Archinect
Massimiliano Manno

Massimiliano Manno

Sydney, AU

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AERODYNAMICITY – PARRAMATTA SQUARE

Concept
The project raise by extruding the urban void, the main winds of the area pass through the new volume, they erode the walls like in a canyon, giving shape and energy to the new architecture. A system of vertical axis eolic turbines is located on the upper floors of the two towers and allows the ignition of the «energy machine.» The need to conserve the produced energy from the wind requires alternative forms of accumulation: «Water tanks» placed at different heights, fill up when energy is over and they are emptied when the winds calm down, releasing the force of the water, such as hydroelectric power plants. The building does not oppose to the natural forces, it works with them, it uses them, it lives through them.

The interactions with the environment
The urban plan provides that the building facades look at the town with absolutely planar and vertical surfaces. The architectural language of the project is not opposed to the shapes of the surrounding buildings. In the other hand, the two towers opposing sides are freely modelled complying winds flow. The square design at the building foot keeps the rigid axial at the both ends fixed by the Master Plan about the Parramatta Square Public Domain. On the other hand, in front of the building entrance the canyon between two towers involves the public space deforming the drawing on the ground. This architectural sign represents flows and main paths. It marks the pedestrian ways that lead to the Transport Interchange located on the other side of the building. The gaze is drawn upward, is accompanied by green curves of the first commercial plans.

The wind as architectural and energy choice
The two towers geometry is open along the prevailing winds direction in the project site. This condition determines a considerable air acceleration up to 40 m/s. This speed isn’t directly manageable with conventional wind blades. The idea is therefore to use the Venturi Effect by taking air from orthogonal channels to the prevailing flows exploiting the pressure difference at the higher speed. The best compromise between cost and efficiency is found with the choice of the Savonius blades. The Savonius rotor is a wind turbine, comprises a rotatable member extending along a longitudinal axis and a plurality of blades extending radially. The newly developed twisted bladed rotor was found to be more efficient. If such bladed rotor system is used in stacks, a highly efficient power generation system can be developed.

The overcoming of discontinuities of renewable sources
When the energy produced from renewable sources is greater than the building’s energy demand, water is pumped from a reservoir beneath the underground parking in containers placed on the upper floors. In case of no wind or sun, the tanks at high altitude are considered as reservoirs of latent energy storages; when the water is released to the lower levels through appropriate piping, it feeds high-efficiency turbines Pelton type that return the energy previously used for pumping upward. In this way the building uses renewable energy sources, by definition subject to climatic conditions, in a continuous mode. The Pelton wheel is a water impulse turbine. The Pelton wheel extracts energy from the impulse of moving water. Pelton wheels are the preferred turbine for hydro-power, when the available water source has relatively high hydraulic head at low flow rates, where the Pelton wheel is most efficient.

The double skin façades
The key element of plant/building integration is a climate-control with a double skin façade technology to develop a strategy to integrate high-rise buildings into the realm of sustainable architecture. The advantages of this system are the ability to control indoor climatic conditions through natural or artificial ventilation behind the outer glazing, the ability to control the shading device that allows the occupant to modify incoming solar radiation for heating or lighting needs, the ability to integrate the outer glass with photovoltaic panels next generation.

 
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Status: Competition Entry
Location: Parramatta, AU
Additional Credits: DESIGN TEAM (Officio Architettura)
- Arch. Massimiliano Manno
- Arch. Stefano Malfatti
- Arch. Andrea Donini

STRUCTURAL TEAM (Majowiecki)
- Ing. Giovanni Berti

FACADE TECHNOLOGY (Openproject)
- Ing. Marco Capelli