In London the gaggle of people always say about tall towers that it either gives shadow or melt cars like fry-scrapers (London’s Walkie Talkie Tower). So to overcome this NBBJ architects has come up with a beautiful solution to this problem
Article highlights:
‘No shadow tower’ goal is to ensure the sun around skyscrapers could reach ground level. This design concept was originally developed for New London Architecture and published in New London Quarterly.
How it works:
Architects used this conceptual design and developed an algorithm which traces the sun’s incident during each day depending upon its shape time and the location and then translates the results into building form and this concept reduces the shadow by 60% compare to similar sizes towers.
To use this concept they have actually planned and moved forward to think about the sun, “how it moves through the sky from east to west, and using computers to plot the reflections.” Says David Kosdruy of the No Shade Tower Project
Concept:
Unlike other reflecting towers which have concave surfaces that focus the sun’s rays like a magnifying glass, No Shadow Towers reflect section by section. This creates pools of sunlight and a moving light show on the ground. Although shadows will be in the north which is not helpful, sunlight is redirected to where it is needed most, to the space between the towers. Even in winter, when the sun is lower in the sky and blocked more by the south tower, this concept works well in morning and late afternoon (and in winter people are more likely to remain indoors)
The information about the angles got fed back to a parametric geometry model that generates the building envelope.
Designers note:
“You can’t remove the shadow from one building,” said Christian Coop, design director of NBBJ London.
“(But) if you have two buildings, one to the north and one to the south, you could form the building to the north to act like a mirror that would reflect the light in complete sequence to track the shadow from the south.”
Conclusion:
London is facing a significant problem of over-shadowing. This ‘No Shadow Tower’ aims to mitigate this, by creating two high-rise buildings that work together to redirect sunlight and visibly reduce shadows at the most active place, the public realm at the base of the towers.
This the first time ever the building engineered to reflect the sunlight effectively making the building shadow- less.
