Anemo Tower Phase 1

Anemo Tower, located in Mt. Washington New Hampshire is an original design that attempts to combine modern architecture with cutting edge technology and engineering.  This design provides a building system that is capable of capturing wind energy and using it as an alternative resource.

When considering wind and how it interacts with a building's surface, it is important to note the wind's relative velocity and direction at each point around the building.  In general, when wind comes in contact with building's surface it naturally redirect's itself around the sides of the building. Along the sides of the building is where one will experience the highest velocity wind speeds.


When considering this concept and the suggested orientation of the turbines within this building, the efficiency of this design would be very low. With the highest velocity wind speeds on either side of the building, turbine rotation would be very limited.

This design is centered around the idea that wind passing along the sides of the building may be captured by the spiraling draft tunnels on the building's exterior. In theory, these tunnels would help redirect the wind so that the turbines within the building may experience the most efficient wind flow.


Building Info

Wind Energy in Buildings

  •  Basic concept of wind turbines 
    •   How they create energy – pressure differential across blade creates lift
    •   What affects their efficiency – turbine height, geographic location, direction
    •  Turbine Components – blades, generator, pitch, rotor
  • Power generation formulas
  •  Power generation tables
  • Building wind energy examples


Typical air flow around buildings cylindrical buildings


Vertical Air Flow – Downdraught Effect



dESCRIPTION & eQUATIONS

Building Design

The newly designed building will contain a circular base and top that is connected by a parabolic face. Both the radius of the top and bottom of the building will be adjustable allowing designers to create anything from a cylinder to a cone. In addition to the exterior shape, three adjustable wind shafts will be located on the building’s face to help incite wind flow. To capture the wind energy, every 5th floor will contain wind turbine that occupies the entire floor. In theory, the lateral wind forces passing the sides of the building will turn the turbines. The resulting upward air currents produced by the rotating turbines will then be captured and directed through the wind shafts up the side of the building. The intent is that these wind shafts will help with the efficiency of the wind energy system.

Structural Components 
The key structural components of this design will be located on the exterior face of the building and at the building’s center. At the building’s center, a hollow concrete cylinder will be used to provide vertical and lateral stability. Depending on the exterior building dimensions, the cylinder will have an appropriate diameter and wall thickness. The concrete cylinder shaft will also house all elevators and stairwells. On the building’s exterior there will be three irregularly shaped columns that will be used for added building lateral stability as well vertical supports for each floor. These columns will adapt to the exterior face of the building and will further analyzed by the structural team on this project.




Building Model
To create this building model, a conceptual mass will be used. The conceptual mass will be driven by adaptive points and lines that are influenced by user defined equations. The user defined equations will determine the location of the adaptive nodes and the adaptive lines will follow these nodes. The geometry of the conceptual mass will be created using revolve command. The exterior wind shafts will be created using an adaptive line that is located on the building’s exterior. A circular profile will be given to the adaptive line and the sweep/void command will be used create the wind shaft geometry. After creating the building model from this conceptual mass, additional conceptual mass models will be made for exterior columns and wind turbines and later combined.

Parametric Mass



Arch Column



Parametric Capabilities 

As seen in the following figures, this building has many features that are easily changeable and adaptable.
Building Curvature




Draft Size




Turbine Size




Front Desk Size




RENDERINGS







pROJECT vIDEO



REFERENCES

Autodesk Revit, Autodesk Material/Component Library
     https://www.autodesk.com/

IKEA Revit Families
     https://www.polantis.com/ikea

Revit City Family Models
     https://www.revitcity.com


Typical air flow around buildings cylindrical buildings
     https://www.freeenergyplanet.biz/wind-energy-2/a-definition-of-drag.html