August 2014

Wind Decoder
Submission to the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative Copenhagen design competition

Artist Team: António Pliz, Cláudia Branco
Artist Location: Borba, Portugal
Energy Technologies: aeroelastic flutter (Windbelt™)

The Wind Decoder is a climate-responsive artistic work that promotes an understanding of climate conditions and the technologies available to harvest their energies. The work is similar to a hypercube comprised of three cubes where the outer cube is 30 meters high, and the two inner cubes are 26 meters and 22 meters high.

Old constructions found on the site, including steel and a wooden amphitheatre, give dialectic depth to Wind Decoder’s materials. These physical links contrast old and new materials, such as wood and aluminum. The orthogonal lines of the former industrial facilities help define the new form, evoking memory and connecting the sculpture to the history of the site.

The cubic form is associated with stability and balance—two ambitions for future societies as citizens’ environmental consciousness grows. These ambitions are represented by the outer cube. The slightly rotated and twisted inner cubes represent the wind’s dynamic force, affecting its stability—an analogy to the imbalances of the past. Lights provide a visual representation of the production of wind energy.

The vertical planes are filled with 8200 Humdinger™ Windcell™ panels of 1.0m x 1.0m x 0.05m. Independent Windbelts™ with LED’s will perform the light effect. Despite the main wind streams travelling from west to southwest, the cubic form is designed to react to the movement of the wind from every quadrant.

Aetherius
Submission to the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative Copenhagen design competition

Artist Team: Marilu Valente
Artist Location: London, UK
Energy Technologies: wind-driven hydraulic cylinder generators

Aetherius expresses the poetic potential of the natural resource of wind, as well as its potential to generate energy. Although wind does not have a shape or color, it can come alive and express its powerful elegance through the use of technology. The intervention aims to transmit the beauty of wind through its material manifestation. Aetherius enables the contemplation of nature as a source of beauty.

The installation moves according to the weather conditions—most specifically to the wind speed, frequency, and direction. The wind direction is not always constant. Even though the prevailing wind is westerly, there is always a microclimate created within an urban context. Aetherius responds to this unpredictability.

Two structures each cover a volume of 40 meters long by 45 meters wide by 30 meters high. The undulating façade is supported by two lateral walls that act as an enclosing architectural feature facilitating the organization of public events, such as concerts and markets.

The wind actuates a series of ultra-light wings attached to a pivot that can rotate within limits, adjusting for possible proximity to visitors. This initiates an interaction between the visitors and the structure.

The top of each wing is linked to a supporting beam with springs that have different levels of elasticity. Therefore each wing moves in a different way than its neighbor wing. This results in an ever-changing façade that responds to surrounding environmental conditions.

100*100*100 WIND TOWER
Submission to the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative Copenhagen design competition

Artist Team: Mitsuhiro Wada, Takanori Ishii
Artist Location: Brussels, Belgium
Energy Technologies: vertical axis wind turbines

100*100*100 WIND TOWER is a 100-meter cube consisting of a myriad of small windmills that can be seen across the Copenhagen Harbor.

Overlapping frames rise up, giving the appearance of an ordered morning mist. This huge volume is empty at first. It is for the citizens of Denmark to populate the tower with individual contributions of spherical, vertical-axis wind turbines that are available in three sizes: 600 mm, 1200 mm, and 2400 mm. Similar to a crowdsourcing model, a family can contribute a small-size windmill, and a company can purchase a large-size windmill.

This community of turbines will offset the energy use of the individual investors and help Copenhagen achieve its Carbon Neutral 2025 plan. Once the tower is completely filled with turbines, its output will rival that of a conventional wind turbine. By 2025, the tower will contain the maximum number of turbines from the citizens of Copenhagen. The result will symbolize Copenhagen’s commitment to a sustainable future.

Between the double walls of the artwork, a gentle ramp extends from the ground to the summit. An observatory at the top offers a view around the city of Copenhagen. A nighttime glow at the top of the tower represents the amount of electricity produced by the artwork. Days with strong winds will produce a brighter glow than days with faint wind.

The turbines are similar to units developed by Japan Environmental Promotion Association. Because of its small size, Wind Tower can operate with wind speeds as low as 2–6m/s. Its spherical shape enables it to react to the wind from all sides.

Blowing Horn
Submission to the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative Copenhagen design competition

Artist Team: Hooman Tahvildar Akbary
Artist Location: Tehran, Iran
Energy Technologies: Windbelt™, compact wind acceleration turbine, multi-rotor wind turbine

Near the shores of the great Belt, which is one of the straits that connect the Cattegat with the Baltic, stands an old mansion with thick red walls. I know every stone of it, says the Wind.
-The Story of the Wind, Hans Christian Andersen

This new energy monument is oriented toward the most powerful and prevailing winds on the site. Its form gives reference to the large horns that were used throughout history to call across long distances, but it also serves an important utility. By reducing the cone diameter from the mouth, the speed of the wind increases towards the narrower end of the horn—an application of the compact acceleration turbine lens that makes use of the venture effect.

Inside of Blowing Horn there are a series of wind rotors with a single drive shaft—a multi-rotor wind turbine invented by Doug Selsam. By placing multiple rotors onto a single shaft, the amount of energy that is generated on a single turbine is multiplied.

The ship form at the base of monument is designed to act as a channel, which leads wind through a Windbelt™ array on the deck and the outer shell of this new golden horn for environmental energy production.

Sight
Submission to the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative Copenhagen design competition

Artist Team: Michal Pajakiewicz, Magdalena Rolka
Artist Location: Moscow, Russia
Energy Technologies: piezoelectric generators, photovoltaic thin-film

Sight is installed on the front part of the design site, responding to the unique relationship the location has to its industrial past and the Little Mermaid.

Sight uses the image of the eye as an indicator of the sea level and as a reminder of climate change that will affect us all. The changing environment will affect the visibility of the “eye.” As sea levels rise, the eye will gradually be less visible and will eventually disappear under the water. Until this time, the area will be a wetland—a station for birds and other seacoast species. It will serve the citizens and guests of Copenhagen as a place of rest, relaxation, and meditation.

An angled mirror is constructed on a steel frame. The reflective film is perforated in a form of flaps, equipped with piezoelectric modules. This makes the picture sensitive to weather effects and reduces wind impact by harnessing its energy. On the reverse of the plane is a large photovoltaic array.

Below the angled structure, an image of a child’s eye is constructed pixel-by-pixel with a change of depth from zero to nearly two meters. In the shallow parts, where underwater currents accelerate, the bottom is covered with piezoelectric modules. In deeper parts, the bottom is covered with a local bright stone and local sand. The steep vertical surfaces dividing areas of different depths are reinforced with gabions.

Oscillating Platforms
Submission to the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative Copenhagen design competition

Artist Team: Felix Cheong
Artist Location: Toronto, Canada
Energy Technologies: wind sails, oscillating water column, Wells turbine

Oscillating Platforms invites the surrounding waterway to enter the site, creating a flooded area within the Sønder Hoved Pier into which a series of freeform, floating platforms are anchored. These platforms, reminiscent of inverse ship hauls, have masts and sails integrated into the design, allowing them to catch the prevailing winds coming from the west. In addition, they are meant to be habitable surfaces that visitors can use as viewing platforms out onto the water.

The platforms act as oscillating water columns that convert both wind and tidal energy into electricity. The design utilizes a modified version of an oscillating water column. The device consists of a pressurized air chamber, which is partially submerged in the water. The energy of the waves and the motion of the platform (resulting from the force of the wind harnessed by the sails, as well as the activity and weight of the occupants) forces captured air through a Wells turbine at the top of the water column. As the water level relative to the platform descends, it draws in air from the exposed top of the water column, also powering the turbine, which rotates in one direction regardless of the direction of airflow.

Oscillating Platforms is playful as well as functional, inviting interaction with people of all ages at any time of the year.

Golden Roots
Submission to the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative Copenhagen design competition

Artist Team: Ronny Zschörper, Franziska Adler
Artist Location: Münster, Germany
Energy Technologies: biomass, piezoelectric paving

Golden Roots contrasts the urban environment of Copenhagen with the experience of unspoiled nature, suggesting a childhood walk through golden fields of grain. The installation recalls Denmark as a sparsely populated, agrarian country, where its inhabitants maintained a close relationship with nature. A system of paths and bridges guides visitors through a constellation of crop circles, bringing the calm countryside to life in the city.

The experience of being enveloped by nature is achieved through circular fields of rye, which has a natural maximum height of two meters. Red poppies, so familiar in the region, provide a splash of color and biodiversity. The fields are periodically harvested to generate high-energy biomass as well as to provide materials for the construction of observation towers, which change every season. Rye bales coated with potassium silicate are used to create towers of up to 18 meters tall when maximum crop yields are achieved.

Paths and bridges allow visitors to walk within and to rise above the circles of rye. In addition to the energy production through biomass, each crop circle (connected by the paths) contains a piezoelectric floor, transforming the kinetic energy of people into electric energy.

Tree of Knowledge
Submission to the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative Copenhagen design competition

Artist Team: Boguslaw Barnas, Rafal Barnas, Omar Gharaibeh, Natalia Jejer
Artist Location: Krakow, Poland
Energy Technologies: piezoelectric toroids, micro wind turbine

“In the center of the hall grew a large tree, with luxuriantly hanging branches. Golden apples large and small hung like oranges among the leaves. This was the Tree of Knowledge.”
Hans Christian Andersen

Tree of Knowledge draws on motifs found in the fairy tale “The Garden of Paradise” by Hans Christian Andersen. The electricity-generating sculpture is “The Tree of Knowledge” while “The Four Winds of the World” are the source of renewable energy.

The sculpture’s roots wind their way through a wild and mystical landscape evoking an otherworldly image that is in contrast to the industrial surroundings of Refshaleøen. The organic shape of Tree of Knowledge stands out amid the rigid forms of chimneys, turbines, and warehouses. Upon stepping into the garden, the visitor is transported from the urban reality of Copenhagen into a world of fairytales. The tree is a symbol of nature and knowledge, and the aim of this artificial landscape is to promote contemplation on humankind’s impact on nature.

At the top of the tower is a small-scale wind turbine that captures air as it moves through the roots and into the tower by way of the stack effect (warm ground air naturally rises up to mix with the cooler air at the top of the 70-meter tower). Additionally, the steel structure holds two large industrial balloons, the surfaces of which are covered with PVC pipes containing millions of piezoelectric components. The wind and the mechanical stress from the balloon movements will stimulate the piezoelectric elements to produce electricity.

Pixelated Wind
Submission to the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative Copenhagen design competition

Artist Team: Ryan Helle, Delaney Rockwell, Marcus Farr
Artist Location: Boulder (CO), USA
Energy Technologies: small compact acceleration wind turbines (CWAT)

Beginning with landform manipulations, a series of mounds ripple from the center of the site and flow into Copenhagen’s harbor. Windscreens are situated on top of the mounds, oriented to maximize wind energy harvesting.

The screens are a surface of pixelations, created by small, circular wind turbines. The turbines can collectively manipulate wind to produce energy and, at the same time, allow for a memorable and unique interaction through imbedded LED lights that change color based on wind speed.

The ever-changing luminescent pixelations make the energy of the wind visible. A diverse set of spatial experiences is created by the wind screens, which define rooms and walkways on the site. The large central space serves as an outdoor entertainment venue for concerts, festivals, speakers, and many other large outdoor events. At night the wind turbines will generate light in accordance to the direct wind speed hitting them.

The turbines include a series of high-performance cones that are used to concentrate the wind and increase its velocity as it passes through the rotors. The result is increased efficiency and noise reduction.

#HelioTweet
Submission to the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative Copenhagen design competition

Artist Team: Simon Nummy
Artist Location: Dubai, UAE
Energy Technologies: heliotropic photovoltaic panels

“A short burst of inconsequential information”
Jack Dorsey, the first tweet

#HelioTweet is made up of 140 “characters,” each with its own solar tracking (heliotropic) photovoltaic system. The PV panel set out is used to form a seven-segment display within a 7.5 meter x 9 meter module (67.5 m2 of total PV surface per “character”). Sun tracking will maximize solar harvesting (22% increase on energy output compared to fixed panels), and the “characters” have the potential for many configurations and dynamic movements.

Laminated into each of the display-panel glazed segments is a switching film—consisting of Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystals (PDLCs), which is used to control the opacity of each of the segments. Light Tape™ is used to illuminate the segment when activated.

The feed from the installation’s dedicated twitter account will be primarily focused on climate issues. The larger-than-life social media display is a canvas to explore many applications, functions, and outputs, such as atmospheric CO2 concentration as demonstrated (401 ppm as of May 17, 2014).

The hydraulic arms of the “characters” are fabricated from repurposed earth-working excavator arms, bringing an industrial aesthetic appropriate to the site and creating a reference to resource extraction.

#HelioTweet has the potential to act as a reimagined “speaker’s corner,” an installation where analog and digital meet, encouraging freedom of thought and expression.

Stone Wave
Submission to the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative Copenhagen design competition

Artist Team: Nicolas Violette, Christofer Cornevaux
Artist Location: Paris, France
Energy Technologies: hydraulic cylinder micro-turbine generators

As land in Copenhagen was reclaimed from the sea, the sea now becomes the land. Stone Wave stands at a meeting point between the energy of water and human energy. It allows the water to move the ground, and it allows visitors to walk on water… almost.

The installation is composed of 5742 paving units, suspended in a water channel carved into the land from the sea. The basaltic stone is extracted locally to reduce transport waste.

The energies resulting from the meeting of human and wave are converted into electricity by harnessing the forces of movement. The weight of visitors walking on the paving units that float on the water causes the units to slowly sink. By this action, a small turbine at the base of each unit is driven to create electricity. Water movement from the wake of a passing boat or from the subtle action of the tides and winds act on each unit to drive the turbines in the opposite direction, while the stone pavers rise back up to a resting position, buoyed by watertight boxes fixed under the stone blocks.

The technologies used are inspired by mechanical spinning tops and by R. Buckminster Fuller’s synergetics concept, an empirical study of systems in transformation.

Stone Wave creates a balance between two attributes—a calm and diffuse, yet constant energy.

Echo of Wind: Visualizing the Beauty of Wind Patterns
Submission to the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative Copenhagen design competition

Artist Team: Mathias Bank Stigsen, Olga Krukovskaya
Artist Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Energy Technologies: elastomeric piezoelectric toroids

Few things are more present in Denmark than wind. It is both the driving force behind the country’s many wind turbines as well as a force that has shaped its landscape. Wind by itself is invisible but, through interaction with its surroundings, its patterns and behavior can be captured, and its natural force can be harvested for electrical gain. The movement of leaves, branches, waves, and fabric are all ways in which we visually witness the wind. One of the most practical visualizations of wind movement is in sails, which have helped shape Denmark as a great sea-nation throughout the course of its history.

Echo of Wind consists of a variety of static and dynamic springs distributed over the entire site. Whereas the static springs can host various forms of platforms, providing viewing spaces, the dynamic springs are moved by the wind. The bending of the lightweight carbon fiber springs transforms the mechanical forces of bending and motion into electrical current through piezoelectric generators.

Textiles connect the dynamic springs, helping to both catch and bend the springs while creating an echo of the wind pattern. Visitors are invited to interact with this dance between wind, fabric, and electricity.

Echo of Wind is highly scalable and flexible, and can be adapted to various sizes and formats. It is laid out in a grid, but within the grid is the possibility of varied arrangements for diverse purposes. This flexibility is achieved through a shared plateau in concrete, which shelters the electrical and mechanical devices. More than a purely energy-producing intervention, Echo of Wind is a public space that enables a dialogue between wind and visitors, nature and humans.

CLOUD
Submission to the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative Copenhagen design competition

Artist Team: Laura Maria Gonzalez, Amir-Behan Jahanbin
Artist Location: Pittsburgh (PA), USA
Energy Technologies: flash geothermal with carbon nanotubes

CLOUD is a revelation of transient states through steam. The installation brings earth and water together to establish a cleansing ritual for both the environment and the body as one, connecting people and nature in a dynamic system of ever-changing currents and flows.

Three sculptures make use of a well drilled into the ground that brings hot water to the surface. Because the geothermal resources below Copenhagen are generally not hot enough to generate steam directly, the hot water is mixed with carbon nanoparticles. The physical properties of carbon nanoparticles allow them to absorb heat more efficiently, creating pockets of steam at a molecular scale. Once sprayed onto surrounding water from the shallow pool, flash steam is created to run an electric turbine and heat a bathhouse.

CLOUD embraces traditional bathing customs as visitors immerse themselves in cool water before entering a steam room. Oscillating steam turbines are visible as people slip into the steam rooms within the sculptures. The contemplative interior space provides an intimate experience between people and technology.

CLOUD is a purifier of body and environment. As people use the sculpture to cleanse their body, the sculpture cleanses the surrounding water of impurities, which becomes valuable for the environment and ecosystems of Refshaleøen. The purification process also generates the power, since it is the same steam that powers the turbines for energy. The result is a compelling relationship between people, technology, and the environment.