Seven Rotating Houses and Towers That Turn Our Crank
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09. 9.08
Roof of Rolf Disch's Heliotrop House.
Passive solar through windows or active solar though hot water or photovoltaics work best when perpendicular to the sun. So cue up Paul McCartney's "I'll follow the sun" and see seven houses and towers that are designed to do exactly that.
1) Heliotrop House :Architect Rolf Disch built his own home as a test bed for solar systems. The house tracks the sun, so that its triple-glazed front can face the warming sun in winter and show its well insulated back in summer.
The balcony rail is a solar vacuum tube to heat water. Photovoltaics on the roof rotate independently to track the sun, generating four to six times the energy needed for the house, making it beyond zero energy and into "das Plusenergiehaus" or a "Plus-energy House."
It not only rotates and is solar powered, generating 5 to six times what it needs to run the house, it is prefab, using pre-manufactured parts and pieces. The primary structural material is glue-laminated wood beams. Spruce was chosen because it is grown regionally and is a rapidly renewable material.
If that is not enough, there is on-site composting, chemical free sewage treatment and rainwater catchment. Rolf Disch's Heliotrop House
base detail showing tubing for hot water
2. Villa Girasole
The oldest rotating house we have found is Angelo Invernizzi's Villa Girasole (Villa Sunflower) near Verona, Italy. "The two storied and L shaped house rests on a circular base, which is over 44 meters in diameter. In the middle there is a 42 meters tall turret, a sort of conning tower or lighthouse, which the rotating movement hinges on. A diesel engine pushes the house over three circular tracks where 15 trolleys can slide the 5,000 cubic meters building at a speed of 4 millimeters per second (it takes 9 hours and 20 minutes to rotate fully). " 1935: Villa Girasole: Rotating House Follows the Sun
3) Everingham Rotating House
This Australian house rotates around a central pivot point. “It also encapsulates many aspects of ecologically sound building principles, such as optimising on natural light and heat, while rotating 180o to take advantage of sunshine and shade at different times of the day and year.”
The Everingham model is a 24 m (79’) diameter octagon with a 3-metre (10’), 360-degree verandah. It weighs 50 tonnes, but can rotate a full 360-degrees, around a central core of plumbing and electricals. Within this core is also a geothermal piping system (120 metres long and 2.5 metres deep), supplying a constant 22oC to the house. Everingham Rotating House: Thinking Outside the Square
4) Massau Rotating House
50 years ago François Massau built this rotating house so that his sickly wife could enjoy sunshine and warmth any time of the year. Massau was an eccentric builder who does not appear to have been very nice, and spent his last years fighting in court, dying alone and penniless at 97 in 2002. However his house survives, with its fixed roof and house that turns beneath it. ::Rotating House by François Massau is 50 Years Old
5) Maisons Labbe Turntable House
We now enter the realm of speculation, of proposals that are not yet built. In Nice, France, Frederic Plazar has designed a series of turntable houses ranging from 80m2 (861 SF) to 140m2 (1506 SF). The Maisons Labbé website calls it a "Bioclimactic house", that uses 60% less energy than a conventional house. Turntable House from Maisons Labbé
6) Glenn Howells' rotating "sustainable" Dubai Condo
Its hot in Dubai, and everyone wants water view- so Glenn Howells is building "an eco-friendly sustainable design, using solar power to revolve the cylindrical form and recycling water to irrigate the landscaped gardens. The concept for the façade design has evolved through the use of intricate layers and textures that also help to address the extreme heat conditions in Dubai, while providing the residents with energy efficient control of their internal environment.
The dual-skin breathing façade creates a dynamic appearance and adds depth to the building with interesting materials including high performance glass with neutral coating and gold screens." We like the line in the advertising: "Awake one day to see panoramic lake views and another day to see beautiful landscapes and the worlds biggest shopping mall" Glenn Howells' rotating "sustainable" Dubai Condo
7) David Fisher's Rotating Tower in Dubai
We have been dubious about Architect David Fisher's rotating tower for Dubai, with its wind turbines built in between each floor, and its claims that "the building will generate 10 times more energy than required to power it." We also wondered about how "The new tower is the first building of its size to produced in a factory. Each floor, made up of 12 individual units, complete with plumbing, electric connections, air conditioning, etc., will be fabricated in a factory. These modular units will be fitted on the concrete core or spine of the building at the central tower."
But perhaps we were wrong. Inhabitat tells us that "Construction is going to start soon, with an official launch later this month."
But it may not be easy; Robert Oullette writes:
"The architect describes three technologies that the project relies on for its success. First is the ability for architecture to be dynamic, to constantly change its form. Second, is the integration of power-generating technologies that let the building generate more power than its inhabitants consume. Third, is the factory-based construction that will reduce the number of site workers, speed construction time, and improve the final finish quality.
Take a look at this rather pretentious video for an explanation of the tower. What’s my take on it? Before I was an architect I followed a Buckminster Fuller inspired career path working in aircraft manufacturing for the de Havilland Aircraft Company. I’ve seen the technologies required to make this work from both sides of the technology spectrum, and odds are that this building will fail to meet its objectives. That does not mean it is an unworthy experiment. Inventing new ways of sustainable living will not be easy or cheap; however, we have little choice but to try and if it takes $139 oil to get us there so be it."
Construction Starting On Dubious Dubai Twirling Tower?
More Great (non-rotating) Dubai projects:
Rem Koolhaas's Dubai Deathstar
Dubai Jumps the Shark
Dubious Dubai
Koolhaas Loses His Marbles Again
Dubious Dubai
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Is Toyota Hot on the Trail of a Solar Powered Car?
- Foster + Partners Green Building in Buenos Aires: The Aleph
- Passivhaus in the New York Times
- Around the Gingerbread World 2008: Hot and Not
OK, this is all fun, but it's hard to imagine that all the structure needed to make a successful rotating house will ever pay for itself, financially or in terms of energy or environmental impact.
A much simpler approach that can give you constant sun in your windows is a heliostat--a mirror that tracks the sun and keeps the reflection aimed at a window. Bonus is that the sun hits the ceiling and gives you light from above rather than glare on your computer monitor. See the link from my name for an example.
Link from my name this time is a commercial heliostat. Starts at 6000 euros, but that's a whole lot cheaper than any rotating house!
If Mohammed doesn't rotate around the mountain that the mountain will rotate around Mohammed??
Hmmm
wow this building is so dumb. all that is dynamic about it is that the millionaires who live in the apartments get to see a changing view. yea, maybe it follows the sunlight and you can keep your lights off for a few more hours every day, but does that balance the energy it needs to fucking move tons of structure? The turbines in the tower could do a lot more than rotate a millionaire around like a kid on a carousel. According to the video this is more of an attempt to make a landmark than a sustainable building. The wind turbines are only sustainable justifications to build an amusement park ride you can live in.
Im sure there's going to be a huge buzz and tourist flocking, a great stream on flickr, and maybe that's good for popularizing sustainability (I know its good for symbolizing Dubai's new rise in the world) . But, does the sustainable movement need any more superficial fads? Must we use our new clean energy technologies to rock millionaires to sleep?