6 May 2008
GREENPIX, BEIJING’S FIRST ZERO ENERGY MEDIA WALL, DESIGNED BY SIMONE
GIOSTRA & PARTNERS ARCHITECTS, TO LAUNCH IN JUNE 2008
Image © Simone Giostra-ARUP-Ruogu
NEW YORK – Simone Giostra & Partners Architects have designed the GreenPix
- Zero Energy Media Wall - a groundbreaking project applying sustainable
and digital media technology to the curtain wall of Xicui Entertainment
Complex in Beijing, near the site of the 2008 Olympics. Featuring the
largest color LED display worldwide and the first photovoltaic system
integrated into a glass curtain wall in China, GreenPix transforms the
building envelop into a self-sufficient organic system, harvesting solar
energy by day and using it to illuminate the screen after dark, mirroring
a day’s climatic cycle. Arup provided engineering services for the project.
“The Media Wall will provide the city of Beijing with its first venue
dedicated to digital media art, while offering the most radical example
of sustainable technology applied to an entire building’s envelope to
date”, said Simone Giostra. The building will open to the public in June
2008, with a specially commissioned program of video installations and
live performances by artists including: Xu Wenkai, Michael Bell Smith,
Takeshi Murata, Shih Chieh Huang, Feng Mengbo and Varvara Shavrova.
Greenpix behaves like an organic system, absorbing solar energy during
the day and then generating light from the same power that evening. The
project promotes the uncompromised integration of sustainable technology
in new Chinese architecture, responding to the aggressive and unregulated
economic development currently undertaken by the industry, often at the
expense of the environment.
Image © Simone Giostra-ARUP-Ruogu
With the support of leading German manufacturers Schueco and SunWays,
Giostra and Arup developed a new technology for laminating photovoltaic
cells in a glass curtain wall and oversaw the production of the first
glass solar panels by Chinese manufacturer SunTech. The polycrystalline
photovoltaic cells are laminated within the glass of the curtain wall
and placed with changing density on the entire building’s skin. The density
pattern increases building’s performance, allowing natural light when
required by interior program, while reducing heat gain and transforming
excessive solar radiation into energy for the media wall.
Content architecture: a new medium
GreenPix is a large-scale display comprising of 2,292 color (RGB) LED’s
light points comparable to a 24,000 sq. ft. (2.200 m2) monitor screen
for dynamic content display. The very large scale and the characteristic
low resolution of the screen enhances the abstract visual qualities of
the medium, providing an art-specific communication form in contrast to
commercial applications of high resolution screens in conventional media
façades.
Xicui’s opaque box-like commercial building gains the ability of communicating
with its urban environs through a new kind of digital transparency. Its
“intelligent skin” interacts with the building interiors and the outer
public spaces using embedded, custom-designed software, transforming the
building façade into a responsive environment for entertainment and public
engagement.
The full integration of media/information technology with architecture
in an urban context represents a new kind of communication surface devoted
to unprecedented forms of art, while projecting information about the
behavior and activity of the building to a wide range of distances and
engaging a vast audience within the city of Beijing. The innovative use
of technology and experimental approach to communication and social interaction
defines new standards in the context of urban interventions worldwide,
raising global interest in the integration of digital technology with
architecture and reinforcing the reputation of Beijing as a centre for
innovation and urban renewal.
Image © Simone Giostra-ARUP
The first digital public art space in the heart of Beijing
GreenPix results from the ambitious collaborative talent of architects,
engineers, programmers, artists and curators. The unprecedented immense
scale of the display and intensity of the light will allow a generation
of young artists, both local and international, to create site specific
and socially relevant projects.
The new-generation showcase is a highly visible venue, both within the
Beijing metropolis and internationally, and a powerful platform to display
the work of emerging artists. Its high visibility will be conducive to
interactive projects and artistic dialogue within and beyond China's borders.
A compelling program of videos, installations and performances will be
organized by a diverse team of independent curators, art institutions,
galleries, media schools, corporations, collectors and benefactors, all
lead by curator and producer Luisa Gui.
Simone Giostra & Partners Architects
The project was designed and implemented by Simone Giostra & Partners,
a New York-based office with a solid reputation for its innovative curtain
walls in Europe and the US, with lighting design and façade engineering
by Arup in London and Beijing.
Simone Giostra graduated from the Polytechnic School of Architecture in
Milan, where he earned a Master’s Degree in Architecture in 1994. He acted
as Project Architect for the construction of several prestigious buildings
in the US and Europe for Alvaro Siza, Raphael Vinoly, Raimund Abraham,
Steven Holl and Richard Meier.
The knowledge acquired in more than 12 years of professional practice
led Simone Giostra to create a company dedicated to the investigation
and performance of architecture and new media. The office combines a series
of existing and new professional collaborations and cross-disciplinary
partnership to address the full potential of the contemporary condition.
Currently, the firm is responsible for the design and implementation of
some of the most innovative projects under development in China, including
the Jinbao Entertainment Center in Beijing and the Jingya Grand Hotel
in Wheihai.
Simone Giostra is also involved in the academic community, combining professional
practice with a commitment to investigation and research. Currently, he
is Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Architecture, New Jersey
Institute of Technology, and at PRATT Institute in New York. He has lectured
extensively in Europe and the US, most recently at the Polytechnic School
of Architecture in Milan and at the “SOM Lecture Series” in New York.
Arup
Arup is a global firm of designers, engineers, planners and business consultants
providing a diverse range of professional services to their clients around
the world. Sustainability underpins their work and the firm is the creative
force behind many of the world’s most innovative and sustainable buildings,
transport and civil engineering projects. Their innovative and fully integrated
approach brings their full complement of skills and knowledge to bear
on any given design problem.
Arup has three main global business areas – buildings, infrastructure
and consulting – although their multi-disciplinary approach means that
any given project may involve people from any or all of the sectors or
regions in which they operate. Their fundamental aim is to bring together
the best professionals in the world to meet our clients' needs.
Established in 1946, Arup has over 9,000 employees working in more than
90 offices in over 35 countries, working on up to 10,000 projects at any
one time. Arup has operated in China for more than 30 years and almost
a quarter of its staff are based in Hong Kong and the mainland.
Project: GreenPix - Zero Energy Media Wall
Location: Xicui Road, Beijing, China
Opening: June, 2008
Client: Mr. Zhang Yongduo, Jingya Corporation
Architect: Simone Giostra & Partners Architects
Lighting Designer and Façade Engineers: Arup
Solar technology R&D: Schüco International KG, Sunways AG
Solar panel manufacturer: Suntech China
LED Manufacturer: Thorn China
GreenPix - Zero Energy Media Wall : info from Susan Grant Lewin Associates
060508
Xicui Entertainment Complex Beijing
Central Chinese Television Tower: Beijing
Building
Television Cultural Center: Beijing
Building
Beijing Architecture
Photos
Beijing Buildings
Dubai Convention
Centre
Abu
Dhabi Convention Centre
Beijing Architecture
: China
Comments / photos for the Xicui Entertainment Complex Beijing Architecture page
welcome: info@e-architect.co.uk
Xicui Entertainment Complex Beijing
- page : adrian welch / isabelle lomholt
GreenPix - Website: www.greenpix.org