Green Centre of Attraction: Art Science Museum

Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands is a popular standout point for business and entertainment in Asia, that adds to its credibility by providing space for 2,560 hotel rooms, rooftop Sands SkyPark, convention and exhibition facilities, the best shopping mall in Asia, world-class celebrity chef restaurants, a casino, a Paiza Club for premium players, an outdoor event plaza and so on. What’s more, the new Eco-friendly development in this area – the ArtScience Museum – has tripled its attractiveness.This ArtScience Museum, the first of its kind the world over, was inaugurated at Marina Bay Sands on February 17th, 2011. The shape of this ArtScience Museum is that of a bloomed lotus flower or a single palm with 10 fingers. This contemporarily designed Museum aims to become the heart of the growing art & science movement as well as the premier venue for international exhibits.

The Museum will display innovative and modern works in art and science on three floors of gallery space across over 4,800 square meters. There are 21 galleries in all. This project will attract not just tourists but also encourage cutting-edge practices as part of a new economy.

Museum – The Palm & its Energy-efficiency

Because of its palm-like appearance, the Museum is fondly known as “The Welcoming Hand of Singapore”. There are ten fingers on this palm, attached to a unique round base in the middle. The tallest "finger" stands 60 meters above ground. Each one of the ten fingers that extend out in the palm-like museum has a generous skylight that illuminates the interior walls with ample daylight.

Air conditioning grills built into the floor help save energy by cooling only the air up to the visitor’s height, rather than the entire space. Called air stratification, the technique is gaining popularity with engineering firms.

The ArtScience Museum incorporates several interesting features to make use of natural resources as efficiently as possible. The museum’s dish-like roof channels rainwater through the central atrium of the building, creating a 35-meter water drop into a 4,000 sq.m lily pond at the lowest level of the building. Rainwater is recycled and redirected through the water feature to create a continuous cylindrical waterfall. The rainwater is also recycled for use in the museum’s bathrooms as part of Singapore’s Green Mark program.

At night, the same dish transforms into an amphitheatre, enthralling audiences with awe-striking light and laser shows and fireworks with the city in the background.

Material such as Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP), typically used in high-performance racing yachts - which has never been used in a project in Singapore – has been used for the construction of this architectural wonder.

Terminal -3 of Indira Gandhi International Airport

The third and latest terminal at the Indira Gandhi International Airport at New Delhi, unveiled on July 14th 2010, is yet another jewel in the crown of Indian Airport infrastructure. Sprawled over an area of 5.4 million square feet, this terminal is the world’s 2nd largest airport terminal in size and 6th largest by capacity; it is equipped to accommodate 34 million passengers every year.

80 percent of this nine-level T-3 is made of glass supported by metal frames. Glass loses 30% more warm or cool air than insulated brick. Several murals and sculptures adorn the walls of the terminal, making for aesthetic excellence.

T3 will be one of the few green airports in the world, thanks to eco-friendly features like energy-efficient structures, high-performance air-conditioning, use of municipal waste to generate electricity, rain water harvesting, waste-water treatment and reuse of treated water.

The terminal has 78 aerobridges, 168 check-in counters and is fully equipped to receive the super-jumbo Airbus A-380, the world’s largest passenger aircraft. With 95 immigration counters, the terminal boasts of numerous escalators and walkalators, including one that claims to be the longest in Asia, at 118 m.

Besides three functional runways catering to T3, there are 92 automatic walkways and a multi-level air-conditioned car park equipped to accommodate 4,300 cars - both features a first in India.

There is a 100-room transit hotel and business lounge inside the terminal itself. Comfortable nap and shower rooms that add to passenger comfort in the airport are incorporated; these will have a mix of restaurants, bars, cafes and fast food outlets within 20,000 square meters of commercial space.

Close to 800 Flight Information Display Systems have been used for live flight information, and 8,000 speakers installed for the Public Address system. About 3000 security cameras have been installed to keep an eye on every nook and corner of the airport premises. 15 X-ray systems have been set up at certain points in the Terminal to ease waiting time.

Common User Passenger Processing System and an advanced 5 level in-line Baggage Handling System with explosive detection technology will be operational to ensure quicker processing and higher security. Advanced technology has been used for the check-in process and baggage retrieval systems, which can handle 12,800 bags in an hour.

The high speed Metro train, connecting T3 to the city, will allow passengers to check in their luggage at the city station and bring them straight below the airport terminal with boarding cards in hand.

Almost 20,000 square metres of retail area with duty-free stores have been set up by the famous Irish duty-free chain Aer Rianta International.

Designed as per the Indian Green Building Council's (IGBC) rating system, T3 will have a high level of green cover with landscaping of 70 acres outside and 10,000 square metres inside the building. Numerous varieties of plants, trees and shrubs are being planted. While most of the plants are indigenous, few exotic varieties of orchids have been sourced from Thailand and Mexico. Over 9,00,000 plants will provide a green cover for the airport; the landscaping will have a large number of fountains and soothing lighting.

R128 – Green in Glass

That all architectural structures are covered by solid opaque walls on all four sides to maintain privacy and security is a given. So, a home with walls of glass that offer a clear view of the inside is bound to create more than just a ripple, and 128 Werner Sobek does just that. This rather novel concept in residential architecture seems to have broken through all conventions and set a new - if not higher - standard in innovative construction.

R128 Werner Sobek is four-storey house, floating high on a hill overlooking the city of Stuttgart, Germany. Inside this curious creation, there are no doors, switches, interior walls or partitions and no closed rooms. But what takes the cake is that the home generates its own energy. The construction material used to create R128 is one hundred percent eco-friendly and recyclable.

R128 has a most attractive glass façade and is devoid of a basement. High quality triple-glazed glass with inert gas filling is in use. The use of a modular design, complete with glass panels and steel frames ensured easy assembly and disassembly of the construction. The insulated glass panels prevent overheating of the interior during summer and loss of energy and warmth during winter. The supporting steel frame comprises of 10 tons of steel.

The ceiling of the Werner Sobek glass house consists of prefabricated panels overlaid by plastic. Beneath the unscrewed floor, aluminium ceiling panels are affixed by clip connections. Lighting, heating and cooling systems are fitted into that layer and this acts as an acoustic absorber pattern.

Sensor controlled doors have been installed on the upper and lower levels of the house. All appliances and environmental systems are also controlled by motion sensors and voice commands. The front door has a voice recognition feature which allows it to open automatically on a voice command. Water faucets in the bathrooms are regulated by sensors. Windows are controlled by touch screen technology.

Every floor has two folding windows each, which allow natural daylight and fresh air to enter the house. During summer, cool water running through the floor elements removes excess heat from the entire house with the help of a heat exchanger. Thus surplus energy is stored for use in winter. This ensures minimal energy consumption. 48 solar powered modules with a total capacity of 6.2 KW are installed on the rooftop, which are responsible for supplying all the power required by the pump system.

This green show-house is expected to go a long way in promoting energy-efficient architecture.