Jenga-Like Building Provides Optimum Sunshine  

Green Building of the week from Inhabitat is this Chinese tower - SAKO Architects’ Jenga-Like Building Provides Optimum Sunshine.

What’s black and white and sunny all over? It’s the BUMPS housing complex in Beijing, created by SAKO Architects. Typical buildings in China face north and south, but SAKO’s design rotates the buildings 45 degrees from the north-south axis to provide maximum exposure to sunlight. The designers also staggered the two-floor units to create additional space between the units, which tenants can then use as terraces. The integrated project, which includes both residential and commercial buildings, is located in a developing area in southwest Beijing and was one of this month’s WAN Awards residential category entries.

The United Kingdom is splattered with fossil fuel based power plants and concrete cooling towers which are major carbon producers as well as eyesores. Luckily, plans for a new biomass power plant covered in native grasses in the UK have just been released and they will complement the surrounding ecology as well as decrease carbon emissions by 80% compared to coal or gas fired power stations. Designed by Thomas Heatherwick, a London-based firm, the 49.3 MW power plant located on the banks of the River Tees will be a man-made mountain covered in plants and will certainly be a welcome replacement to the older, pollution-spewing plants around the country.

Powered by palm kernel shells, which are the byproducts of palm oil plantations, the plant will reduce carbon emissions by 80% compared to traditional coal or gas fired stations. The palm kernel shells, considered a renewable fuel, will be delivered directly by boat, eliminating the need to haul the fuel by truck. The 49 MW plant will provide enough power for 50,000 homes, providing cleaner, lower carbon baseload power for the region. Inside, the power plant will also contain offices, a visitors’ center and an education resource center for renewable energy.