Mont Cenis Academy is an architecturally unique "building within a building" complex constructed underneath a gigantic glass cover with a length of 180 m, a width of 72 m and a height of 16 m is built on abandoned coal fields in Herne, Germany.
The building was designed by Jourda Architectes which is based in Lyon France and built in 1999 by collaboration between the state and local/regional government.
The site was once the location for a coal mine that closed in 1978, creating a Brownfield.
Enclosed within the glass greenhouse like envelope is of a village like cluster of buildings; a community center, government offices, a civil-service training center, a library and a hotel.
The practical benefits to this project and a major reason why its relevant to Ecological Design is that the 123,200-square-foot clear-glass greenhouse structure creates a mild micro-climate more in line with the south of France than northern Germany. This has the effect of reducing energy use, while turning a polluted former industrial mining site into a new center for working, living and learning.
Key Ecological Design Components of Project:
In winter, concrete and gravel floors serve as a heat sink, while heat-recovery units pull warm exhaust air from the conditioned spaces.
In summer, louvered openings in the glass structure's lower quadrants bring in cool air, while warm air is expelled through roof vents. There is no air conditioning. Heat-recovery units pull warm exhaust air from the conditioned spaces.
Rainwater collected from the roof is used to clean the roof, flush toilets and water lawns.
Onsite Distributed Power systems produce 2.5 times the Renewable Energy that the complex needs.
Solar PV Panels on the roof produces approximately 1MW of electrical power.
Two co-generation plant modules use methane gas released from former mining shafts on site to create additional electricity and heat
References:
Office Mont Cenis website: http://www.akademie-mont-cenis.de/en/
Summary of project: http://www.mai-nrw.de/Akademie-Mont-Cenis.36.0.html?L=1
Life After Arcosanti Blog Post about a self guided tour of the facility on May 19th 2013: http://www.arcosanti.wordpress.com/2013/06/09/european-tour-stop-mont-cenis-academy-in-herne-germany/
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