Communal Power Plant

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269573

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NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS RISING STARS : concepts or ideas submitted by young talents (aged 30 or less)

Project title

Communal Power Plant

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Description

Mapping Europe’s active and closed coal power plants as well as coal mines, reveals cities and regions, which will be strongly affected by structural and social change due to Europe’s goal to be carbon neutral in 2050. Overlaying this data with Europe’s renewable energy potentials reveals the possibility to introduce the production of either solar, geothermal or hydro energy into the city fabric in former coal cities.

Where is your concept/idea being developed or intended to be implemented in the EU?

Please provide a summary of your concept/ idea

Mapping Europe’s active and closed coal power plants as well as coal mines, reveals cities and regions, which will be strongly affected by structural and social change due to Europe’s goal to be carbon neutral in 2050. Overlaying this data with Europe’s renewable energy potentials reveals the possibility to introduce the production of either solar, geothermal or hydro energy into the city fabric in former coal cities. This project proposes the integration of renewable energy production into cities with coal mining history in Europe by distributing spaces for communities in the urban fabric. Reviving the strong communal bounds and re-establishing the connection of city and environs - both phenomena are historically rooted in the former mining industry - the project introduces a pathway system in the Spanish city Puertollano. Running through the former worker’s quarters of the town, the combination of a Solar and a Hydro path connects the city centre and its surrounding. Along this network, shaded pathways and green alleys connect punctual interventions: public plazas and Club Houses which are new neighbourhood centres. These architectural interventions for the community of the city are formed through the phenomena of water and light, while the production of renewable energy ensures the self-sufficiency of the new communal spaces.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of sustainability and how these would be met

This project has been developed in the Energy Design Integration seminar, which is an integrated part of the pre-diploma semester at the Master study of architecture at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Klara Jörg finally did diploma with Diaz Moreno & Garcia Grinda. The work started with a study of Coal Cities throughout Europe. Comparing solar radiation in Puertollano, Spain, and e.g. Usti Nad Labem, Czech Republic, a city with high potential for hydro energy production, shows the immense solar energy potential due to the city’s geographical location. The Urban Power Plant consists of two energy harvesting systems: Organic Cells/Dye Sensitized Solar Cells creating a pathway system leading in reminiscent to the coal mines from city centre to the city’s environs as well as Concentrated Solar Power Club Houses which create spaces for communal living. Next to the immense Direct Normal Radiation present in Puertollano, through the usage of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells which show an energy efficiency up to 28% for low-intensity light that is far higher than to standard PV cells, the conversion of diffuse Horizontal Radiation is maximised for any weather condition. While Organic Cells have an energy efficiency for up to 20% in direct light and 28% efficiency in low intensity light, the Concentrated Solar Power Interventions (25% energy efficiency) guarantee also in night time on-demand-energy through the usage of a potential thermal storage of molten salts or natural rocks and recycled ceramics. The solar energy system is further combined with an urban pump storage system. While guaranteeing energy supply during colder and less sunny days, the system additionally provides the city with a water infrastructure, which cools down the public spaces provided by the project through different techniques of evaporative cooling and makes them therefore pleasant to stay.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality and how these would be met

Puertollano, a city in the centre of Spain with especially high solar energy potential, is selected for the implementation of an urban power plant, which is not only producing energy but especially - in reminiscent to the the social history of coal mining - creating public spaces for communities and encounters. The pathway leads through the former coal worker’s areas, which are very dense and lack public space. Through the introduction of areas for urban gardening, markets and educational spaces along a route of interventions for recreation, the Urban Power Plant is not only producing energy but reshaping the city by providing public space “for free”. As the geometry of the path system is tracing the topography of the city and it’s surrounding, it benefits from the advantageous composition of the site. Comparing the project’s oultine in a 2D Analysis of the Energy Production Calculation to the actual pathway’s geometry, the difference gets visible. Organic Cells can be produced in a colour range from yellow to red, blue and green, this is used as a potential to inform the spaces underneath. As the colours cover the rooms in different atmopsheres on the one hand, they can serve as a guiding element making the program of the room visible to the outside on the other hand. Whereas the pathway is meandering through the city, the market unfolds along the path inside big, unoccupied and decaying coutyards. Additionally to connecting the opposed neighbours, the steps also enhance the natural airflow. As hot wind passes through the evaporation pads inside the green houses used for agriculture and as market, the air cools down and produces a climate of well-being inside the strucuters. Whereas in the market areas evaporative walls enhance the air comfort, the centre of the club houses is marked by evaporation poles which humidify the air. As the air sinks down when cooled, it can enter through the lower openings of the club houses and is dragged out through chimneys.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of inclusion and how these would be been met

In times of great influx to Puertollano due to the coal industry, informal worker’s settlements developed. These are characterized by small houses, high density and offer no public or communal areas. Connecting two systems which produce energy efficiently together - the solar and the hydro path - enables to offer freely accessible well tempered spaces & gathering points for the community. Whereas the solar path produces energy with the techniques of Organic Cells and Concentrated Solar Power, the water path functions as an urban Pump Storage System. The network provides shaded pathways and green alleys which connect punctual interventions: public plazas - Markets -  in unused and formerly for agricultural purposes used courtyards and new neighborhood centers - Club Houses - in empty plots. The project anchors itself in the social history of coal cities which developed strong communities, originating from Europe’s first worker’s parties as well as well fare system formed in the coal industry. However, this communal bound is at risk nowadays. For that reason, the project introduces interventions which revive the derelict worker’s areas. Applied through a strategy of three scales of weaving the two types of interventions - Market and Club House - are structurally growing from the individual backyards, spanning over the empty plots and courtyards where they form communal spaces. Whereas the public plaza is covered by a dome structure which enables a play of colours enhancing the efficiency of the Organic Cells, the Club House is formed by a hanging roof, which parabolic form intensifies the sunrays for the Concentrated Solar Power system.

Please explain the innovative character of your concept/ idea

In a unique design effort, this project combines all scales from urbanism to architectural detail and tackles the energy question at the same time: starting from the improvement of urban space and its microclimate, it shows new solutions of on-site energy production, finally treating renewable energy's volatility, making the city itself an energy storage. All this is integrated in a holistic urban and architectural concept that does accept social challenges and needs for a new urbanity.

Please detail the plans you have for the further development, promotion and/or implementation of your concept/idea, with a particular attention to the initiatives to be taken before May 2022

Klara Jörg is currently working in an architectural practice in Vienna, where she is responsible for the office´s energy concepts. Right now, many of the developed principles are being implemented in architectural designs that will be realised in the next months. Each building that she designs is conceived as a zero energy building.

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that the proposed concept/idea has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Rising Stars Awards more than once in the same category.