Déjà présenté il y a peu sur TrendsNow pour leurs immenses tigres lumineux installés à Sydney à l’occasion du nouvel an chinois, un petit retour sur l’intéressant concept de « seconde peau » en forme de cocon transparent intégrant des cellules photovoltaïques imaginé par le studio de design LAVA – Laboratory for Visionary Architecture – pour recouvrir et ainsi transformer esthétiquement les vieux buildings de la ville de Sydney. Tous les détails en images et vidéo dans la suite !

Plus de détails en images dans la galerie

Découverte du concept en vidéo

Description originale

UTS Tower, Goulburn Street Car Park and other 1960s Sydney icons could receive a much-needed facelift, thanks to an innovative plan called re-skinning. Multinational architectural practice, Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA), has developed a simple, cost effective, easily constructed skin for the University of Technology [UTS] Broadway Tower that promises to transform an icon into a sustainable and stunning building. The speculative project, Tower Skin, offers a unique opportunity to transform the identity, sustainability and interior comfort of the once state-of-the-art building, said Chris Bosse, Australian director of LAVA. Tower Skin is a transparent cocoon that acts as a high performance micro climate. It generates energy with photo-voltaic cells, collects rain water, improves day lighting and uses available convective energy to power the towers ventilation requirements. The Tower is wrapped with three-dimensional lightweight, high performance composite mesh textile. Surface tension allows the membrane to freely stretch around walls and roof elements achieving maximum visual impact with minimal material effort. As day turns to night, Tower Skin becomes a dynamic sculpture on Sydneys skyline, an intelligent media surface, communicating information such as performances and campus events in real time. The proposal integrates principles of architecture, fashion, media and communication design into a new hybrid solution. A re-skinned UTS Tower could be an example of sustainability, innovation, cutting edge design and creative education, without demolishing and rebuilding the 1960s icon, added Bosse. When it was built the Broadway tower was cutting edge, with latest building technologies and principles that have partially become obsolete. The reskinning technology could be easily applied to other buildings in need of a facelift such as the postindustrial abandoned buildings across Hong Kong and elsewhere. We can quickly and cheaply enhance their performance and aesthetics through this minimal intervention. LAVA has also proposed a transformation for the Goulburn Street Car Park in the CBD.

The proposals continue LAVAs ongoing research for sustainable public architecture by combining lightweight contemporary materials with the latest digital fabrication technologies with the aim of achieving more ( architecture) with less (material/energy/time). Sustainability is at the heart of the project. possible Innovations include: * harvesting solar energy maybe?Existing solar energy used to off set energy requirements. * Water collected from the atmosphere. * Energy peaks removed via microclimate in tower envelope. * Natural convection draws conditioned air through existing rooms, vent to the exterior, to generate energy. * Localized user control of air and temperature. * Standardised computer designed and generated components manufactured off site and cutting edge digital workflow mean cost-effective fabrication and installation time. * A solar powered light and media strategy embedded into the fabric. LAVA was founded in 2007 with offices in Sydney, Stuttgart and Abu Dhabi and recently won an international competition to design the heart of Masdar, the worlds first eco city in the UAE. Bosse work on the Watercube for Beijing Olympics whilst at PTW architects won international recognition.

Plans for Tower Skin are on display at STATE. RESPOND. Exploring sustainable design, Object Gallery, Sydney 6 February 28 March 2010. For media images and interviews contact : Jane Silversmith, +61 [0] 408 029 118, jane_silversmith@mac.com

Credits & copyright LAVA – via