I for one can say that I for one have never heard of an environmentally friendly high rise. In fact, when I see a new ten-story building going up in Kitchener-Waterloo, I think of all the green space being eradicated in lieu of concrete and parking lots to accommodate the new living quarters. However, German architects Sauerbruch Hutton, a firm known for their eco-friendly projects, have concocted a way to let Mother Nature into the high-rise using a computerized facade.
The IEEE Spectrum firm’s KfW Bankengruppe office building, in Frankfurt, has the world’s first “pressure ring” facade. “Sensor-controlled ventilators on the outer skin open and close throughout the day in response to temperature, wind direction and speed…throwing a ring of positive pressure around the building. That air is drawn into offices through floor vents and windows along an inner facade workers control; then, it’s exhausted into the building core. So a system of natural ventilation eliminates the need for AC and heat in the fall and spring. And in extreme weather, when you need an artificial bump, the pressure balance won’t throw your heating and cooling systems out of whack,” says IEEE Spectrum’s Peter Fairley.
The high-tech skin is expected to help the building consume a third of the energy that a typical American office building would consume.