Would you live in this building? Architect Ahmed Elseyofi of IAMZ Design thinks you should.
The Egyptian architect's concept, a mixed-use building called "World of Chlorophyll," features individual units stemming from central columns that "imitate the ‘branch and leaf’ structure" of plants, according to his web site.
And he has proposed a 10,000-square-foot site in New York City as a location for it.
Just as a plant's chlorophyll would utilize sunlight for photosynthesis, the unique design of Elseyofi's building would harness the elements to power his experimental edifice. Each level of the building would include 10 residential units, and each unit would contain five floors, according to Elseyofi. The staggered, leaf-like orientation would maximize exposure to sun and wind.
"This design makes the sun permeate the whole building, as well as wind," Elseyofi wrote in an e-mail to The Huffington Post. "This provides natural lighting and ventilation, and creates air currents can be exploited in the generation of energy."
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According to My Modern Met, the conceptual building would "include residential, commercial, administrative, hotel, and entertainment spaces," and incorporate eco-friendly features like "natural unit ventilation, direct sunlight exposure, and the creation of indirect lighting."
Although the architect did not go into detail about the types of systems his building would employ, Elseyofi's comments seem to indicate a the use of passive environmental design elements.
Passive solar design, for instance, seeks to trap and use energy from the sun to heat and cool buildings without the utilizing active mechanical systems. A 2006 case study identified passive solar design as a key component of creating affordable, zero-energy housing in cold climates.
According to Sustainable Sources, an Austin-based green building web site, commercial technology for passive solar heating is more developed than that of passive solar cooling. However, this disparity has not stopped the ideas from becoming part of the mainstream design dialogue.
LOOK: Conceptual Renderings For Ahmed Elseyofi's "World of Chlorophyll"
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The Huffington Post | By Andres Jauregui Posted: 04/20/2012 1:58 pm Updated: 04/20/2012 2:17 pm