Today’s hot news is the winning design for the new US Embassy in London to be designed and built by Philadelphia-based architecture firm, KieranTimberlake. The announcement was made yesterday by the US Department of State with construction beginning in 2013 and completed by 2017. Located at a former industrial site in London, the crystalline cube will feature air-filled pockets on the exterior, which will help insulate the structure, orientation and shading to minimize heat gain, a large photovoltaic system on the roof and exterior of the building and a beautiful park.
Embassy buildings require an extra layer of security, and the embassy park surrounding the building is both a lovely garden space for the employees and dignitaries to enjoy as well as a protective barrier. Although there are no fences or walls, security measures have been integrated into the landscape, which also includes a half moon pond on one side of the building.
The exterior of the building is lined with air-filled pockets made from ethylene-tetrafluroethylene (ETFE), which help protect the building from the outer environment by providing optimized shade to minimize heat absorption and work as a thermal buffer. Thin-film photovoltaics will be positioned in the ETFE foils to generate energy, and will also be more visible to birds in order to reduce bird strikes. The roof of the embassy building (8,300 sq. meters) will be covered in photovoltaics, hiding the mechanical equipment and producing 345,000 kWh of energy.
James Timberlake, co-founder of KieranTimberlake said, “We wanted to create a building that would be an environment for diplomacy, but also serve as diplomacy for the environment. I think that’s the reason the jury embraced us.”
via Designboom and Philidelphia Inquirer
I wanted to take a moment to point out the significance of such a grand architectural achievement that uses green technology—-
I’d argue that the term “green” inherently has a connotation of overly simple, grassroots, organic practices. This kind of connotation is a turn off to our society that is highly technological, spoiled by what we generally perceive as infinite sources of energy and materials. But more and more, the meaning of “green” is coming to stand for a even more advanced architecture that reduces energy consumption THROUGH the use of technology. This growing trend is the epitome of TRUE modernity.
The fact that photovoltaics are being used to construct aesthetically brilliant designs is such a great sign of progress in our society. I think that this spirit of “smarty” technology is the wave of the future that will continue to take over as years proceed…
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