[ad_1]
Masdar City is the first thriving sustainable city in the desert, with eco-friendly buildings that use 40% less energy than industry standards.
Lutz Wilgen, Masdar City’s acting design director, noted that some buildings have been able to achieve energy savings of more than 40 percent.
“This is the average. There are buildings that score much higher than that. We have buildings that will be net-zero energy. Renewable energy will meet the energy needs of these particular buildings,” he told Khaleej Times in an interview .
The city is home to hundreds of innovative companies working to grow, as well as vibrant neighborhoods, restaurants and parks—most of which have the highest sustainability standards and ratings.
“We primarily use all types of fixtures and fittings that are as water efficient as possible. Of course, we use sunlight. We do this through photovoltaic panels and creating energy. We make our buildings as proficient as possible and make sure we are Energy usage is minimized and reduces our demands on the system.
So we use a combination of technologies in a very holistic approach to try and make sure that we optimize what we have and minimize our use of the precious resources that are available to us. “
Combining tradition, technology
Masdar City combines traditional Arabic building techniques with advanced technology to create a cool, walkable environment for people to live, work, study and play. Each building has a unique design and innovative features. Masdar Institute’s residential buildings are defined by terracotta-coloured, undulating glass-steel concrete balcony “screens” that function in the same way as traditional Arabic mashrabiya screens. They provide shade and privacy while allowing air to pass through to cool the balconies.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) headquarters with a rooftop solar photovoltaic array reduces overall energy demand by more than 60%. The office building is the first building in Abu Dhabi to receive a 4-Pearl Estidama construction rating. Meanwhile, the Siemens Building is a high-performance office building certified LEED Platinum.
“The reason we see each building as a unique opportunity is because we like to innovate. We like to experiment. We really like to test. So all of our available buildings are looking at various opportunities to utilize certain components ,” Wilgen said.
In 2021, Cityscape Intelligence named Masdar City the most sustainable city in the world.
cooler than other places
Masdar City is an open place for visitors to come and explore its different elements. Wandering through the city, you will notice that it is both modern and traditional, with many passive design features such as window shading, narrow spaces between buildings and colonnades, [and] The northeast-southwest orientation of the street optimizes shading from the street and building walls and facilitates natural airflow.
These clever features keep Masdar City’s outdoor spaces much cooler than the rest of Abu Dhabi. Not to be missed is the 45-meter-tall wind tower – a modern interpretation of one of the area’s most iconic traditional architectural features – whose unique function is to capture wind at the upper level and channel it into its open-air public plaza.
Sensors at the top of the steel structure control the shutters to open in the direction of the prevailing wind and close in the other direction to divert the wind down the tower. Teflon fabric membranes channel the wind down, while mist generators on top further cool the air. This combination of evaporative cooling and air movement helps reduce the perceived temperature in the yard.
“We tried to bring air to the podium from a higher height. It brought further ventilation to the podium.”
On the road to net zero
Wilgen said careful research was carried out into the types of materials used during construction.
“We look very carefully from a construction and constructability standpoint, in terms of embedded carbon [are] in the materials we use. We create very efficient buildings and building types. We minimize energy use and then supplement the minimal energy used by these buildings with renewable energy. So, for example, right now, we’re building net zero energy buildings,” he said of the ongoing MC Square and The Link projects.
Copyright © 2022 Khaleej Times. all rights reserved. Supplied by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndicate Information).
[ad_2]
Source link