Green Energy Laboratory

655, Panyu Road, Xuhui, Shanghai, China

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Green Energy Laboratory

655, Panyu Road, Xuhui, Shanghai, China

Firm

Archea Associati

Type

Industrial › Research Facility

YEAR

2012

The project, located inside the Minhang Campus of Jiao Tong University, arose from a collaboration between the university and the Italian Ministry of Environment and Protection of Land and Sea, for the realization of a center for the research and dissemination of low environmental impact building technologies.

The building, named GEL (Green Energy Laboratory), is designed as a simple and compact body endowed with a central courtyard covered by an ample skylight.

This space, surrounded by walkway balconies, creates a gap capable of energy consumption optimization since it functions, during sunny winter days, as a heat collector. The first two levels of the building house laboratories, conference and control rooms, classrooms, and exhibition spaces. The third and top floor includes two representative apartments enclosed in the shape of a “house” covered by a pitched roof made from photovoltaic panels.

Every single environment enjoys the benefits derived from the maximization of ventilation and natural lighting through a dual-facing configuration. This configuration faces towards the court and towards the exterior where a double skin guarantees the control and the screening of sun rays on the glazed surfaces.