︎ FLOW Chicago Mixed-use Residential Tower
2019
Site : Pilsen , Chicago
Partner : Evelyn Ge | Advisor : Chip von Weise
flow (v.) : to move along or out steadily and continuously in a current or stream.
Water makes landscape, it moves, it stops, it transports, and it carves; landscape, on the other hand, determines the speed of water flow.
Sitting on the north edge of Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, the design of “Flow” is to reflect the significance of water to the city. On the site, architecture is considered as a natural landscape, and human activities are designed into a continuous flow with pauses
Mimicking how water interacts with what contains it in motion, the proposed residential towers grows from the landscape and rises toward the views of Chicago skyline, twisting from the bottom to the top.
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Sitting on the north edge of Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, the design of “Flow” is to reflect the significance of water to the city. On the site, architecture is considered as a natural landscape, and human activities are designed into a continuous flow with pauses
Mimicking how water interacts with what contains it in motion, the proposed residential towers grows from the landscape and rises toward the views of Chicago skyline, twisting from the bottom to the top.
Expected to stop the heat island phenomenon, the skin is layered with technology of BIOSKIN and PV fins.
A key to the mechanism of BIOSKIN is the heat of vaporization- unglazed porous pipes through which water flows are installed every 3 feet on the perimeter of the residential towers. Rainwater is collected on the roof, and electric power obtained from sunlight is used to draw up rainwater accumulated underground, which then evaporates from the unglazed pipes. PV fins, made of amorphous silicon solar cells that convert sunlight into clean electricity, are all-glass, semi-transparent, letting 20% visible light to pass through. Each fin consists of a three-ply laminated, tempered glass and offers 3.15 Watts per square foot.
Together with partial greening of the buildings, the system of BIOSKIN and PV fins is expected to reduce building surface temperature by 54°F and the ambient temperature by 35°F.
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A key to the mechanism of BIOSKIN is the heat of vaporization- unglazed porous pipes through which water flows are installed every 3 feet on the perimeter of the residential towers. Rainwater is collected on the roof, and electric power obtained from sunlight is used to draw up rainwater accumulated underground, which then evaporates from the unglazed pipes. PV fins, made of amorphous silicon solar cells that convert sunlight into clean electricity, are all-glass, semi-transparent, letting 20% visible light to pass through. Each fin consists of a three-ply laminated, tempered glass and offers 3.15 Watts per square foot.
Together with partial greening of the buildings, the system of BIOSKIN and PV fins is expected to reduce building surface temperature by 54°F and the ambient temperature by 35°F.
