
ROSE LINE Eco-Building
ROSE-LINE Eco-Building
Peacehaven Cliffs. UK
Luis De Garrido
PhD. Architect UPV
PhD Computer Engineering UPC – CMU – MIT
Doctor Honoris Causa USMP
A building built in the middle of the English Channel, capable of generating all the electrical energy, water, sanitary hot water and fish that the city of Peacehaven Cliffs needs. UK
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Rose-Line Eco-Building is a symbolic, iconic building, built in the middle of the English Channel and sculpted with sea water. The building is a desalination plant, a fish farm, a generator of hot water and photovoltaic electricity. The building supplies all the water, hot water and electrical energy needed by the city Peacehaven Cliffs. It also supplies fish as food. So that the city is self-sufficient in water, energy and food.
Rose-Line Eco-Building is located on the zero meridian of Greenwich approximately one kilometer away from the cliffs of Peacehaven Cliffs.
- Architectural solution
Rose-Line Eco-Building is located on the zero meridian, and for its design the symbolism of the mythical line “Rose Line” has been mysteriously designed to symbolize the initiatory journey to the Holy Grail. In this way, its design has been inspired by the combination of a double star, sculpted with seawater, with an emerging pyramid in the middle of the North Sea. In the same way its design has been inspired by marine symbols, as well as emerging geographical accidents of the sea.
The part of the building under the sea is a double star. A star is completely submerged and has been made using a stainless steel net, and is a natural fish farm. The other star has been made of glass and is responsible for creating a vacuum, in order to keep the sea level below, by means of a pump responsible for filtering the water before being desalinated.
The pyramidal emerging part contains a desalination plant and hot water tanks. It also has two restaurants, two viewpoints, a detached house, two observatories, warehouses, and a lighthouse. The pyramid is built of wood and steel and covered with glass photovoltaic panels, capable of supplying all the electricity needed by the city Peacehaven Cliffs. It also has solar hot water collectors, to meet all the hot water demands of Peacehaven Cliffs.
- More important features
- Self-sufficiency in Energy
Rose-Line Eco-Building supplies all the electrical energy and sanitary hot water that Peacehaven Cliffs needs, making it a self-sufficient city in energy. In the same way the building itself is self-sufficient in energy with zero energy consumption based on its special architectural design.
This energy self-sufficiency has been achieved through a set of complementary strategies:
- An optimal bioclimatic design has been carried out to minimize the need for energy. The pyramid-shaped construction, based on stainless steel slats, creates a stable microclimate inside, which guarantees the well-being of its occupants. In addition, in the design of the building, all kinds of bioclimatic strategies have been used to ensure that it is naturally ventilated, and thermally self-regulate, every day of the year, without the need for technological devices, and therefore without any energy consumption. . As a result of its special and refined design, the building cools itself in summer, and heats itself in winter. Similarly, during the day the building is naturally lit, every day of the year, without the need for artificial luminaires.
The bioclimatic strategies used have been the following:
- Appropriate architectural typology. The projected building has a pyramid shape and is formed based on perimeter slats separated from each other. The building has its four faces oriented according to the cardinal axes, so each face can be designed independently in order to make the most of, or protect as much as possible, from solar radiation.
- Sunscreens The building is composed of slats that act as sunscreens. These slats are carefully sized, so that in summer the direct solar radiation does not enter the interior of the building from the south facade; although in winter the maximum possible amount enters. Similarly, it has interior blinds to control indirect solar radiation. There are opaque blinds on the east and west side of the building and translucent blinds on the south side. In this way, the building remains naturally illuminated (indirect solar radiation) without heating.
The slats located in the lower part of the building (2/3 of the height) of the north and south faces are separated without more, and the lamas located in the upper part (1/3) are joined by means of a common double glass .
On the other hand the slats located in the inner part (2/3 of the height) of the east and west faces are separated by a grid that protects from solar radiation, and the slats located in the upper part (1/3) are joined by a double glass of high solar reflection to protect the building from direct solar radiation in the morning and in the afternoon.
- Glass with high insulation capacity. The double glass used (6-14-4) has a large air chamber, and therefore a large insulating capacity. Thus, during winter it prevents heat from escaping (generated by solar radiation and greenhouse effect), and keeps the building warm throughout the day; and during the summer it prevents the fresh from escaping (generated due to the temperature drop during the night), and keeps the building cool throughout the day.
- Greenhouse effect. The south facade has a large glazed surface, which allows the building to be heated by direct exposure to solar radiation and by the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is maximum in winter, and is not generated in summer, due to the studied separation between the compositional slats of the building. In winter the building is heated by greenhouse during the day, and the heat generated accumulates on the floors of high thermal mass.
- Natural ventilation. The building naturally ventilates in a continuous way, through the perimeter space created between the pyramid and the lamas of the building. This space continuously generates a volume of tempered air, which acts as a heat exchanger, so that the ventilation air enters the building with a suitable temperature.
In summer, the lamas create a shaded area and protect the pyramid from solar radiation. In this way the pyramid is kept cool (it had cooled due to the temperature drop during the night), and cools the layer of air between it and the slats. Finally, this fresh air penetrates the building through perimeter grilles.
In winter, the slats allow the passage of solar radiation. In this way the pyramid can heat the existing air layer between it and the slats (which protect said air layer).
- Indoor hot air extraction by chimney effect. The hot air generated inside the building rises to the top vertex. In this vertex there are 8 openings that allow the air to come out, but not to enter the rain.
Solar radiation heats the air in the upper part of the building (where the windows have no sun protection and no blinds), and therefore rises, and creates a suction current, extracting the hot air from the building, and forcing that fresh air, coming from the lower perimeter galleries, enters the building and refreshes it in its path.
- Taking advantage of the low temperature at night.
It is the most effective mechanism to cool a building in summer.
During the night, in summer, the enormous nothing of the floors is cooled (the interior remains at an average temperature of 18ºC). The fresh air outside at night is introduced into the building, and refreshes it. The building is kept cool during the next day, due to its high thermal inertia. In addition, during the day, the building’s slats protect a wide area from the top of the pyramid and keep it shaded. In this way the top of the pyramid stays fresh throughout the day, so you can cool the building. On the other hand, a large bag of fresh air is created between the slats and the surface of the pyramid, which is used to ventilate the building continuously.
- Only essential appliances and appliances have been incorporated into the building, and they are also of very low power consumption.
- Artificial lighting systems based on LED luminaires with very low energy consumption have been used.
- A photovoltaic system has been incorporated to generate the electrical energy needed by the building and the adjacent city. The photovoltaic solar collectors have been arranged by integrating the photovoltaic cells in the stainless steel slats of the south face of the building, and in the colored glasses of the south face. In addition, a set of state-of-the-art electric batteries, of great duration, and capable of storing the electrical energy generated by the photovoltaic collectors has been arranged.
- Two solar thermal collectors have been incorporated, behind the upper colored glass of the south face, to generate the hot water needed by the building and the surrounding city.
A set of trays containing dehumidifying silicate salts have been incorporated into the perimeter inlets for cooling and cooling air (from the shaded perimeter areas between the pyramid and the building). In this way, the ventilation and cooling air entering the building has less humidity, with the consequent improvement of thermal sensation (temperature increase in winter, and temperature decrease in summer).
- Self-Sufficiency in water
Rose-Line Eco-Building supplies all the water that Peacehaven Cliffs needs, making it a self-sufficient city in water.
The water necessary for human consumption, for human hygiene, and for the irrigation of crops and green areas is obtained from several complementary sources:
- Sea water. The building contains a small desalination plant inside that converts seawater into drinking water ready for human consumption.
- Rainwater The rainwater that falls on the pyramid is collected at the bottom of its four faces, and carried to a buried tank. Most of the rainwater that falls on the east side of the pyramid accumulates in the plant stratum of the cultivation trays, and part of the water is drained and collected at the bottom, partially filtered when crossing the layers of soil .
Water purification is carried out by a triple membrane reverse osmosis system (which regulates the characteristics of the resulting water by means of an electronic processor), which includes an antibacterial system. The resulting water has the same purity and content as mineral water. As if that were not enough, the user can choose the mineral content, simply by reprogramming the processor.
- Gray water recycling. The gray water generated by the building is filtered, treated and stored in an underground tank arranged for this purpose.
- Sel-Sufficiency in food
Rose-Line Eco-Building contains a natural fish farm capable of offering fish to feed an entire city. The natural fish farm is made up of four huge net-shaped spaces. Fish run freely, but as their size increases they can no longer escape, and then they are fished.
- High bioclimatic level
Rose-Line Eco-Building has been designed to have the best possible bioclimatic behavior, and to be able to thermally self-regulate. The advanced and refined bioclimatic design of the building takes full advantage of the enormous mass of the pyramid (thermal inertia), solar radiation during the day, and low temperatures at night, in order to achieve a self-sufficient energy building, without the need of technological artifacts.
In fact, due to its design alone, the building heats itself in winter, and cools itself in summer, without the need for technological devices. The building maintains a stable comfort temperature that ranges between about 22 degrees in winter, and about 25 degrees in summer.
- High energy efficiency and zero energy consumption
Rose-Line Eco-Building has been carefully designed to consume as little energy as possible throughout its life cycle: from the construction of its components, the construction of the building (dry assembling all its components), the use and maintenance of the building, until its disassembly. The special bioclimatic design of the building allows it to hardly need energy, and the little energy it needs is obtained by its own means of solar radiation, with the least possible amount of technological devices, and therefore at the lowest possible cost.
- Integral industrialization
All components of Rose-Line Eco-Building have been designed to be manufactured, in different factories, and moved to the pyramid to assemble each other, and build the building. Of course, this forces the realization of a good architectural project.
- Detachable building system
Rose-Line Eco-Building has been designed to be built using a completely industrialized and removable construction system, which allows all architectural components to be easily assembled and disassembled. This provides an infinite life cycle, and allows it to be disassembled and moved as many times as desired.
- Total transportability
The Rose-Line Eco-Building element set has been designed so that it can be easily mounted and disassembled indefinitely. For this reason, these elements can be transported anywhere, to be easily mounted (in less than a week) as many times as necessary.
- Extreme flexibility
Due to its design, Rose-Line Eco-Building can be expanded, reduced, or even adopted a different architectural configuration. Similarly, its diaphanous interior has been designed to adopt different types of compartmentalization and spatial reconfiguration, by means of sliding interior panels.
- Absolute waste disposal
Rose-Line Eco-Building components have been made at the factory, without generating any residue. In the same way, they can be assembled and disassembled without generating waste. This has been achieved for three different reasons: the integral industrialization of all its components, the design of the assembly systems, and the compositional system used in the design of the architectural ensemble
On the other hand, the organic waste generated during the use of the building is optimally managed and used for feeding marine species.
- Infinite life cycle
All components of Rose-Line Eco-Building have been designed to be mounted dry using screws, nails and pressure. In this way they can be easily removed from the building, in order to be repaired, reused or restored. In this way, the building can last to infinity, with very low energy consumption.
- Reversible interior design
All Rose-Line Eco-Building interior finishes are reversible. That is, they can be easily removed, recovered and replaced. All finishes have been assembled by pressure, or with screws. In this way they can be repaired, and easily replaced. This concept extends even to the finishes of the bathroom and kitchen, sanitary ware and kitchen furniture.
- Use of ecological materials
Rose-Line Eco-Building uses only eco-friendly and healthy materials, including new innovative ecological products (insulators recycling airplane wipes; insulators recycling vessels; insulators recycling glass bottles, glass-based panels, screws, scrap, …; stripped polycarbonate panels, ecological paints, etc.).