Greenway Self-Park / HOK
© John Picken
HOK has infused green strategies into Chicago’s Greenway Self-Park facility – a not so typical place to find sustainable ideas. While the 11 story energy efficient parking garage features a naturally ventilated exterior wall, a cistern rain water collection system, a green roof, and electric car plug-in stations, we can’t get over the dozen wind turbines made by Helix Wind that attach to the external structure.
More about the self-park and more images after the break.
© John Picken
The vertical turbines are located on the southwest corner of the garage to take full advantage of Chicago’s summer winds. The turbines will harvest the wind to power the exterior wall lighting of the facility, as well as contribute excess power to the city grid.
© John Picken
The glazed screen, which is comprised of a visually layered fabric of breathable glass channels, shows the inner function of the building. The building will be topped with a green roof.
© John Picken
This structure, which is the first of its kind in Chicago, is currently pursuing LEED Certification.
Source: Otto. Images from Flickr uploader John Picken.
Looks more like a vacuum cleaner invasion.
I walk by southwest corner (with the turbines) of this building every day from the train to work and I have never (NEVER) seen those wind turbines move. I believe they have been installed for about a year now – the parking garage has been open that long – are they not connected yet? Or was it a matter of poor placement or LEED credit grabbing? It seems to me that the architects were more concerned with “visually greening” the parking garage by placing the turbines at the prominent corner rather than, say, on the roof where they might be more efficient but less visible.
Just please don’t make the turbines spin via a motor – we’ve already seen that trick before in Chicago
Go get ‘em Barker.
I completely agree w/ abarker. Besides, what’s green about driving into the city and parking when the garage is within 5 blocks of 7 train lines?
i think those are trash chutes.
A green parking garage. Is that a joke? Seriously? Take the train.
because trains don’t consumer energy to operate? what if the person doesn’t live close enough to a stop? what if they carpool with 4 other people? what if they are an occasional visitor? parking garages are an inevitable structure in cities, period. and even if the turbines aren’t operational, which would be admittedly foolish, they are pursuing other greening design features. they probably aren’t on the roof because wind typically funnels faster between buildings, and there might have been weight concerns as it will also be a green roof.
think -> type
i’m not suggesting that building a parking garage is a bad idea. if the market demands it, by all means, build a parking structure. But don’t green-wash it and use LEED as a p.r. tool. Projects like this is the reason people are cynical about LEED.
The turbines on the corner: failure. Yes, there is the venturi effect with wind between buildings but that’s between, not against buildings. I actually saw one of the turbines rotate a few times last week. It was one of the two on the TOP of the building (free from the corner), and it was during the “worst storm in 70 years” wind. None of the others were spinning and haven’t since.
The entire structure is precast. Including the roof. I’m sure it could support turbines. (but then the public wouldn’t be able to see them from the street!). No, there is no green roof (see rationale above).
LEED and green buildings in general should be able to sell themselves with energy (cost) saving measures and by addressing human comfort and practicality concerns. LEED fails when it becomes simply a marketing tool which developers (and architects) slap on to increase visibility. It was probably financially viable for Cubellis and HOK to slap on non-working wind turbines for green marketing, even though they are literally dead weight to the budget and the structure’s energy cost.
That’s why it’s important for us to stay critical (and cynical at times) about this kind of thing. If the public sees turbines or the LEED seal and takes this green washing for granted, then it will continue to be worth it for the developers to do this. Then again, Cubellis filed for bankruptcy last year – so maybe it wasn’t as financially viable as they thought.
i’m not particularly a fan of Blair Kamin, but he does a good job at calling out the green/LEED features of the Greenway as B.S. (probably gives too much credit to it’s aesthetic – the word “handsome” used in architectural criticism makes me cringe).
Read this article and Blair tells it like it (almost) is.
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2010/11/is-it-absurb-to-call-a-garage-green-new-chicago-parking-structure-raises-more-questions-than-it-answ.html#more
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2:52 PM Aug 24th
Greenway Self-Park / HOK | http://bit.ly/ag5IxP
3:36 PM Aug 24th
Greenway Self-Park / HOK: © John PickenHOK has infused green strategies into Chicago’s Greenway Self-Park facility… http://bit.ly/aZNnjb
5:15 PM Aug 24th
Reading: "Greenway Self-Park / HOK | ArchDaily"( http://twitthis.com/oyztsr )
2:28 AM Aug 25th
Reading: "Greenway Self-Park / HOK | ArchDaily –> intelligent ventilatieconcept"( http://twitthis.com/oyztsr )
11:58 AM Aug 28th
Greenway Self-Park / HOK | ArchDaily http://t.co/Jj4hm1m via @archdaily
1:39 PM Aug 28th
RT @vickiscuri: Greenway Self-Park / HOK | ArchDaily http://t.co/Jj4hm1m via @archdaily
2:04 PM Oct 19th
อาคารที่จอดรถ ที่เมือง Chicago โดยการออกแบบให้นำลม และ น้ำฝนมาใช้ให้เกิดประโยชน์ http://fb.me/KpHS3X6Z
10:10 PM Oct 20th
RT @savinghouse: อาคารที่จอดรถ ที่เมือง Chicago โดยการออกแบบให้นำลม และ น้ำฝนมาใช้ให้เกิดประโยชน์ http://fb.me/KpHS3X6Z
8:43 PM Jul 18th
Check out some fantastic pictures of Greenway in this article in Arch Daily! http://fb.me/C4WnNwih