on office: turbine city

on office: turbine city

norway is considered to have the best conditions in the world for utilizing offshore wind power.
the coastline of stavanger, norway is the longest and windiest in europe and is largely
unsaturated with turbines. the oil industry has given the country expertise in offshore
foundations as well as investment capital to pursue this. norway has half of europe's
hydropower to couple wind power. the EU commission has committed to deriving 20%
of its total energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020. norway has the capacity
to surpass this goal and become an exporter of the EU's newest tradeable good - renewable energy.
norway needs a way to propel wind power via a flagship wind farm to promote
and celebrate its investment.


'turbine city' with central structure turbinby stavanger

on office wants to take advantage of the country's weather, geography, resources
and technology and harness this wind power. their concept, 'turbine city',
would utilize offshore wind turbines as a means of creating potential for tourism.
the proposal would see the integration of a hotel, spa and museum built in a turbine within
an offshore wind farm. just 1MW from 8MW turbines would be enough to power
the entire facility. the proposal of this idea could bring tourists, sailors, offshore oil-workers
and cruiseships to the area, where people would be able to experience first hand the advantages
and the spectacle of turbines, increasing awareness and support of this endeavour.

stavanger, norway is already known for many of its natural attractions.
it is also the oil capital of the country. however, it could use some economic momentum
to rebrand itself in time for the 'sustainable revolution'. turbinby stavanger could create
a new iconic landmark which could be comparable to the architectural symbols of th world
(i.e. the empire state building, new york, the coliseum, rome, the eiffel tower, paris),
without clashing with the city's historical image.


idea of what the turbine city could look like


aerial view


the turbinby structure within 'turbine city' - the proposed design which would combine hotel, spa and museum


interior view of turbinby


offshore wind turbines have a huge potential for tourism


creating a new icon for norway - combining tourism with turbines


possible typologies


the increasing scale of turbines allows for habitable space within the turbine


aerial view of 'turbine city' and turbinby


division of the various levels - lobby, shopping, dining, exhibition


pool level


massage and spa level


hotel levels

andrea db
01.22.10  
24
But a turbine is very, very noisy. Isn't it ?
theedge   01.22.10
and talk about vibration...
supahslug   01.22.10
Insulation for noise and vibrations can still be achieved.
livingdesign   01.22.10
if this near-hexagon is meant to consist of bridges... arent they possibly flooded by the tides?
alasdair   01.22.10
Awesome idea! If we're going to build all this electrical infrastructure any way, why not make it habitable? The cost of the real estate could offset the turbine's construction. Don't see any green space in the designer's plans, but otherwise lots of positives with this idea. Good stuff.
Dan   01.22.10
The energy generated by that amount of turbines wouldn't even create enough power to run that hotel, or even begin to cover the immense financial and ecological costs of building at sea. This proposal is too ideal, and although a beautiful presentation and design, not practical for the much greater world energy issues that could be solved with much simpler technologies.
Stephanno   01.23.10
Stephanno,
I have a dream.
Franco   01.23.10
Oh I live in Stavanger! I kinda hope they do this .. it would be so cool! maybe a bit odd, yes - but cool! I would go out to them for sure!
Fonda LaShay - http://fondalashay.com/blog/   01.23.10
I don't get it...Why would anyone want to live or work in a monster turbine in the middle of the ocean. Don't get me wrong, wind power is part of the future, but living in them? What is the point?
I think I would die from an epileptic seizure if i lived in the shadow of those wings.
Arch   01.23.10
I was just wondering whether any wind-tunnel testing has been done on whether there's any loss of wind efficiency having turbines in a line, rather than having them in a staggered formation d;-)
Jetwax   01.25.10
Yeah, and you would hardly go outside! You'd be locked inside surrounded by turbines and water!!! Perfect Madhouse:)
Eluj   01.26.10
would a turbine of that size even be able to turn? going a little bit far with wind power
DimeS   01.26.10
The main problem with this idea is constructing it and stability, a fan of that size would be hard to mount in a secure position, maybe tilting the fan 45d upward might work by putting less stress toward any one side and the fan would need to be able to turn 360d for maximum intake of energy probably manual as wind alone might not be able to turn such a large mechanism.
Daystar   01.26.10
what a cool pool!
gulogulo   01.28.10
Before July of 2009 I was like many of you- " What a great idea! an renewable source of energy - let's go in to those beautiful PARKS OF WIND FARMS.
Well, I have learnt a lot since then:
I agree with Arch on the epileptic seizure subject concerning the shadows of the blades.That's only one of the side effects- others are like STEPHANNO"s concerns: the horrific ecological effect on the see life, cost to build the turbine city - versus how much REAL energy are we getting!?
And both comments - from Theedge about the noise and Supahslug about vibration are bright remarks- recently the low noise the one we -people can't hear is the main concern.
Infrasounds are "heard" by the whole body, heart, bones, soft tissues; the affects range from lack of sleep, heart problems to depression and everyday irritation. Much more can be explained in John Etheringtons book "The Wind Farm Scam". Dr. Etherington is a professor from Wales.

I am from Poland - living i USA for over 20 -years.
For last 8 years Poland sees invasions of so called- " Wind Farms" I am currently involved in protesting them in Poland.

All I can ask you guys is to spread the word about the book!

www.stopwiatrakom.eu <- "stop the wind turbines" in polish, features a short film about turbines in australia and how people were affected.
Dorota   01.31.10
Make it come true.
Gösta Zwilling, Verona   02.03.10
Nice designs.
But these remind me of 'innovative designs for the city of the future' from every decade in the 100 years. Lots of huge inter-connecting structures, clean lines and plain surfaces. But in the end, the reality is always much more organic, asymmetrical, random and confusing, with individual extensions and modifications all around the first build and never as pure as the original plans intended.

Don't get me wrong, I think that's a good thing!
Phil H   02.03.10
@gulogulo
well, i believe you, that rīthere are a lot of sideffects of such systems ike noise, shaddows etc, which are affecting our body/system - BUT - i do not agree with you to stop them at all. they DO have such a potencial to generate green energy so that we canīt look back! maybe the idea to combine both, habitat and windparks, are not such a great idea in this way , but i wouldnīt protest against them in general!!!!
ormac   02.03.10
most regulatory agencies require a safety setback in case of blade failure. There is no setback in this design; people are directly under the blades. this is how shall we say- madness.
fred   02.04.10
this seems like a great idea, why not utilize all the real estate that these turbines would create.

love it

here's an interesting article i came across for those worried about the ecological implications.

simplygreen
Mr Vimes   02.04.10
Are they flooding, anchored? Tripod design could work so.
Wave or stream energy could also be used.
Use them as wave-breakers.
Build industrie out there, right beside/on the energy supply.
Use them as jails "New Alcatraz", let the people do useful jobs for the common benefit.
Use them as huge fish farms.
Produce Hydrogen for tank ships and ship propulsion.
Mobile salt-sweet water converters with hoses to the shore.

This is the planet surface version of space-stations.
Easy to enlarge by-and-by.
Dirk16   02.06.10
Hey, cool...I'm 4 months ahead of time, reading the date like "second of june '10 " :-D

Sorry for the offtopic comment, please stay ontopic.
Dirk16   02.06.10
relax people! there's no need for such expensive, not attractive, complex ideas.
i would never like to step my feet there
r.koettler   02.07.10
The "big boys" who placed the seed bank way up there will love this easily fenced-off, high-end and exclusive habitation, talk about "off the grid", this gets them "out of the pit" and well insulated from chaos in the event of any general collapse or culling procedure.
Joncaire   02.11.10

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