AR Awards: Water Tower Conversion
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 12.13.06
Water towers are often "formally crude, over-engineered and top heavy" (although there are some nice ones about) and there is usually nothing under them but air. Here is a brilliant use of that space: fill it with apartments! Since the tower is often built on the highest spot of land, the views will be great. What a wonderful reinvention of an underutilized structure.
FromIn this example the architects have fitted 40 apartments and a youth centre around the tower's core, by occupying the space that sits between its hexagonal and dodecagonal structures.
There are two plan types: a simple orthogonal unit; and a triangulated unit that (when paired up) shares the diamond-shaped space defined by four columns. The external form is articulated by a series of bay windows and balconies. R. G.
Architect
Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter, Copenhagen
Photographs
Jens Lindhe, 1
Torben Eskerod, 2
Tel +45 3393 7350; fax +45 3393 5360
Email dorte@dortemandrup.dk
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Save $1,400 a Year By Drinking Tap Water
- EWA Squeezes Water From Thin Air, Like In Old Biblical Times
- Wretched Excess Dept: A £250,000 Dog House
- Water, Water, Everywhere, nor Any a Drop to Drink
The Learning Barge
|
British Retailers Meet With UK Government: Planning a Kingdom-Wide Wal-Mart Emulation?
|
In College Station, TX, we tried this for a water tower and we were told it was against code to have people within a certain distance of the tower. We suggested a viewing deck on the top, and told the same thing. Thank goodness some places have a little vision.
i just hope it doesn't leak! ;)
Over-Engineered? In some cases yes. However, an argument can also be made that water towers save pumping energy. Instead of using booster pumps, the supply pumps can be sized to pump up into a water tower which provides the head (pressure) necessary for suppy. But they are pretty ugly, espcially the older ones.
I saw a water tower in Berlin that is ringed with apartments. It's close to 100 years old. Looks lovely.