Going REALLY green: World's first bio-building powered by ALGAE opens in Hamburg
* Multinational firm Arup has created a building with a facade of bioreactors
* The bioreactors contain algae with generate biomass and heat sustainably
* System also provides heat and noise insulation for the building

By Damien Gayle and Emma Innes, The Daily Mail


The world's first algae-powered building is being piloted in Hamburg.

The building, which was designed by multinational firm Arup, features panel glass bioreactors on the facade which contain microalgae.

These algae generate biomass and heat as a renewable energy source.


At the same time, the systems provides insulation for the building and keeps out noise.

Currently, 129 bioreactors - each measuring 2.5m by 0.7m - have been fitted to the southwest and southeast faces of the building.

They are controlled by an energy management centre in which solar thermal heat and algae are harvested and stored to be used to create hot water.

Jan Wurm, Arup’s Europe Research Leader, said: 'Using bio-chemical processes in the facade of a building to create shade and energy is a really innovative concept.

'It might well become a sustainable solution for energy production in urban areas, so it is great to see it being tested in a real-life scenario.'

The news comes after Arup announced their vision for the future of skyscrapers which suggested that buildings would be 'living' buildings powered by algae that respond automatically to the weather and the changing needs of inhabitants.

Research by engineering multinational Arup, the firm behind the Pompidou Centre, the Sydney Opera House and many of the stadia for the 2008 Olympics, imagined how urban buildings could look by 2050.


Their predictions included ideas as outlandish as jet-powered maintenance robots, high-rise farms and photovoltaic paint - all of which, incredibly, are already in development.

'In 2050, the urban dweller and the city are in a state of constant flux - changing and evolving in reaction to emerging contexts and conditions,' the report said.

'The urban building of the future fosters this innate quality, essentially functioning as a living organism in its own right - reacting to the local environment and engaging with the users within.'


The study by Arup’s internal think tank predicted that structures would be fully integrated into the fabric of the city, responsive to changes in the external environment, and designed for continuous adaptability.

Responding to estimates that in four decades 75 per cent of an estimated global population of nine billion will be living in cities, it foresaw a shift to increasingly dense urban environments.

At the same time, it predicted, the rise of networked 'smart' devices could lead cities 'where everything can be manipulated in realtime and where all the components of the urban fabric are part of a single smart system and an internet of things'.

The most incredible prediction in the Arup report was that the buildings of the future would benefit from brain-like 'intelligent building systems' that enable them to automatically adjust to the needs of inhabitants.

Using data about energy consumption, weather, and the whims of residents, they would be able to make 'calculated decisions' about how to best use resources.

This could extend as far as using jet-powered maintenance arms to swap the 'modules' that form the building blocks of the skyscraper.

Such modular components could be used for residential or commercial units, or even urban food production sites housing animal, fish or vegetable farms, depending on what is needed at the time.

'In this emerging age, with significant developments in construction, prefabricated and modular systems are moved and assembled by robots that work seamlessly together to install, detect, repair and upgrade components of the building system,' the report said.

With human population set to mushroom, the predictions took into account likely increased concern about the pressure so many souls would put on our planet's already-strained natural resources.

The Arup report promised buildings that would one day in fact produce more resources than they consume thanks to external walls coated with photovoltaic paint, wind turbines and even pods growing bio-fuel producing algae.

Green spaces would be dispersed throughout the building to encourage urban biodiversity, while water systems would be optimised for recycling and reuse and filters would cut down on environmental pollutants, it said.

The building's facades, as well as having the potential to generate power from the sun, could also be coated with nano-particle treatments that neutralise airborne pollutants and capture waste carbon dioxide.

Elements such as vast organic LEDs could even allow for whole surfaces of the structure to light up at night, creating a new form of street lighting.

'Coupled with daylight absorbing abilities, the technology realises the possibility of 'net zero energy' artificial lighting,' the report said.


The Arup report, entitled It's Alive, was put together by Josef Hargrave, a consultant in the company's Foresight + Innovation team, an internal think tank which focuses on the future of the built environment.

He concluded: 'By producing food and energy, and providing clean air and water, buildings evolve from being passive shells into adaptive and responsive organisms - living and breathing structures supporting the cities of tomorrow.'