08 September 2009

LAVA: Masdar Design Flythrough

Take a closer look at LAVA's winning design for the world's first sustainable city.

The Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA) were recently announced the winners of the international design competition for the centre of the world’s first sustainable city, Masdar, near Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

The city centre will incorporate shopping, leisure, hotels and entertainment facilities all helping to make Masdar a zero carbon, zero waste, renewable energy city.

LAVA, which was founded by Chris Bosse, Tobias Wallisser and Alexander Rieck just two years ago, beat strong international competition to win the tender.

Core to LAVA’s design is a series of giant umbrellas, known as ‘sunflower umbrellas’, which regulate the temperature within the heart of the development. Like sunflowers, the umbrellas open in the day, providing shade, then release heat at night when they close.

"The sunflower principle is eco-friendly and can be adapted to anywhere in the world – it opens opportunities for outside living, even in the desert," says Australian-based, Chris Bosse.

"The entire city is car-free. While the greenest initiative in Sydney is a free bus between Central and Circular Quay, a magnetic public transport system includes individual pods that drive you to your destination using solar power."

The flythrough above shows the sunflower umbrellas at work, and gives an idea of the scale of this impressive project.

l-a-v-a.net