Newsletter of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University
"Yes is More," by architect Andreas Pedersen at Texas A&M's Architecture Lecture Series from TAMU College of Architecture on Vimeo.
A partner at a Danish architecture firm who has led notable design projects across the globe spoke Feb. 8 as part of the Texas A&M College of Architecture’s Dr. F.E. Giesecke 1886 Lecture Series honoring the founder of the university's architecture program.
Andreas Pedersen, associate partner of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) in Copenhagen, Denmark, spoke in Preston Geren Auditorium, located in Langford Architecture Center’s building B. The lecture was held in conjunction with the Texas A&M Department of Architecture Spring 2010 Lecture Series.
Pedersen, who leads many of BIG's master plan and large-scale projects in Europe and central and southern Asia, designed the prize-winning Shenzhen Energy Mansion in China and Zira Island, central Asia's first carbon-neutral master plan development in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Among his other notable projects are the new Tamayo Museum in Mexico City, Ren People's Building in Shanghai, Lego Towers in Copenhagen, Klovermark, Scala Library, Arlanda Hotel and his firm's contributions to the Venice Biennale in 2004 and 2008.
An architecture instructor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, Pedersen also lectures internationally about the group’s research and projects.
Pederson's Shenzhen Energy Mansion design features a façade folded in a way that resembles an origami shape.
"By focusing on the envelope, the façade, we are able to enhance the sustainable performance of the building drastically," he said.
Pedersen drew the building's façade as a folded skin that passively and actively reduces its energy consumption by shading it from direct sunlight while integrating solar thermal panels.
The design, said Pedersen, is based on an efficient and well-proven floor plan, enclosed in a skin specifically modified and optimized for Shenzhen's tropical climate.
"When energy is a big issue, we can no longer design buildings that depend on high consumption to provide a comfortable working environment, especially in tropical weather," wrote David Basulto about the Shenzhen design in ArchDaily.
Pedersen's master plan for the one million-square meter Zira Island, located off the coast of the central Asian nation of Azerbaijan, calls for a an eco-community and sustainable resort.
"Heat pumps, which plunge into the surrounding Caspian Sea, will heat and cool the buildings on the island, and solar hot water collectors are integrated into the architecture to provide hot water," wrote Bridgette Meinhold in Inhabitat, a blog devoted to the future of design. "Photovoltaics on strategically angled facades and rooftops will generate electricity, and an offshore wind farm will be constructed in the Caspian Sea, utilizing the existing oil platforms and foundations for the new and more sustainable power supply."
It will stand as an example, she wrote, to a region so dependent on oil that it is possible to live off the wind and sun.
The Dr. F.E. Giesecke 1886 Lecture Series, which began in 2006, was established by Preston Geren, Giesecke’s grandson, and his wife Colleen '45 to bring outstanding, world-class speakers to the college. The lectures give students and faculty opportunities to hear the latest ideas and accomplishments by leaders in the virtual and built-environment professions, industries, and disciplines.
To learn more about Giesecke, who founded the architecture program in 1905, visit www.arch.tamu.edu/content/inside/history.
The above video may also be viewed at http://vimeo.com/9866623.
- Updated: March 02, 2010 -
