The Dutch Windwheel is not only a silent wind turbine – it’s also an incredible circular apartment building

How cool would it be to tell people you live inside of a wind turbine? Designed for the port city of Rotterdam, the <a href="http://thedutchwindwheel.com/en/sustainable-icon">Dutch Windwheel</a> is a concept for a sustainable landmark that would be able to house 72 apartments within a circular steel and glass frame, while also serving as a silent, motionless wind turbine. In addition to harvesting energy from the wind, the structure would be equipped with facilities to capture <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/rainwater">rainwater</a>, recycle tap water and also produce<a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/biogas"> biogas</a> from the residents' organic waste.

The proposed Windwheel is equipped with solar PVs and a climactic facade to make the best use of natural resources.

The Windwheel is comprised of two rings, built on an underground foundation and surrounded with wetlands so as to give the structure the appearance of floating.

Perhaps the most striking detail of the Windwheel, other than its appearance, is the turbine that fills the inner ring of the building. The electrostatic wind energy converter (EWICON) is a technology that was developed at TU Delft and "converts wind energy with a framework of steel tubes into electricity without moving mechanical parts." This means no noise and much easier maintenance.

The building's water usage is also carefully managed, with rainwater captured atop the structure, and tap water fed into the wetlands that surround the Windwheel. Furthermore, biogas is also produced from the residents' waste.

The outer ring houses 40 rotating cabins to provide visitors with impressive views of Rotterdam—much as the London Eye does in the UK—while the inner ring houses 72 apartments, 160 hotel rooms, commercial outlets and is topped off with a restaurant.

The designers intend the structure as a "dynamic showcase for Dutch Clean Technology [that] provides a continuous platform to demonstrate technical and technological innovations."

The project is a modern interpretation of the iconic Dutch windmill.

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