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Sustainable Solutions
Within a few weeks of turnaround time, the design team—led by SOM Partner Leigh Breslau—replaced the turbine trellis with an equally poetic solution: a power field that cultivates sunlight and converts it into electricity. The continuous photovoltaic panel system incorporates 800 solar collectors into the solid roof to produce energy and provide primary power for the lighting systems of the complex. Lightweight, highly efficient trusses support the roof, and UV-coated skylights punctuate the system, allowing for ventilation and natural daylight without admitting unwanted solar radiation into the complex. The solar roof is essentially a multi-purpose sunshade, harnessing light for energy consumption while regulating the negative effects of UV rays.
Additional energy-efficient features from the original design were retained, including concrete earth tubes and geothermal heat sinks buried below grade. Earth tubes offer a sustainable alternative to conventional air conditioning by drawing air into the ground, where it is naturally pre-cooled by the earth’s temperature before being drawn back into the building’s air conditioning system. Geothermal heat sinks further reduce electrical and water energy consumption by conducting heat exchange within the earth. Embedded in the building’s support caissons and buried straight into the soil—even deeper than earth tubes—the heat sinks naturally cool water underground, then draw it back into the cooling system.
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