The Valencian studio Fran Silvestre Arquitectos will start up the execution of its research project for the port area of the Marina de Valencia. It is an infrastructure that produces sustainable energy for the self-sufficiency of the port.

The project, on which Fran Silvestre Arquitectos has been researching for more than ten years with the collaboration of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) and the Technological Institute of Energy (ITE), will be carried out in the coming years, with Financial support from Net de Guerrers.

The Tower, with a height of 170 meters, will contain in its interior approximately one thousand wind mills of vertical axis allowed in the interior of the cities thanks to which they are covered and to which they are silent. It also has a continuous wrapping grid on the facade to avoid a possible danger to birds while protecting the propellers.

The project aims to make the Wind Tower a center for research into alternative energies in urban environments, as well as an important visual reference in the city of Valencia.

Description of project by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos

A landmark which modifies its proportions depending on the viewpoint and the effect of the sunlight; revealing an element in a constant evolution. An engraved tower devoted to the wind.

The building combines renewable energy it which feeds the city and its facilities with electricity, without needing other resources. Taking advantage of the possibilities that it suggests, much as for its construction as for its shape

Its stillness contrasts with the mobility of the shadows, its firmness emphasizes the strength of the wind to which it frames.

An emblem which reveals the intense light and the powerful wind to appraise the positive view of a society which has always taken advantage of the surrounding elements.

The plan view is designed by means of three vertical communication cores connected two abreast, trying to solve the commitment between the desire to be part of the landscape and the will to trap the wind.

This geometry is repeated in the ways which integrate the structure within its surroundings; the open Podium towards the pedestrian access, where there are the Conference Hall with one hundred people capacity, the Children Library, the Parvis (Atrium) and the services area.

The tower proposes a suggesting route. The ground floor incites to come in through a shadowed exterior space whose deck acts as a Belvedere on the garden. The program is distributed so that the traffic between the entering and leaving visitors do not pass each other. By using one of the communication cores to move upward, another to go down and the third one to use in case of emergency and to maintenance.

In each one of the communication cores, an staircase and two panoramic lifts, which encompass different views of the scenery, are displayed; cores whose night view emphasizes the slender character of the building. Once up, the cafeteria proportions maximize the perimeter of contact with the outside, making an all directions view of the scenery possible. The cafeteria is disposed in two levels with two different atmospheres. The deck is shaped as a one hundred and seventy meters high observation deck, where the city can be observed.

The arrangement of the vertical communications and the fact that they are connected bestow it with a good structural performance. The pressure of the wind is always dimmed by a rigid nucleus, whereas the orientation and the shape of the geometry allow it to change the prevailing wind into power. The vertical axis wind turbines are arranged in the curve areas which connect the communication cores. Both the wind turbines and the panoramic lifts are covered by an openwork metallic skin which being permeable to the wind together with the views confer a monolithic appearance to the structure. The construction is developed in an obvious and simple way thanks to the fast-speed climbing casings which make possible to materialize the built as an icon.

Structure proposes a wind turbine system of vertical axe, meanwhile its deep foundations based on pilings, most characteristic of buildings in height, allows the incorporation of geothermal energy. The volume presents wide surfaces in contact with the exterior. Here, the vertical areas constitute the support for the photovoltaic panel, taking advantage of its constant exposure to solar radiation. Besides, the podium’s horizontal surface is used in the obtaining of thermoelectric energy.

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Fran Silvestre Arquitectos is a studio based in Valencia made up a multidisciplinary group of architects founded in 2005 by architect Fran Silvestre. Fran Silvestre (born 5 July 1976) is a Spanish architect. After having graduated in Architecture at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Valencia in 2001, he specialized in urban planning at the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven a year later. Then, he won a scholarship to work at the studio of the Pritzker Prize architect from Portugal, Alvaro Siza, which is located in Oporto, and have ever since undertaken projects in cooperation with him. He is also dedicated to teach as professor at the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia since 2006, and the Universidad Europea since 2009.

Influenced by the above mentioned architect, Alvaro Siza, or the sculptor Andreu Alfaro, among others, the studio realizes series of projects that take into account factors such as, modulation, serialization or light. Thus, giving rise to buildings of high purity, using constant innovative materials and technologies. Since its foundation, it has focused on the developement and implementation of small-scale projects, for instance, The Atrium House (2009) or the House at the mountainside of a Castle (2010). It also carries out multidisciplinary work while designing objects like the Alis chair, collaborating with other studios such as Alfaro Hofmann, which is dedicated to interior design.

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Published on: March 15, 2019
Cite: "Wind tower in the harbor by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/wind-tower-harbor-fran-silvestre-arquitectos> ISSN 1139-6415
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