Energie- Und Zukunftsspeicher Heidelberg | Berlin, Germany | 2016

Architects: Laboratory for Visionary Architecture
Client: Stadtwerke Heidelberg GmbH
Photographers: All Images and Plans by LAVA Berlin GmbH

The historic German city of Heidelberg is on mission to become one of the first to claim carbon neutrality by the year 2020. An important aspect will be in supplying its growing population with renewable energy.

Reminiscent to a 1950s gas storage facility once standing on the site, the city has commissioned a design to reinvent this storage tank into a landmark for renewable energy.

The heat accumulator will store 19,500 cubic meters readily available hot water to distribute to the city dwellers. it will become a city icon - marking
progress toward a consciously, sustainable environment.

A distinction throughout each LAVA project comes with the ambition to achieve more with less - resulting in better quality and better architecture with less material and resources.

In aspiration to deliver the architecture and urban design of tomorrow, the energy storage tank was imagined as a destination which attracts visitors and locals to learn more about these renewable energy sources and conservation methods.

The idea of a looping energy cycle and networking guided the design process. Integrating this concept into contextual investigations, client dialogue, and the incorporation of contemporary computational advances lead to what will soon be the constructed Energy and Future Storage Tower of Heidelberg.

Seeing potential in creating an urban landscape, the architects began the design process with sculping an orbital energy park around the site.

This network of “energy loops” extended into the three-dimensional structure cladding the tank and providing public accessibility to the top.

Using the loop language, a structural steel beam wraps the cylinder and positions a cable net in place.

The helix acts as an escape staircase, while it also is essential in the structural cable net. Visitors can either choose to access the rooftop level following the spiralling staircase upwards, or directly using one of the two lifts.

Upon reaching the 54 meter tall height, the outdoor panoramic deck allows visitors to experience visions of the city. Entering the interior will guide the public to the event space – with an atmosphere reminiscent of water.

Contemporary computational advances in building technology played an important role in the design process – most significantly in generating the kinetic outer shell façade construction that gives the tower its dynamic appearance.

As outer facade layer, a cable net is arranged between the annular beams. Close to 12,000 diamond-shaped aluminium plates will be fixed onto the structural net.

This dynamic shell will glistens in the sunlight and rotate with the wind.

Adding to the sustainability ethos, the effect requires neither additional energy, nor complicated technology and is not centrally controlled.

The planned “Energy and Future Storage” tower will stand 56 meters in the sky as one of the tallest buildings in the city of Heidelberg.

It will not only become a new landmark of the city, but also a constructive manifesto of the objective to realize the energy transition and bring the idea of sustainable technologies to life.

Working closely with our team of structural engineers, the energy storage tower now has minimized material usage while precisely conveying a futuristic symbol unique to its time.