Green Tower:A Mixture OfContemporary,Technology, And Culture Sep2010-Feb2011

"Exhibited in Ecobuild 2011 in Excel, London; Won the prize of 8 best designworks in ‘Isover international Multi-comfort Skyscraper design competition"

Design Team: Ali Kashkooli (From Iran, Team Leader), Katarina Rozvadska(From Slovakia) , Blazej Zemleduch (From Poland)

About the competition

The theme of the competition was the creative approach to the concept ofenergy efficient construction for high-rise buildings. The aim was to design amultiple-use tower according to Isover Multi-Comfort House definition andwith Passive House components.The subject of the competition was “the design of a sustainable sky scraper,which has to have the building physics performance of an Isover Multi-Comfort House”.The teams (up to 3 in each team) had to produce a design that took accountof both social and economic aspects, as well constructional considerations.The building was supposed to give a new impulse into the existing urbanarea. In addition, the building design had to propose urban space solutionsfor the immediate surroundings of the site.The new tower was supposed to become a leading project to achieve newlevels of sustainability in Greenwich and in the Central Business District ofLower Manhattan, New York.About the buildingThe building has been designed based on 2 sections:1-The public area (including: museums, libraries, theatre, medical services,sport and GYM facilities, retails, stores, parking spaces for more than 4000cars, different entrances for the tower, and the lobbies for the towersections);On the top of this place green roofs and landscapes have been designedincluding cafes, and open restaurants for the public.

2-The Tower in 60 floors including 4 sections (regarding to the value ofspaces and hierarchies -see figure1):a)Student accommodations in 15 floors; in each floor 36 student rooms havebeen considered, as well as 6 shared kitchens and 2 big common rooms(dividable to smaller areas by prefabricated walls).b)Offices; the space of 1964 m2 (in each floor + corridors and stare boxes)have been designed for open and private offices in 15 floors.c)Residential apartments; in each floor of this section 10 apartment unitshave been defined in different sizes and designs (1-2 bedrooms) for variousrange of costumers.d)The fashion hotel; which is the most important part of this tower as alegend has been located on the top in a creative shape (regarding to itscreative nature) including hotel rooms type A, B, and C (different qualitiesand services), restaurant and bars on the 3 top floors, and 3 floors of showrooms and fashion show facilities (the biggest floors in the middle of thesection suitable for 250-300 show rooms).General structural informationThe overall zone which includes the tower in is 55x55x228 meters. There is abig shear in width of 16 meters in the middle of the tower, which divides it to2 similar parts. These two, are connected to each other by bridges designedin every 5 floors. Structurally, the building is supported by a strong steelstructured core (based on columns, beams and stiffeners) in the centre and isconnected to the floors, as well as the external steel tube.The floors are made by composite of concrete and polymer which arestronger and lighter than the normal armed concrete type. Moreover, theinternal walls are suggested to be made up of light composites of recycledpaper, and waste of agricultural/agro materials (in this case fire and waterresistance would be considered). The windows are recommended to be lowenergy double glazing with aluminium frames (better than timber because ofneed for stability in high levels and risk of fire).General ideaThe general idea of the building style has been established on the demandfor contemporary and creativity, as well as the local values (formalsymmetricalforms of the surrounding towers, American-New Yorker symbolsas: Statue of Liberty etc.). Also, the ‘wave idea’ for the shape of ceilings inpublic area comes from the near location to the sea.Moreover, the geographical situation, climate (temperature, natural lighting,natural ventilation), and geotechnical features have been considered.