Colossal structure at Elephant - Strata Tower

[Crispy]

The ideal shape for thermal efficiency is a sphere. The more spherical, the better. Towers are not spherical at all.

 

[cybertect]

For reasons of practicality, there are Not many spherical buildings in the architectural canon. Though there is Etienne Louis Boullee's unrealised project for mausoleum for Isaac Newton.

Other than that, you're pretty much limited to Buckminster Fuller's geodesic domes

 

[Crispy]

I never noticed before, but are there hundreds of holes drilled through the newton-sphere to create "stars" in the apparent night sky? Neat.

 

[teuchter]

Similar thing at Corbusier church in Firminy -

 

[Chz]

The ideal shape for thermal efficiency is a sphere. The more spherical, the better. Towers are not spherical at all.

That would only be true if the ground and the air had the same heat capacity. The ideal shape for a building is a pyramid (traditional ones - inverted ones look cool, but there's nothing efficient about the shape), but you face a real problem with ground space and natural light at the lower floors. The tower is a compromise. It's a pity the New York style stepped tower never caught on, but real estate costs have tended to dictate against wasted ground space.

 

[Random]

Thi is one of those Mega City 1 / Arcology things, isn't it? I hate living in the future.

 

[teuchter]

That would only be true if the ground and the air had the same heat capacity. The ideal shape for a building is a pyramid (traditional ones - inverted ones look cool, but there's nothing efficient about the shape), but you face a real problem with ground space and natural light at the lower floors. The tower is a compromise. It's a pity the New York style stepped tower never caught on, but real estate costs have tended to dictate against wasted ground space.

I still want to know why a tower has "increased thermal efficiency" vs a lower block.

Let's say a tower that is 90m high x 15m wide x 10m deep, vs a block that is 90m long x 15m high x 10m deep. Both have the same volume, but the tower has 4 long sides exposed to the outside, whereas the lower block has 2 long sides and 2 short sides. The lower block has a larger roof area, but it is easy to heavily insulate a roof, and if you do it say with a green roof, you can make it useable, unlike the top of the skyscraper.

A significantly higher proportion of the skyscraper's volume will be taken up with structure to support all the floors above.

I don't think a long, low block would need any more lifts than the tower really, and they would have less height to travel. In addition, a higher proportion of the accommodation in the lower block would be at ground/first floor level, meaning that a good proportion of its occupants wouldn't need to use the lifts anyway.

 

[Chz]

Sorry, crispy. I'm a bit seasonally drunk and editing my aggressive response. You're right, we need to go and quote the studies.

 

[Crispy]

This is an argument that can be settled with emperical data or good modelling.

 

[cybertect]

Well, given that cooling is usually more of a problem than heating the place with office buildings (typical use for tall buildings in the UK) I suggest that whether a reduced surface area is desirable is a moot point.

IIRC from my tour of the place, Strata faces similar challenges, though it uses the mass of the concrete core to help moderate thermal change both on a daily and annual cycle.

Besides, a tower of any kind is going to have less surface area than a collection of small, semi-detached houses.

See also Crispy's last post.

 

[editor]

New pics here

The totally pointless, rarely-spinning turbines of the Strata Tower in south London

Voted ‘Britain’s ugliest new building’ by readers of Building Design magazine and swiftly securing the 2010 Carbuncle Cup, the 43-storey Strata tower in south London presents a d…

www.brixtonbuzz.com

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

My 21 year old nephew's just moved in there with his gf, got the rent half price for a year as the plague means there are very few takers for central London places, or so he claims anyway, I reckon he's knocking out gear on the side, but it's his life...

 

[Teaboy]

I'm saddened that the carbuncle awards don't seem to be running anymore and at a time we need them more than ever.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

New pics here

The totally pointless, rarely-spinning turbines of the Strata Tower in south London

Voted ‘Britain’s ugliest new building’ by readers of Building Design magazine and swiftly securing the 2010 Carbuncle Cup, the 43-storey Strata tower in south London presents a d…

www.brixtonbuzz.com

I'm disgusted by the broken promises and outright lies and theft that building represents, but a friend of mine lives on the estate next door and I don't think it looks bad, really, either from her flat or from further away. It's far from the worst building in Elephant.

Totally agree about the 'greenwashing' bullshit of the turbines though. I've never seen them turning.

 

[Doodler]

It's shit and if someone wants to pay ££££s to live among traffic fumes right next to some busy roads and a noisy railway line more fool them.