First Wind-Powered Building Inaugurated in Mar del Plata, Argentina

Buenos Aires' most famous summer destination recently got its first wind-powered building. Its name is Cefira (in reference to Cefiro, god of the wind), and has a generator called IV 4500 which can produce 4,5 kilowatts: more than enough for the building's common-spaces requirements.

The eight-storey building was designed by Mariani-Perez Maraviglia architecture studio, but was a project of two entrepreneurs: Francisco Moreno Ocampo and Franco Tocagni.

Besides having clean energy, 80% of each apartment's walls are glass, which makes it possible for the units to take advantage of solar light. The spaces also have isolation systems that keep control of temperature and independent heating control, which many buildings in Buenos Aires don't have. Common-spaces also have intelligent lighting to avoid waste.

According to La Nacion newspaper, the entrepreneurs (pictured in the extended) also said that the owners of the apartments will receive a manual on how to take care of the environment when they get their units this February.

The wind generator was created by Invap, an Argentine company that carries away investigations in different fields (which also created a nuclear reactor for Australia).

Moreno-Ocampo and Tocagni, the entrepreneurs, are also working in sustainable projects in Patagonia and Buenos Aires.

::Via Noticias de Arquitectura (in Spanish)

::Official site ::La Nacion newspaper article ::Clarin newspaper article

Francisco Moreno Ocampo and Franco Tocagni, entrepreneurs who came up with the idea of the building.