NEW GREEN TOWER IN MIAMI – The COR Building

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A new high rise is going up in Miami’s design district, and its a lean, green, eco machine. A collaboration between Chad Oppenheim architecture + design, energy consultant Buro Happold, and structural engineer Ysreal Seinuk, the $40 million, 25-story, “COR” building will incorporate mixed-use residential and commercial space, integrating green technologies including wind turbines, photovoltaic panels, and solar hot water generation. The building’s exoskeleton is a hyper-efficient structure that provides thermal mass for insulation, shade for residents, and architectural elements such as terraces and armatures that support turbines.

With an aim to attract creative and design-oriented businesses and professionals, the interior of COR features sleek commercial and comfortable residential spaces ranging from $400,000 to $2 million. Each residential unit will include Energy Star appliances, recycled glass tile flooring, and bamboo-lined hallways. In total, COR will play host to 113 residential units, 20,100 square feet of office space and 5,400 square feet of retail space (which already includes a café and furniture store). Estimated completion is scheduled for 2009, with the ground breaking ceremony in July of 2007.

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Dubai rotating building

This one I like. Imagine having a different view each day from your home or office. No wonder similar towers are being planned for Moscow and New York. (Though I doubt if such a tower would be built in China. Feng Shui masters would go nuts.)

The rotating tower is just one of the many amazing buildings that can now be found in Dubai. Below, the tallest and the only seven-star hotel in the world, the Burj Al-Arab.



But wait, there's more! Below is the proposed Al Burj. As one can see from the illustration that follows, it will dwarf the Burj Dubai and all the other skyscrapers that came before it. However, no one knows when it will be built, if ever.



Personally I think the architecture doesn't allow for such a height. It doesn't taper off at the top to compensate for the extreme weight that the foundations have to bear. Also, it isn't aerodynamically-shaped like the Burj Dubai, considering the great wind forces that will act on it. And more importantly, is it even feasible enough to construct? The cost would probably equal the GDP of a small country. How will it pay for itself in terms of its maintenance and upkeep?



But wait, there's still more! Rumor has it that Saudi Arabia (perhaps feeling a little insecure with all the construction projects going on in Dubai) is set to build a mile-high tower (5,250 feet)!

Now that, to me, is pure bollocks. Until intelligent robots or nanotech materials are developed to replace construction workers, it cannot be built. Steel workers, welders and masons would freeze to death at such a heights.

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GHERKIN BUILDING GOES GREEN!

Under pressure from other more sustainable buildings popping up around the world, such as the recently featured Bahrain World trade Center, London’s Gherkin Tower, designed by Norman Foster, has recently begun testing an innovative vegetated facade panel which promises to change the face of building design forever. This new “Green wall” product, known as the Core Hydraulic Integrated Arboury panel, promises to bring the benefits of green roofs to any exterior surface of skyscraperThe panel works by obtaining moisture through the air and funneling through its specialized membrane properties allowing it to provide for enough water to allow for plant growth. The plants, mostly a mixture of lichens and grasses are expected to grow out of the panel and envelope the facade. Needless to say the benefits of the panels are many: Shading, increased internal daylighting, thermal insulation, reduced water consumption, energy generation for the entire building, recycling of materials, reduction of toxicity in the interior spaces, acceptance of the Kyoto treaty by the countries which have yet to sign, world peace, and a rise in property rental income. IVG Asticus, the owners of the tower, are excited about their property. “The tower is expected to use less than half the energy consumed by air-conditioned office towers.”

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