The Ice House

Hello, in my pursuit of a beautiful island with the intention of building my future edification, I found this pearl that I want that you know... it's the Cook Island, which is the southernmost of the islands called "the South Sandwich Islands" and which is being disputed by two countries: the United Kingdom and the Republic Argentina... maybe I, Rodolfo, I win them! Mind you, due to its geographical situation is completely frozen, this is not a handicap to build, do not believe me? You keep reading...

In places like this I feel like Frank Sinatra, "The voice", singing "Stranger in the night", it is a very nice feeling, very similar to that touches me in the christmas of this year, and is that I have decided to spend the good night surrounded by the fiercest enemy of mankind: the ice, don't believe me? This is that you never have heard of the ICEHOTEL, and with him, of the material that you would have never imagined as a construction element: the ice.

The Tenth Stop: The Ice House

The occasion is unique since this year marks the 25th anniversary of the creation of this Hotel, in Sweden, I cannot remember the name of the village... could it be Jukkasjärvi? The hotel is built every year due to the "curious" property which has this material: it melts with some heat, but this makes it even more interesting and unique. This same property allows (or forces, depending how you look) to the owners of the IceHotel hire each year to the builders and the different artists to build up this place, a detail, you do not lie twice in the same bed.

For lovers of the data, we can say that the Icehotel occupying over 5,500 square meters and 1,000 tons of ice from the Torne river are required for its construction (selected between March and April and stored in cold, obviously, until the moment of its use), are also used 30,000 tonnes of "snice", a mixture of snow and ice that strengthens the structure (particles of ice from the Torne river with air "snice" that resembling snow because is white and is used for insulation, mind you, the snice is stronger and purer that snow). The building is built between October and December of each year and takes approximately eight weeks to be completed, the preparatory and subsequent works take six weeks each period.

The artists are a part of the construction process since it is half of the staff, this year has been artists from Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, Poland, Japan and Argentina, among others. We take into account that these artists have to plan before, during and after construction work, so it they must live with the work, but their real Prize comes next, with the opening of the hotel to the public.

As curious (it seems to me) the owners of the place have protected the Icehotel and their structures by the law of rights of author of Sweden, although here among us, I don't think that there is so much competition worthy of concern...

Of course, as it could not be otherwise, the Icehotel offers all kind of inconceivable activities elsewhere: see the North light in snowmobile, dogsled, looking out the window of a plane the spectacular white landscape, skiing in the Swedish mountains, something to do, seeing the whales that gather in Norway in the autumn. Icehotel also offers modern meetings, conference and exciting events throughout the year. They organize product launches, concerts and major events... whatever it takes to the client!

Snice

The ice, as we all know, it is water frozen at very low temperatures, and the water is one of the few materials that if it freezes it increase their volume and decrease its density. It is distinguished by being white or colorless vitreous, transparent, with conchoidal fracture and have a hardness of 1.5 on the Mohs scale (to get an idea is between talc and gypsum).

Due to the unique characteristics of the ice, the construction is very specific, it is build of oval shape to make easier the transmission of stress and, ironically, more fluid. It is a lightweight material, so not going to worry much by the foundations, and we will not have to worry by the "damps" (sorry... I could not avoid the joke!). When the ice melts, the building not collapses; it is a beautiful phenomenon: walls become gradually thinner and more transparent, making the light take place in a more direct way.

The snice is an intermediate product between the snow and ice. Its use is as mortar between the blocks of ice as it strengthens the structure and allows the elements will not collapse more quickly. It is white, soft and melts in the mouth.

I leave you with the healthy envy that defines at humans and I promise that I will enjoy of a very intense Christmas... and white! Bye bye.

The Green Roof

Hi, I have recently visited the Faroe Islands, you know, which are famous for the festival of hunting whales and dolphins. When I was there, I toured the only island that I had not seen yet: the island Koltur. This island is only accessible with helicopter and the landscape is completely sublime, I have spoken with the only family residing there for if I decide to build on its shores, I like that the access is only by air!!

My cousin was started me in the helicopter flight, he is aeronautical engineer; I know that you will say that you have not seen him in magazines but... he does not like the press! (he does not seem of the family) Anyway, as I said, he explained the real story of how Juan de la Cierva y Peñafiel invented the autogyro, a forerunner of the helicopter, I, Rodolfo, I looked absorbed the "small" city of Vancouver when I discovered a unique cover and... How I describe it? Green! Very green!

Ninth Stop: Convention Center of Vancouver

In fact, from the air it didn't look exactly a cover, it looked a garden, a green and beautiful garden (a little crazy, true). Already, when i arrived to the city, I did was to inform me about all the details of the building. It turned out that the creators were the architecture firm LMN and that the final cost of the construction were 804 million dollars (645 million euros... not bad eh?). But... what could incite an expenditure of this caliber? A great event, of course, and this was the choice of the city of Vancouver in 2003 as a venue for the Olympic and Paralympic Games for the year 2010.

When I spoke with some architects, they released me a litany about the seamless integration of this Convention Center of Vancouver with the environment and the city creating a seamless transition between the urban fabric, the port, the recreational activities and the nature (is that possible?). I do not doubt that they say the true, but I'll take the feeling of serenity and dynamism that generates this building inside and outside of his walls.

The building has 1.1 million square meters (almost nothing), and next to him exists parks of trails, roads for cyclists, open spaces and squares, parkings, a viaduct of six lanes for vehicles and two pedestrian walkways that connect it with the Convention Center original and a new hotel. But apart from "our garden roof" the building has several improvements that have made that it achieved the LEED Platinum of Canada and other ten Awards and national and International recognitions.

To begin with, the building is "hanging" over the water from 40 to 99% of the surface, depending on the tides, so if they formed an underwater habitat using concrete in the form of bleachers, in other words they have created an artificial reef under of the construction! With only $ 8.2 million... Incredible. To continue, a system of treatment of sewage and desalination supplies the toilets, the fountains outdoor and, of course, "our green roof", in short: everything that does not require drinking water. Finally, they utilizes a heat pump of sea water to cool or heat the building, this will cover most of the needs of heating and cooling that are capable of demanding users.

The Green roof

“Our green roof” has 6 acres (24,281 square meters) and it is not accessible for the pedestrians, although I would be lying if I tell you that I could not visit the roof... The roof reduces the gain of heat in summer up to 95% and the loss of heat in winter by 26%, and also retains rainwater through a system of channels of edges at an angle that zigzags; this creates greater opportunities for the absorption of rainwater. It has 400,000 native plants, this allows that they nest many species of birds and is home to a colony of 60,000 bees (do not touch). I was amazed to see what ready they were to use the natural cycle of herbs to combine its colors, giving a triangular composition surprising and interesting.

When we use the garden roof we improve the thermal insulation, we expel less CO2 into the atmosphere, we reduce the negative effect that can cause the strong rainfall on our roof, we insulate acoustically much better than with any other type of cover, we reduce the consumption of air conditioning and heating, and also we are an active part of the environment generating ourselves positive moods.

As unique disadvantages we can be found two: the overweight of the building, especially in the days of rain in which the substrate absorbs water and increases its weight significantly, and the demand these surfaces of constant and effective maintenance, the plants, as we said, have a cycle of concrete life.

However, although the Convention Centre of Vancouver is a spectacular building, the garden roof reach its better and greater performance in the single family dwellings (of one or two plants) because its positive effects have an impact on a higher percentage in the construction and the comfort that generate.

So you do not have any excuse not to include a garden roof in your next construction, I, for my part, I see essential. Bye bye.

The ETFE Skin

Hi, the people say that the irony does not understand of pleasures, only understand of revenge. I don't think so; I think that the irony is a means of expression as any other, in fact, much better than others that we use commonly, such as arrogance, for example. I am not ironic when I tell that I would love to make a building in the Bouvet Island than is the most isolated of the world (do not believe me? Look at the Atlas).

Should be impressive if we could put ourselves in the skin of a Mafia Boss, as did Marlon Brandon, Robert De Niro or Andy García in the famous series "The Godfather" of Francis Ford Coppola, you do not be afraid, but I, Rodolfo, I could put me in situation, in terms of economic well-being of course, as to be an outcast of the law... No. But speaking of skins, today I bring you a very special skin for our buildings; I speak of a skin of ETFE (or plastic).

Eighth stop: the ETFE Skin

The skin protects us from external agents, of the knocks and the diseases, protects us from the world, for me, the ETFE is like a skin for the building. The first time I saw "in situ" the material, I was strolling through Barcelona, some friends advised me to visit the MediaTIC, they were sure that I was not going to waste time, and so it was, I owe them a dinner because I did not lose the time and it was also totally profitable.

The building was designed by the architect Ruiz-Geli (see firm architectural e-cloud9) and was promoted by the consortium of the free zone of Barcelona. Basically the construction aims to the encounter between professionals and companies in the sector of the digital world and new technologies. The form enveloping is cubic and the structure is made of four cross rigid frames separated 14 meters each other, each gantry has large iron beams ranging from plant 7th to 8th leaving (cannot be otherwise) large workspaces. All the facades of the building are different and have in common the imaginative deployment of the author.

The function of the bags of ETFE is primarily the filter the solar radiation, this bags "swell" of nitrogen when increases the temperature, this process is automatic through a network of light meters with energy autonomic that detect the fluctuation of the degrees Celsius. This skin of 2,500 m² save up to 20% of energy consumption (all a joy for the coffers) and avoids that the atmosphere receive 114 tons of CO2 (carbon dioxide) a year (a joy for the environment).

What is the ETFE?

The Ethylene Tetra Fluor Ethylene is a plastic with high chemical resistance and mechanical (supports 400 times its own weight), very stable to temperature changes, high resistance to UV rays, high transparency, self-cleaning and, as if this were not enough, recyclable. All these features make it a very interesting material in construction but other important question is that its weight is one hundred times less than the weight of the glass, and we know that weight is one of the major handicaps in the architecture. It has an excellent thermal insulation which increases as you add more layers of material (in fact the number of layers optimum is 2 or 3).

Its most curious advantage is that you can "patch up", that is to say if we break a certain area it can repair it by welding with other layers of ETFE.

Among its drawbacks (which also there are) we have that the acoustic protection is very bad and the ETFE is easily damaged by sharp items, although this last can be solved in many different ways.

Future

When it was decided to place about the Allianz Arena the ETFE surely the responsible didn't think in that it would cause the reaction of scientists. The high energy consumption that occurs with the illuminating of this vast surface make that the imagination of the ITMA staff see the light (ironic, no?).

The future of this material is located in Spain, and is that "the boys of the ITMA" (technological Institute of the materials of Asturias) have been proposed as a goal achieve maximum efficiency of this material by combining with nothing more and nothing less than photovoltaic cells and lamps of LEDs (always LEDs), and reduce the high electric spending that suppose the lighting of this plastic by spotlights with colour filters. We would have ETFE with lighting almost free... I cry of joy!

The project is so interesting than the European authorities that provide subsidies to the I + D have granted an aid of 2.1 million euros. The project has an initial cost of 3.2 million and has been required the collaboration of the multinational Acciona Infrastructure, the companies manufacturers Taiyo Europe and Solariun and the foundations Greennovate! and CENET-CIEMAT. The staffs of ITMA have four years to show us that they are able... I will be on the lookout!

As always is time of say bye but not before remind you that thanks to my work of research we are at the forefront of the construction. Is the EU going to thank for my collaboration? Bye bye.