This structure - an exhibit of the exhibition “Green Architecture for the Future” - was installed in the museum's sculpture park as a clear example of the diversity and scale of the potential of eco-materials and technologies.
The goal of the 3XN workshop was to show that green, resource-efficient architecture should not be less attractive than the most wasteful projects. To create a dynamic, active green building, modern smart materials should be used and, instead of reducing the amount of used resources at any cost, strive to generate and consume energy and materials more intelligently, says Kim Herfort Nielsen, CEO of 3XN.
The Louisiana Pavilion used biodegradable and energy-generating materials, resulting in a structure that is energetically self-sufficient and able to become part of the natural cycle once it is finished.
The base of the structure is made up of sheets of cork, forming a total of 84 mm thick, and it is covered with 14 layers of resin with linen fiber. The top of the pavilion is covered with flexible solar cells 1 mm thick, and the lower part is covered with piezoelectric material that generates an electric current from the pressure of visitors passing through it. Together they generate enough energy to power the built-in LED luminaires.
Thanks to the coating of a layer of nanoparticles, the surfaces of the pavilion became self-cleaning (due to the special structure of this layer, rainwater seeps under the surface of the dirt and washes it off). The second coating purifies the air around the structure by a photochemical catalysis process: it decomposes up to 70% of the components of industrial smog at a distance of 2.5 m.
Also, the pavilion is able to retain heat due to the use of a material that changes its state from solid to liquid at a temperature of + 23 ° C. When the temperature rises, it takes up heat energy and melts. When she falls, he freezes and gives her away. That is, the surface of the structure will always be colder than the environment when the temperature rises, and warmer when it falls. According to research, such materials can reduce energy consumption for heating and cooling buildings by 10-15%.
Also, when creating the project, a series of computer programs were used that made it possible to calculate the optimal shape of the pavilion, taking into account the average strength and direction of the wind and the weight of visitors rising to the surface of the building.
