Eco Architecture: Leeser Architecture designs luxurious hotel with energy-harnessing capabilities

Eco Factor: Sustainable hotel generates electricity for itself from renewable sources.

U.S.-based architecture firm Leeser Architecture has designed a new five-star hotel for Abu Dhabi, UAE, which takes hotel designing to its utmost limits. Called the Helix Hotel, for its staggering form, the hotel is designed to partially float in water and partially rest in the bay. The outrageous design has won the first prize in a competition for a five-star hotel in the Zayed Bay in Abu Dhabi.

Once developed, the hotel will have 208 guest rooms and suites, which are arranged around the helical floor. To keep the architecture stable, the width and the design of the hotel keeps on shifting as it rises to the top floor. Indoor waterfalls maintain interior temperature and save a lot of energy that would have been used for maintaining temperature.

Apart from saving a lot of energy in maintaining temperature, the outside surface of the hotel is clad in panels made of a new material called “Grow.” The material has both photovoltaic and wind harnessing capabilities, and it allows the hotel to generate electricity for itself from green sources.

The Dark Side:

The hotel’s overall design could be a cause for worry, since the staggered design doesn’t seem to be stable and efficient.