Today 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.
Through their use of environmentally-friendly materials, passive design techniques, and efficient facades the masterminds behind this project were able to reduce the community’s energy consumption by 30%. Starting with the rehabilitation of existing structures and re-purposing of used materials, the development will go through three phases of construction and ultimately stand 10 buildings strong. ECO CITY will use wind energy to generate 10% of the complex’s power (more than any other high-rise in the world), as well as solar water heating systems and solar-powered lighting technology. Most of the visible roofs will be covered in greenery to slow storm water runoff and significantly reduce the heat island effect of the development itself.
In addition to the project’s environmental advances, ECO CITY was created in keeping with the designer’s progressive philosophy, which imbues every project with a socially and economically sustainable elements. The integration of these three ideas is vital to the impact these structures will have on the community inhabits them.
Tec Principal Sebastian Knorr explains: “ECO CITY represents a synergistic approach to urban development. By working in close cooperation with all the stakeholders and taking into consideration the immediate environmental context of the project, we’ve created a different type of sustainable, creative-industrial complex. We hope that iconic ECO CITY project becomes a model for sustainable urban development.”
Hamburg-Harburg Harbor has a long-standing history of German entrepreneurship and ingenuity, and the community foresees ECO CITY to be a major contributor in its efforts towards revitalization.
+ ECO CITY Hamburg
+ Tec Architecture
+ ARUP
An energy reduction of 30% is nice, but for being an fruntrunning “worldclass eco city” there’s more needed. Cradle-to-cradle concepts for architecture count with 100%; that should be the future, and is already possible to realize. I also don’t see why the architecture supports social interaction and “community rebirth”. Glass towers tend to do the opposite and create anonymity. I don’t see any elements in the images that would support social interaction. We can do much better!!!
Aren’t those Vertical Axis Wind Turbines in all of the wrong places? Don’t they need need to be as high as possible, in order to get into the strongest available winds?
Sounds great! Arup was the designer of Dongtan, in China (http://www.cleanerairforcities.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-green-city-for-china.html). I hope this gets off the ground. It should be really cool!
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