LifeCycle Tower: Innovation for Sustainable Buildings

March 24, 2016 | Comments

Dornbirn may just have a building for the future.

The LifeCycle Tower ONE in Dornbirn, Austria uses sustainable and environmentally friendly materials and systems. (Image courtesy of CREE Buildings.)

The LifeCycle Tower ONE project has been in the works for a few years now. The tower was constructed in Dornbirn, Austria, back in 2012 with an eye for sustainable building materials. Now, it’s incorporating the Internet of Things (IoT) to help keep the hydro bills down.

The tower may not be as striking in appearance as other recent towers, but it ascribes to the saying that it’s what’s on the inside that matters most.

So what are the insider innovations on the LifeCycle Tower ONE (LCT ONE)?

 

A Wooden High-Rise

The first thing to notice about LCT ONE is that it’s not built like most modern high-rise buildings.

The tower is built of prefabricated wood structures. These elements allowed for an impressive rate of construction: one story per day.

Here’s a look at how it works:

Wood has been the subject of research as a potential material for high-rise structures. It’s a renewable resource that is generally more resilient against natural occurrences like earthquakes than more conventional materials like concrete.

However, even though it’s been used for tall structures for some time, wood is still the underdog of building materials.

 

Bringing IoT to Buildings

The tower in 3DEXPERIENCE shows energy usage stats and information. (Image courtesy of DS.)

Recently, Dassault Systèmes (DS) announced that its 3DEXPERIENCE platform would be used to retrofit the tower with an IoT-controlled lighting system as part of the 3DEXPERIENCity initiative. The platform, which is strikingly similar to building information modeling (BIM), is a centralized virtual platform for real-time building analysis.

In this particular case, it will provide:

  • Analysis of energy usage and savings per light fixture, per floor or for the entire building
  • 3D visualizations of presence data
  • A heat map to illustrate occupancy in order to optimize energy usage
  • Light fixture failure notifications
  • A history of the lighting system’s usage

 

Increasing Building Automation

The tower’s new lighting system, which includes a smart controls system for IoT connectivity, fits a rising trend for building automation.

According to this research report, the use of automation systems in commercial buildings will have a high demand for energy conservation and reduction of operations costs—which for many commercial buildings means the lighting system. Ever pass a grocery store at night?

With strategies like the use of renewable materials for large-scale structures and the incorporation of IoT and building automation, we could see buildings and even cities reducing their carbon footprints fairly rapidly.

As Monica Menghini, CSO and executive vice president of DS, said, “Sustainable cities can become a reality sooner than we think.”

For more information, check out the LifeCycle Tower ONE project website.

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