National Wildflower Center / Ginseng Chicken Architecture
Ginseng Chicken Architecture, a promising new firm, has proposed a design for the National Wildflower Center in Liverpool. The science center, which provides a variety of activities such as plant production areas and facilities for seed processing, “will inspire people to visit the center to learn about the relationship between nature, mathematics and physics…it will provide an operational hub for creative conservation, learning and innovation,” explained the architects.
More diagrams, images and information after the break.
The building’s geometric form was derived from the Fibonacci Spiral, a mathematical principle prevalent in nature. The spiral form is layered to divide the complex pragmatically. The lower spiral contains conference rooms, classrooms, and a community room; above, a pebbled floor provides the base for operational programs, such as the seed processing rooms, while a sustainable wildflower screen provides enclosure; the uppermost level offers a continuous circulation path along a PV paneled covered roof.
The wildflower screen is a self-standing sustainable skin that creates a greenhouse condition to develop an energy saving system. “The double-skinned screen enhances the building’s energy-saving performance through features such as seasonal daylight control by varying pot arrangement, water irrigation systems, and living machines,” stated the architects. The screen provides an aesthetic texture to the façade and allows users to stay connected with the exterior gardens, even while occupying the interior spaces.
Once the proposed design is further developed, the notion of incorporating a geo-thermal system and redesigning the existing outdoor garden to feature the same geometries as the structure will be investigated.
Credits
Architect: Ginseng Chicken Architecture P.C.
Type: Multi-use, Science Center
Client: National Wildflower Center
Address: Court Hey Park, Roby Road, Liverpool, UK
Project Team: Ginseng Chicken Architecture P.C. (Jeeyong An, Sang Hwa Lee, Hosung Chun, Ulyong Moon) + Young Chul Jang, Sook Hee Chun
Gross Square Foot: 25,600-s.f. (2 floors)
Construction Budget: $35M
Dollar per GSF: 550 $/SF
Construction Type: New Construction
Construction Status: Proposal
Sunflower diagram does not necessarily relate to the building form they are proposing. It only relates to the paving pattern on the site (to some degree). While seeming to be a young, promising firm, this particular project, I think, is weak.
The idea is nice… but couldn’t they have come up with a more creative way to hang the plants!!! Rather than using cheezy “wall-martish” pots?
why crescent (or banana)-shaped building always look great to me?
coooooooooool