Architecture & Web Art

Posts Tagged ‘Germany’

The latest creation of the brilliant team Herzog & de Meuron recently opened VitraHaus. The following images are the work of the french photographer Julien Lanoo. Over the years the Vitra Campus has become an architecture museum, featuring works by the most renowned architects:  Frank Ghery, Zaha Hadid, Alvaro Siza, Tadao Ando, Jean Pruvé, Nicholas Grimshaw, Buckminster Fuller and SANAA (under construction)

The five-storey building – situated on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany – has been constructed to showcase the furniture brand’s Home Collection.

Over the past few years Vitra has aquired a wide-ranging Home Collection. The quantity and variety of objects by many different designers led to the idea of building a showroom to present the items to the public.

There would also be additional space to be used as an exhibition venue for selected parts of the collection or even as an extension of the Vitra Museum itself. A shop, a cafe linked to the outside and conference rooms complete the program.

Germany’s historic Hamburg-Harburg Harbor announced the development of a sustainable ECO CITY that combines industry, entertainment and pedestrian life into one super green package. Designed by international firm Tec Architecture and the global engineering company ARUP, ECO CITY is one of the only projects in the world that is seeking to achieve the highest level of environmental certification from all three major green building rating systems (LEED, BREEAM and DGNB). The project is an exceptional example of how to integrate efficient technology and building methods while fostering social interaction and community rebirth.

Citigroup’s new data center outwardly showcases its green credentials throught the extensive use of recycled and locally sourced materials and alternating green facades – a green wall on one side of the complex and a fenestrated window panel on the other. Whereas the green wall serves to insulate the building’s interior, the fenestrated window offers daylighting while providing the opportunity for natural ventilation. The facility is topped off by a vegetated green roof that actively keeps the building cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter while absorbing rainwater. Plant topology was carefully selected to enhance the operational energy efficiency of the building.

While the building’s envelope aesthetically projects sustainable design practices, the most radical green innovations occur on the inside. Citi Data Center will use only 30 percent of the power required for services that a typical data center would utilize, and only requires 40 percent of the heating energy. Additionally, through the use of innovative reverse osmosis water treatment for cooling, the building will save 50 million liters of water per year.