Architect and industry join hands in the search for a sustainable architecture for the city of the future.

An increase in urbanization worldwide raises theoretical, technological and aesthetic questions. French manufacturer of building materials Lafarge has asked Parisian architect Jacques Ferrier to come up with some answers in the form of a futuristic tower. The design is to counteract the negative impact of the building industry (responsible for 30 per cent of the greenhouse effect) on the environment and to be suitable for construction on continents across the globe. The ultimate goal is the realization of compact cities built to check the steadily encroaching, energy-wasting carpet of urban expansion.

The skeleton of the 245-m-high Hypergreen Tower is a prefabricated 'network' of concrete that forms the exterior of the structure and withstands wind load, thus guaranteeing the horizontal stability of the building. The interior of the tower, protected by a second skin of glass and unimpeded by stability requirements, consists of floors that can be laid out as desired. The concrete-lattice layer of this double, climate-control skin has been left open at various places to expose the interior of the building, an aspect of the design that determines its architectonic aesthetic.

Six wind turbines at the top of the tower, together with 3000 m2 of solar panels integrated into the south side of the concrete grid, are able to generate 50 to 70 per cent of the energy needed to operate the building. Earth cooling tubes buried deep in the ground provide Hypergreen with natural air conditioning, and an internal purification plant recycles water. The narrower side of the aerodynamic tower faces the direction most buffeted by the wind, and the exterior walls and floor plans are also influenced by the orientation of the building: open to the north and closed to the south by solar panels. In comparison with other towers, Hypergreen offers a savings of 30 per cent in energy, gives occupants more thermal comfort and puts a new slant on the cliché of the 'rational' modernist project.

The materials and technologies used in Ferrier’s design are currently available. Nevertheless, Hypergreen is to architecture what the concept car is to the world of auto design: an attempt to peer into the future of urban planning in order to respond to problems that will seem imminently urgent only several years from now.

© Steven Wassenaar

www.jacques-ferrier.com