A team of Yellowknife architects has entered their striking spire into an international design competition.
The gives out prestigious awards to entries that SA国际影视传媒渞edefine skyscraper design through the implementation of novel technologies,SA国际影视传媒� according to its website. The first place prize is $5,000 and the winner will also have their design distributed via , an international newswire specializing in architecture and design.
SA国际影视传媒淚tSA国际影视传媒檚 a global competition for new uses for high-rise structures to address the ecological instability of the planet,SA国际影视传媒� said Wayne Guy, founder and principal of Guy Architects.
Guy, and his team made up of Constantina Tsetsos, Jamie McFadyen, Tyler Laing-Chan, Peter Gillis, Richard Guy and Arash K. Pakzad spent about three months working on their entry ahead of the submission deadline of Feb. 12.
The final project is a Lightning Attracting and Storage Terminal (LAST), a one-kilometre high tower in the middle of VenezuelaSA国际影视传媒檚 Lake Maracaibo. The lake is the largest in South America and the in the world, with an average of 232.52 flashes of lightning per square kilometre each year.
The idea is that the tower will harvest the lightning that strikes over 200 days out of the year and store it in a capacitor which feeds down to an eco-battery.
SA国际影视传媒淓ach lightning bolt is the equivalent of about three hundred pounds of coal,SA国际影视传媒� said Guy.
SA国际影视传媒淲ith dozens of strikes a night, for the 200 nights, it ends up being really quite a meaningful source of renewable power collection.SA国际影视传媒�
The building is a net-zero facility, meaning it runs on its own power without producing greenhouse gases. The tower would also function as an observatory and exhibition centre which visitors could travel to by ferry to watch natureSA国际影视传媒檚 nightly light show.
Venezuela is in the midst of turbulent political times, which is in part due to the fluctuations of the petroleum-based economy as countries around the world are vying for the limited resource, said Guy.
SA国际影视传媒淏ecause Venezuela has been in the news for the political unrest thatSA国际影视传媒檚 happening currently, we saw this not only as an energy project but something that could be used as a paradigm for other similarly affected areas in the developing and developed world to stabilize economies based on renewable energies,SA国际影视传媒� he said.
Venezuela is one of the worldSA国际影视传媒檚 top oil producers and the countrySA国际影视传媒檚 was drilled on the eastern shores of Lake Maracaibo in 1914. But petroleum is getting rarer by the day and methods of extracting it such as fracking are destructive and pollute the Earth. So the team decided to build their design on renewable energy options rather than resource extracting methods.
SA国际影视传媒淲e felt we donSA国际影视传媒檛 have much time to really make that shift,SA国际影视传媒� said Guy. SA国际影视传媒淚 think it was said that if we donSA国际影视传媒檛 turn this planet around by 2030 weSA国际影视传媒檙e in really serious trouble.SA国际影视传媒�
Guy said his firm has entered competitions like this in the past, as a way of flexing their creative muscles.
SA国际影视传媒淭hese competitions for us are like exercises,SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淏ecause theySA国际影视传媒檙e based on the newest and best ideas they force us to think outside the box and stretch our imaginations. We always find that what we get out of it always benefits the projects that we do day to day.SA国际影视传媒�
It also challenges the notion to look to the south for innovative design ideas, he said.
SA国际影视传媒淲e find that the solutions that we generate up here are ones that are applicable right across the globe,SA国际影视传媒� said Guy.
Competition winners will be announced on April 9.
