THE SWAY TOWER
Zero Energy Residential High-rise
Individual
Option Studio | Spring 2017
Advisor | Ali Malkawi, Gordon Gill
Serving as an iconic architecture at the entrance of Chicago River into the city, the tower emerges from the ground and expands into the sky. All the residential units on the upper portion of the building, take full advantage of solar energy for natural daylight and heat gain. The arrangement of the units and the interior walls, aims to utilize summer pavilion wind for natural ventilation. In the winter, the southwest pavilion wind is blocked by the orientation and the façade details. The units have the best view access to the lake shore and the highway through the proximity of the large windows on both south and north sides. Pedestrian bridge is extended out from the open ground in front of the building, as well as the public portion on the lower levels, to reach the park on the other side of Lake Shore Drive. A harbor is connected to the pedestrian bridge on the north side. On the south site, along with open space, landscaping and plantings, the bike storage located in a space stretches out from under the pedestrian bridge, frame a better view toward Lake Shore Drive from eye level.
Building Massing Design | Rejecting Winter Wind and Allowing Summer Wind
The building in plan expands in one direction, east-west axis. In the summer, the prevailing wind comes from northeast. Therefore, with the windows designed to be on the north and south walls of the rooms, natural ventilation is achieved in the summer to cool down the interior. In the winter, the prevailing wind comes from the southwest and mostly west. The west walls of each residential unit extend out a little to turn away the wind so the interior would be protected from being cooled down.
Solar Strategies
The large surface area of the bridges receives a lot of solar energy to warm up the water charged from the water tank, which transformed from the existing hole, in the water pipes runs along the surface. The large south side of the building surface receives a lot of solar gain to warm up the water supply for the building, and cold water supply would run on the north side. The convex form of the building massing would help with rain water collection to the water tank.
Sun Angle, Wind and Acoustic Strategies
The concave form of the building allows the units are shaded by the units above in the summer to keep the interior temperature low, and the units receive more sunlight in the winter to keep the interior temperature high. The east-west linear expansion of the building form on plan allows summer prevailing wind coming from the northeast to flow through the units. And the winter prevailing wind coming from the southwest will be blocked by the extended west walls of each unit. The pedestrian bridge covering the Lake Shore Drive blocks the noise for the buildings above the highway.
Ground Floor Plan (red: vehicles | green: pedestrians | blue: boats)
Open spaces are paved, covered with vegetations, guiding and connecting pedestrians to multiple destinations, such as the park, the harbor, the bike storage, the bridge, the river front and the tower. Through and limited vehicular traffic is achieved with drop off area for the building and parking entrance on east side of the building. Boats come in on the north side of the building and park at the harbor, which will give passengers direct access to the building.
Typical Residential Floor Plan
Natural Ventilation, Shading System and Solar Gain Strategies for Residential Units
Wind and Solar Simulations
