by Shane Henson — September 26, 2012—Arup, an independent global firm of designers, planners, engineers, consultants and technical specialists, turned to nature and beneath the sea to help design a zero-energy house under construction in Germany. According to Arup, the house is set to provide the first real-life test for a new building façade system that uses live microalgae to provide shade and generate renewable energy at the same time.
The world’s first “bio-adaptive façade” will be installed in the “BIQ” house for the International Building Exhibition (IBA) in Hamburg, which runs through 2013.
Façades and building envelopes, which form the outer skins of buildings, project image and creative intent. Increasingly, they are also understood as important environmental moderators and key influencers in project risk and commercial success, says Arup.
This façade concept is designed so that algae in the bio-reactor façades grow faster in bright sunlight to provide more internal shading, says Arup’s team. The “bio-reactors” not only produce biomass that can subsequently be harvested, but they also capture solar thermal heat; both energy sources can be used to power the building.
In practice, this means that photosynthesis is driving a dynamic response to the amount of solar shading required, while the microalgae growing in the glass louvres provide a clean source of renewable energy.
The shading louvres for the BIQ house in Hamburg are being fabricated in Germany by Colt International on the basis of bio-reactor concept and design work is being led by Arup, in cooperation with SSC Strategic Science Consult of Germany. The BIQ house was designed for the IBA exhibition by Splitterwerk Architects of Graz, Austria.
“To use bio-chemical processes for adaptive shading is a really innovative and sustainable solution so it is great to see it being tested in a real-life scenario,” says Arup’s Europe research leader, Jan Wurm. “As well as generating renewable energy and providing shade to keep the inside of the building cooler on sunny days, it also creates a visually interesting look that architects and building owners will like.”
Once completed in March 2013, the BIQ house will allow scientists, engineers and builders to assess the full potential of the system as a green alternative providing dynamic solar shading alongside sustainable, renewable energy.
