Gallery: Stockholm’s Shining Waterfr...

Like the Convention Center Dublin that opened last year, this conference center incorporates a wide range of green technologies. The building is passively heated during the icy winter months thanks to a unique steel-louvered glass façade, while cooling is achieved using water in the adjacent Lake Mälaren as a heat sink. Off-peak power is used to create 250 tons of ice underneath the building, which can be used to cool the center in a hurry when it is packed with people.

The building also uses a neat trick to distribute energy evenly throughout the facility — when one section is too hot and another is too cold, the HVAC system can balance the temperature between the two areas with little net added energy.