be harnessed with a tidal energy system so when the hotel turns it can produce power similar to a dynamo. The hotel also intends to purify seawater and treat the wastewater it produces so it doesn’t harm the environment. Speaking of waste management, the team aims to develop waste separation units for efficiency and to use them as fertilizer in the landscape for the recycling of substances such as food waste.

With the aim to create maximum benefit towards maintaining ecological balance, the hotel will use a green energy production method called vawtau (vertical axis wind turbine and umbrella) which works as a wind turbine on the vertical axis and it has a function as a sun umbrella on the coastal band. Up to 25 kW of electrical energy can be obtained from each of the 55 vawtau modules which use wind flow caused by temperature difference in sea and land as its working principle. The greenery will help in regulating the temperature while also maintaining the flow of fresh air naturally.

The hotel will be located just off the shore and on a series of floating platforms and guests can access it via the 140-degree connecting pier, a boat, or a helicopter. The rotating platform will move very slowly – one revolution will take 24 hours – so guests won’t be dizzy and can enjoy the amenities like the spa, the pool, mini-golf, and the gym. The rotating movement is controlled by a dynamic positioning system that consists of a series of thrusters and propellers just like the ones that help ships stay on the right course. A luxurious 700 m2 lobby sits in the center featuring transparent vertical surfaces that let in natural light and give a light, airy, flowing visual effect. Each room comes with its own balcony and will offer different perspectives of the hotel and the views as it rotates slowly.

What makes it interesting is that although Eco-Floating Hotel is a project whose first leg is planned to take place in Qatar, the team is designing it in a way that it can be taken to different places with special mobile features. “Our team is working and studying with technical consultants and experts from different fields. This project adopts the motto of minimum energy loss and zero waste as a principle according to the design approach it has put forward. Due to its characteristic moving feature, it generates electrical energy by rotating around its position according to the water flow and provides users with different perspective experiences,” says HAADS.

It was inspired by the sea with which it is associated in every sense especially in its shape which was guided by whirlpools. Whirlpools form a rotation around themselves in a regular flow and that is reflected in the hotel’s shape which seems to have risen with its borders and evolved into a structure. The idea of the whirlpool also inspired the rotating platform and revolves around itself within the framework of controls in order to ensure electrical energy efficiency and everchanging panoramic views. Eco-Floating Hotel aims to minimize its intervention in the ecological balance by not using fossil fuels at any stage. These are all ambitious integrations and HAADS mentioned that feasibility and technical studies are currently ongoing to try and make this a reality by 2025.

Designer: Hayari Atak Architectural Design Studio

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This house made of wood, straw, and cork is a great example of modern, sustainable architectural design!

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Somewhere on the outskirts of a small village in Italy, a couple of computer scientists call a simple farmhouse, built from wood, straw, and cork, home. Before either of us get any ideas, this isn’t a modern take on “The Three Little Pigs.” LCA Architetti, an architecture firm based in Milan, has finished work on The House of Wood, Straw, and Cork– a farmhouse-style home fittingly named for being primarily constructed from wood, straw, and cork.

The two-story farmhouse has a prefabricated timber structure that reflects the style of neighboring farmhouses and barns located in the immediate area. Blending with the surrounding countryside, The House of Wood, Straw, and Cork dons a grainy exterior with cladding formed from cork, a type of insulating material harvested from the bark of cork oak trees. The home is further insulated through the use of straw, which is traditionally used as an insulator for other rural dwellings like barns and henhouses. The straw insulation consists of repurposed discarded rice plants handed over by nearby farmers in the area.

Sustainability was a top priority in constructing The House of Wood, Straw, and Cork, and the house’s commitment to energy-efficiency is exhibited through the recycled material used for insulation, as well as the cluster of solar panels found on the home’s roof. Coupling the use of recycled straw and cork for insulation with photovoltaics for solar energy, The House of Wood, Straw, and Cork stands as a self-powered home, decreasing the overall consumption of energy and emissions of greenhouse gases like CO2.

The House of Wood, Straw, and Cork was built for a young couple of computer scientists who longed to work closer to nature and live a more sustainable lifestyle. To find harmony with the natural surroundings of Magnago, Italy, The House of Wood, Straw, and Cork is a sustainable house characterized by simple architecture. Everything from the materials used for construction to the chosen methods of insulation is dedicated to preserving the home’s natural surroundings.

Designer: LCA Architetti

The combination of straw insulation and cork cladding works to keep The House of Wood, Straw, and Cork both warm and eco-friendly.

Cork is a naturally durable, recyclable, and insulation construction material.

On one side of The House of Wood, Straw, and Cork a large, glass-paned window merge into the roof to provide additional skylight inside.

The two-story home features a living room at its center with high ceilings and an unobstructed view of the surrounding countryside.

Inside, a calming mix of natural smoothed over wood and cooled down stone walls enhance the home’s simple design.

Chromatic shading flows throughout the house, allowing for sharp angles to bring out the darker and brighter shades from the natural wood accents.

This sustainable RV features solar panels, rainwater harvesting systems, cork flooring & a green roof!

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ERA Architects is an innovative studio in Barcelona championing sustainable tourism with its Pinea Mobile Ecological RV! The RV uses natural and sustainable materials in its construction along with other eco-friendly features like solar panels and rainwater harvesting systems. Currently, Pinea is a prototype currently located in Mas els Igols retreat in the Penedés winery region of Spain – I, for one, would never move it from there but you can. Eco-tourism is already looking great!

The prototype uses built-in systems for solar energy and rainwater harvesting but what makes it special is its unique green roof. It includes a single solar panel that produces up to 50W retained in a battery to use for charging smartphones and lighting inside the RV. ERA Architect’s design team also mentioned the battery system manufacturer in France gives a percentage of sales to a nonprofit in Africa. The architects sourced different elements for the prototype from different local regions like the green roof is from, the textile manufacturer is from Barcelona, and the metal works have come from Lleida. Pinea also features a specialized system of trays that harvest rainwater for the green roof which is thriving Catalonian vegetation and substrate. This system can hold up to 100 liters of water at a time!

Pinea’s exterior fabric can be unzipped to let in the fresh air and sunlight or rolled up for privacy. The fabric is made in Catalonia using a water-saving dying process and is breathable water-repellent material. Now for the most concerning part about camping – mosquitos – the Pinea RV comes with a built-in mosquito net to keep you safe at all times. The RV comes with a large bed, a table, chairs, and some storage furniture crafted from certified wood (same as the one used to make the walls) and sustainable cork material. Another unique thing about this RV is its cork flooring! The designers also chose to use cork stoppers instead of isolation gravel on the green roof. The team’s aim was to design a self-sufficient eco-suite on wheels and they absolutely came through with the Pinea Mobile Ecological RV!

Designer: ERA Architects

JAMES DYSON award-winning window uses crop waste to capture UV light for renewable energy

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Sustainability is the next big movement when it comes to design, it is something every industry will have to apply and one of the most interesting parts of it is material exploration – what substitutes can we use or tweaks can we make to optimize our resources for the betterment of the climate? Fossil fuels continue to account for over 81% of global energy production according to the International Energy Agency and if we continue to burn fossil fuels at the current rate, global supplies of gas and oil will deplete by 2060.

To make sure we are prepared for change, we need to focus on accessible and effective renewable alternatives (like Quantum Dots). This year’s James Dyson Award winner in the sustainability category attempts to answer their question with an innovative solar energy-harvesting window made of recycled materials. The AuREUS system uses technology created from upcycled crop waste that helps walls/windows absorb stray UV light from sunlight and convert it to clean renewable electricity – absolute genius!

Designed by Carvey Ehren Maigue of Mapua University, these panels can be crafted into windows or walls which will harvest solar energy and convert it into electricity. Three things that made me instantly fall in love with this design are 1) clean renewable energy 2) using crop waste and 3) lower electricity bills. AuRUES was inspired by the phenomenon of the aurora lights which is a whimsical natural process that occurs when luminescent particles in the upper atmosphere absorb energy from UV and gamma radiation and emit it as visible light. The panels mimic this process by embedding similar luminescent particles in resin so that when the sunlight hits the panel it absorbs the UV and produces visible light. The light is then directed towards the edges of the panel where regular photovoltaic cells collect the energy to turn it into electricity. The colors of the luminescent particles come from dyes that were made from waste crops which makes this a closed-loop system.

The current renewable energy solutions can only generate electricity in the right environmental conditions. For example, solar panels can only capture and convert visible light into renewable energy and must be facing the sun to do so. Even solar farms need to be built horizontally which takes up space that could actually be used for cultivation or other resources. By using AuREUS, it eliminates the need to have certain conditions to harness solar energy which makes it more efficient and accommodating to various spaces.

“As a farmer, I see great potential in this technology to generate clean renewable energy. AuREUS System Technology conserves space using pre-existing structures, utilizes current resources and waste streams, and supports local agricultural communities,” says James Dyson. By harvesting UV radiation AuREUS opens a gateway to increase the potential of solar energy as conventional solar cells miss that part of the spectrum.

Apart from lowering costs, mitigating climate change, and supporting local agricultural communities, these panels will also reduce people’s exposure to radiation that can cause serious diseases and help in reducing the urban carbon footprint with sustainable architecture. “I want to create a better form of renewable energy that uses the world’s natural resources, is close to people’s lives, forging achievable paths and rallying towards a sustainable and regenerative future,” says Maigue. His invention is both future-looking and problem-solving for the present.

Designer: Carvey Ehren Maigue

This floating modular greenhouse can help coastal communities avoid a food crisis in 2050!

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By 2050, the global demand for food is expected to be 60-70% higher than today at the rate our population is increasing. There will be a scarcity of water and cultivable land and we need to solve this issue before we enter a global food crisis. Agriculture is already being threatened by climate change where in some parts things like rising sea levels are causing floods in fertile land and the weather is making it more challenging to grow crops in other parts. To avoid a major food crisis, we need to come up with alternative solutions for agriculture like this floating greenhouse which can give nature time to recuperate and us some time to switch to more sustainable habits.

Studiomobile and Pnat came up with the Jellyfish Barge which is a floating, modular greenhouse designed especially for coastal communities and can help them cultivate crops without relying on soil, fresh water and chemical energy consumption. The innovative greenhouse uses solar energy to purify salt, brackish or polluted water. There are 7 solar desalination units planted around the perimeter and are able to produce 150 liters (39.6 gallons) of clean fresh water everyday from the existing water body the greenhouse is floating on. The simple materials, easy self-constrction and low-cost technologies make it accessible to many communities who may not have a big fund.  The module has a 70 square meter wooden base that floats on 96 recycled plastic drums and supports a glass greenhouse where the crops grow. Inside it there is a high-efficiency hydroponic cultivation method that helps increase water savings by 70% compared to traditional hydroponic systems. The design takes the natural phenomenon of solar distillation and replicates it on a smaller scale for community crop cutlivation. The barge’s modular design allows it to be scaled up or down, and even be customized to fit various applications like floating farm-to-table restaurants, floating farmer’s markets, or floating community gardens that may travel between pick-up points.

This octagonal structure can empower families and communities that live in coastal areas or near a body of water to grow their own food, without the need for land in a time where we are all exploring more hybridized methods of food production – like urban rooftop farms – that doesnt rely on farmland. “In a future where perhaps a good portion of our food may not be grown in soil, this crop-growing barge is an engaging design that combines the best new-fangled approaches of food production, creating a possible solution that is powered by renewable energy, addresses the increasing scarcity of arable land, and can drift to wherever it needs to be. Its multifunctional attitude allows citizens to enjoy a weekly marketplace, allows farmers who manage the structure to rely on a profitable business, and creates resilience and social innovation for the community,” says the team of designers and plant scientists working on the Jellyfish Barge. It is an affordable, transportable and replicable solution to grow food within the cities. The Jellyfish Barge is also a future business opportunity for the stakeholders – with the right ones it can guarantee the economic sustainability of the project in a way that benefits local communities as well as reaps profits for investors all while doing good for our planet.

Designers: Studiomobile and Pnat

These origami greenhouses reduce plastic waste using a sustainable material: inflatable bamboo!

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You will find that in a lot of Southeast Asian countries people still use the traditional plastic-covered greenhouses and they are super popular in India which is the world’s second-biggest agricultural country. Polythene sheets are cheap and easy especially for those in developing countries like India where over 60% of the population depends on agriculture for income. We know that plastic is bad (and still find it so hard to remove it from our lifestyles), but most people in these countries don’t fully grasp that and the quickest way to convince them is by providing them with an accessible sustainable alternative while educating them simultaneously. This way we fast-track their sustainable journey and Designer Eliza Hague has already come up with the alternative solution – inflatable bamboo greenhouses!

Hague is a student at the University of Westminster where she is pursuing her Masters in Architecture. Her design features shellac-coated bamboo to emphasize the use of biomimicry in different disciplines of design – in her case it is providing eco-friendly architectural solutions inspired by nature. For the main structure, Hague drew inspiration from the Mimosa Pudica plant which closes its leaves when it senses danger and that is how she came up with collapsible beams featuring inflatable hinges. It gave the greenhouse a unique origami effect (it actually looks like paper too!) and also enables the structure to be easily flat-packed for transportation/storage. Rows of these bamboo-paper greenhouses can be connected to shared houses constructed from the soil, which has a high thermal mass, providing shelter from extreme temperatures in India. Hague envisions that the greenhouses would be shared by multiple families and would provide each family member with enough food to be self-sufficient, creating communal greenhouse villages in the city’s more rural and isolated areas.

“The tutors in Design Studio 10 encourage you to analyze what it means to be truly sustainable in architecture, rather than integrating sustainability as a generic requirement which is often seen throughout the industry. This helped to develop my project into something that challenges the suitability of widely used materials and current lifestyles. In light of the pandemic, the idea that architecture can provide spaces to encourage self-sufficient living has become more prevalent as we rely on supermarkets more than ever. This notion stimulated the desire to create a design that not only responded to its local environment but proposed innovative solutions to these challenges,” says Hague as she continues to develop her design so it can someday be an accessible alternative that will reduce plastic waste and educate people at the same time. Also, who wouldn’t love a cool, sustainable, origami dome as a greenhouse?

Designer: Eliza Hague

Polythene is used all over India because it is cost-effective for the rural demographic but it needs to be replaced each year which generates tonnes of plastic waste. With Hague’s alternative, the environmental impact can be minimized as the design uses locally sourced bamboo and natural resins extracted from trees.

The bamboo is then coated with shellac resin which makes it weather-resistant and gives it a texture similar to paper.

To set it up, all one has to do is inflate the greenhouse with air, cover it up with the bamboo-shellac material and fit the expandable fin-like black solar balloons that would sit between the inflatable beams and cladding for the hinges to facilitate natural ventilation based on the heat from the sun.

bamboo greenhouse

As each individual requires 40 meters-squared of greenhouse space to grow enough food to maintain self-sufficiency, the concept accommodates the potential different typologies based on two-person, three-person, and four-person homes.

Transparent solar panels + ‘Quantum Dots’ will harvest energy on an architectural scale!

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Have you seen the movie Skyscraper (yes, the one with The Rock)? Now imagine that tall glass building being a source of energy for the whole structure instead of just using energy! This futuristic vision could soon be a reality and the key lies in the creation of transparent solar cells which, when placed between the panes of double-glazed windows, harvest energy from the sun – this is the solar panel version of Harry’s invisible cloak if you will. Also, can you imagine phone screens made with this? We would eliminate portable charging!

Researchers have set a new efficiency record for color-neutral, transparent solar cells by achieving 8.1% efficiency and 43.3% transparency with an organic, or carbon-based design rather than conventional silicon. Glass on buildings have a coating to reflect and absorb some of the light for reducing brightness/heat inside and rather than discarding that energy away, transparent solar panels could harness it. For context, the previous transparent solar cells have light utilization efficiencies of approximately 2-3% which makes 8.1% a big leap. “Windows, which are on the face of every building, is an ideal location for organic solar cells because they offer something silicon can’t, which is a combination of very high efficiency and very high visible transparency,” explains Stephen Forrest, the Peter A. Franken distinguished university Professor of engineering and Paul G. Goebel Professor of engineering.

To further push boundaries, UbiQD, an advanced materials company from New Mexico is continuing its development of transparent solar panels that are indistinguishable from regular glass using Quantum Dots – microscopic particles that have the ability to manipulate light to harness energy. “These Quantum Dots are super ‘nano’ particles of material and it would take roughly 100,000 of them to span your fingernail. These materials are especially advantageous due to having remarkably high efficiency and size-tunable photoluminescence (PL, light emission) over a wide range of colors,” explains the team at UbiQD. This technology can be a game-changer to reduce massive loads from large electricity grids and maybe even be integral in the planning of future cities that will run on solar energy!

Designer: UbiQD