The Masdar Headquarters building will produce more power than it needs (an energy positive building). In fact, the solar roof (one of the largest in the world) will be constructed first, and it will power the construction of the rest of the building. The video link on this page has a great view of the sun-infused interior.
The 1.4 million square foot building was designed by Chicago architecture firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill.
It will serve as the centerpiece of Masdar City, which will end up being about a $22 billion development in Abu Dhabi (the capital of United Arab Emirates).
Masdar Headquarters will have the lowest energy consumption per square foot, it will feature the largest photovoltaic system and the largest solar thermal driven cooling and dehumidification system. The building will also have integrated wind turbines. It will consume about 70% less water than a typical mixed-use building of its size.
Construction of Masdar City commenced with a formal ground-breaking ceremony on February 9, 2008. The City will be constructed over seven phases and is due to be completed by 2016. Masdar’s headquarters is part of phase one and will be completed by the end of 2010.
The design competition for Masdar’s headquarters was managed by the Louis Berger Group and began with a field of 159 participants, which was narrowed down to 15 architecture and design firms. The criteria for selection of the 15 included building functionality, water and wastewater efficiency, indoor environmental quality, zero carbon emission, carbon
footprint reduction and firm experience. Four global leaders in sustainable architecture and design were then chosen to submit final proposal.
Link: Press Release
Via: Jetson Green and Mad Architect
22 responses so far ↓
1 Mohammed Thiab // Mar 15, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Greetings ,,,,
This is excellent news ! I am very interested in seeing such developments taking place and proving their economic value.
Just to share some background info, I was involved in the subject of ’smart buildings’ since the early nineties.
As you are probably aware, one of the distinguishing characteristics of ’smart buildings’ is their ability to optimize energy consumption used in lighting, HVAC requirements, imbedded electronic systems, lifts, escalators, survelliance systems, voice and data networks, fire alarms, emergency lighting, and so on so forth.
If we add the new trends of the use of alternative energy sources, renewable energy sources, green technologies, ….. then this gives you another reason for my interest in this news item.
The important question that I would like to raise and hopefully I get some answer for it
Is the use of such technologies at this mass scale feasible and justifiable ? or is it a pure technology show regardless of associated costs ?
Is there any feasibility study which shows the TCO/ROI figures over the estimated lifetime of the building (estimated at 100 years) ?
Thanks a lot and hoping to hear back from you soon.
Regards
Mohammed Thiab
MV Consulting
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2 Susan // Mar 15, 2008 at 11:39 pm
This is a beautiful structure! The photos hint to a view of the future. I hope we can stay on the path to attain the best sustainable approaches to all green innovations.
3 eyloni // Mar 16, 2008 at 1:51 am
It is good to see that even countries that do not lack in the realm of oil, make it a point to plan for the future, and use solar.
4 Carol // Mar 16, 2008 at 5:29 am
Why can’t we do something like this here? I believe that our building codes must be rearranged and new ones established to allow for this kind of innovation to occur. I have designed and built a home that uses less than 1/12th of the gas to heat and cook, than most other homes—It is just passive solar, and didn’t cost extra to build it.
5 its me again // Mar 16, 2008 at 8:41 am
One big wind and that place will …
6 car_insurance // Mar 16, 2008 at 8:44 am
Wow - what an awesome design. And producing positive energy is a first - more energy than expended….sounds like a practical model of perpetual motion machines.
7 lemon // Mar 16, 2008 at 10:01 am
#5 you defile the internet. take your hate and go away.
8 Claire DeLune // Mar 16, 2008 at 10:07 am
Isn’t it ironic that a country that doesn’t have to go begging for oil is jumping ahead of those that must in technology? It would be so good to see the USA take the reins and start to lead the world in a positive way again.
9 d.l.green // Mar 16, 2008 at 10:10 am
the future home of the most powerful people in the world- brought to you by the Bushies etal who’ve refused to seek out significant alternative energy sources and continually fund the oil cartel and create unneccessary profits away from the rest of the planet.
10 Four-dollar-gallon-gas // Mar 16, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Abu Dhabi can kiss my American ass! Oil rich Kings should be boycotted by all the world. They make me sick!
11 Khaled- Abu Dhabi // Mar 16, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Four-dollar-gallon-gas, well I dont need to reply to ur racist comment which has no basis at all, but you need to enlighten yourself more by reading about other nations. First of all, If you are mad because u r going to pay 4 dollars per gallong sometime soon, this is because of ur crappy economy. Price of oil will continue to rise as long as ur dollar is losing its value. Most Oil producing countries in our region have pegged their currencies to the US dollar for so long which means our oil revenues have decreased almost 40% because of the weak dollar and therefore we have to sell it at high prices to make up for the weak dollar. By the way, most countries in the region, including my country United Arab Emirates ( UAE) is considering to depeg the US dollar some time soon because we have suffered from inflation big time for the last 5 years because of the poor performance of the US economy. I hope US won’t exercise its power to stop us from doing so as it usually did to police the world , cuz it means another bad hit to the used-to-be strong dollar.
12 The Guy Above Me Sux. // Mar 16, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Typical American. You think everyone should kick your overweight, depression headed ass. Fact is, the World is set to boycott you.
And the building is awesome. Inspiring and refreshing.
13 Sebastian // Mar 16, 2008 at 3:54 pm
And to think that there are people living in the world who are poor, starving, and homeless..*shudder*
The UAE should help the US pay off some of our national debt, wouldn’t be too big of a push for a few trillion from ‘em, eh?
14 Aidan // Mar 16, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Genius!
Now we’re talking, this is the way forward.
15 John // Mar 19, 2008 at 5:37 pm
” The UAE should help the US pay off some of our national debt, wouldn’t be too big of a push for a few trillion from ‘em, eh? ”
the US aids 3 to 5 billion dollars to Israel each year, yup. this structure is worth 22 billion dollars as the article indicates. go figure.
source: http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/publish/article_17.shtml
16 Craig // Mar 20, 2008 at 10:00 am
Not sure how the comments jumped from marvel to personal attacks. In any case, this Chicago-based architect firm and UAE should be equally applauded for vision that doesn’t just get put in a drawer as a “nice idea”.
17 Steve Lavey // Mar 25, 2008 at 10:35 pm
What a great design! I love the sustainable practices in the urban city construction business and this is a perfect example of success marrying sustainable practices with practicality and client requirements. I personally am excited for my own self about the Sustainable House I saw on the Science Channel that gets the house to be “energy-free”.
Check it out here
18 Peter D // Mar 25, 2008 at 10:59 pm
I wonder how many centuries/millenia worth of surplus energy production it would take to repay the cost of the energy expended in the initial construction of, and materials used in the building?
What a joke that this sort of thing gets away with appropriating the term “sustainable”!
Anyway, foresight is foresight, I guess - it will be a nice place for a lucky few to hang out in once the oil starts to run out in ernest. Though they better pick their skirts up if they want to finish it in time.
19 ameneh // Apr 19, 2008 at 6:11 pm
it’s prefect
20 curt // Apr 30, 2008 at 10:56 am
This is truly a wonderful project! It is also a very bright investment in the future of the country. My congratulations to the country’s leaders!
p.s.
This blog lacks strict administrator to delete ‘abusing’ comments.
21 Funny Americans // Apr 30, 2008 at 12:50 pm
http://www.metaefficient.com/architecture-and-building/stunning-solar-building-will-generate-more-power-than-it-needs.html
22 Funny Americans // Apr 30, 2008 at 12:51 pm
They are building something pretty amazing and some how you can still turn this article around to this should be us. You have other things to worry about, like how i can come down there and buy a house for $10-$20 .
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