A rapid expansion of high-rise buildings has been observed in recent years. Moreover, the growth rate will not be slackened in the nearest years and dozens of new structures will be realized all over the world. One of the biggest problems related to the building of skyscrapers is invasion of their shadow on a public space. However, the architects from an international NBBJ company were able to design a solution to this problem. They created a concept of two buildings with the use of a computer modelling. The structures will be cooperating with each other by scattering as well as deflecting the sunlight. The architects named their project No Shadow Tower.
The pair of buildings was designed in such a way that whether one of them throws a shadow, the second one reflects the light in the direction of the shadow like a huge mirror. It is worth mentioning that the reflected rays would not be so concentrated and aggressive like those from a London skyscraper, that is 20 Fenchurch Street, which is also known as Walkie Talkie due to its shape resembling a giant receiver, for the British building fused some plastic elements in cars which parked in close proximity to its location.
The relation between the sun and the shadow is the relation between two buildings – says Christian Coop, design director in NBBJ.
The team situated the first proposition of the design in Greenwich in London, next to the Greenwich meridian. According to Coop, a virtual concept of No Shadow Tower may be easily transformed and adjusted to other locations in any place in the world. The algorithm signed in the project allows to configure the buildings and their locations in accordance with the geographical coordinates and the angle of the sun incidence.
The No Shadow Tower project is not the only original idea which is aimed at solving the problem of densely built public centers which are often dark and grim. The interesting example is a Viennese investment – Turm mit Taille (Tower with waist in German), which was mentioned here.