Archinect - News

Construction to begin on 'energy-positive' brick tower by Mecanoo in Amsterdam

2022-10-07T12:07:00-04:00

Mecanoo is moving ahead with a 28-story tower in north Amsterdam. The mixed-use residential and commercial tower, whose inception we covered in 2020, has been formally approved by city officials and will now move forward to construction later this month. Completion is expected in 2025.

Named the Brink Tower after the Dutch word for open green space, the scheme is imagined as a ‘visual and social link’ between two existing residential neighborhoods in north Amsterdam.

Image courtesy of Mecanoo

The concept is defined by its rounded corners along the entirety of its 90-meter (295-foot) height. Clad in a warm red brick to reference the influential Amsterdam School of the 1920s, the tower’s 28 stories are interspersed on the façade by brick and concrete bands. Between the bands, each level benefits from full-height glazing broken by slender brick elements.

Image courtesy of Mecanoo

When viewed from the north, the tower adopts a wide, robust form in response to neighboring towers in Amste...

Snøhetta unveils “Svart”, the Arctic Circle's first energy-positive hotel

2018-02-12T20:33:00-05:00

From an underwater restaurant to a black crystalline U.F.O to the AT&T Building update, Snøhetta is coming out with plenty of debatable designs as of late. Most recently, they revealed their concept for “Svart”, described as the Arctic Circle's first Powerhouse-standard, energy-positive hotel. Designed for the tourism company, the Arctic Adventure of Norway, the hotel's name refers to its proposed location at the foot of the Svartisen glacier in Meløy of northern Norway. Svart is also a tribute to the glacier's deep blue ice.

Located in the arctic environment where natural preservation is key, the circular hotel reduces its yearly energy consumption by approximately 85 percent and produces its own energy. Inspired by local vernacular architecture, Svart's design is based on the “fiskehjell” (an A-shaped wooden structure for drying fish) and the “rorbue” (a traditional seasonal house used by fisherman).

Rendering © Snøhetta/Plompmozes.

In reference to t...

Japan Goes Nuclear-Free For the First Time in Four Decades

2012-05-04T12:44:00-04:00

For the First Time in Four Decades Japan will shut down its last working nuclear power station this weekend, culminating — at least for now — a national shift away from nuclear energy in the aftermath of last year’s Fukushima disaster. The shutdown of the No. 3 Tomari reactor in Hokkaido will leave the country without nuclear power for the first time since 1970.

Energy-Positive Buildings Inch Closer to Mainstream Markets

2011-05-31T14:01:04-04:00

Hydro Building Systems, a division of the Norwegian multinational aluminum giant Hydro, has confirmed the energy-positive performance of a building constructed in 2009 in Bellenberg, Germany. The building produces about 80% more electric power than it consumes annually, according to analysis of performance data collected to date.