LAGI 2014. Falling Wall Copenaghen | twosix

Our aim is to create energy using water from the sea around the project area and to make a wing of water for the Mermaid. We would like to create the optical illusion that the mermaid statue is underwater.

In order to do this, we project 4 towers in steel and glass where, using the Heron’s fountain mechanism, blades of water fall down. They have different dimensions and the biggest one has an observation platform at the top.

Inside this tower we have projected the energy system based on the hydroelectric system.

Heron’s fountain is a mechanism based on the air compression and the incompressibility of the water.

The mechanism works like this: First the water comes down in a duct and pressing the air while in the second one is the air which is pressing water is obligated to move. This is an ancient mechanism used by the Greeks, where in fact, they could open/close the temple door without using human forces.

The system is composed by several water transition steps. Water moves from tank “a”, the starting point, into the container “b” through the duct “1” and it pressing air which coerces it to come up into the “c” recipient. In this third tank the air which arrives from “b” with duct “2”, pressing the water which, being incompressible has the only possible consequence to move through duct “3” at the beginning of the process.

The project schedules a modification to this ancient mechanism which consists of the addition of the communicating vessels theory. When the liquid settles, it balances out to the same level in all the containers, regardless of the shape and the volume of those and creating a unique equipotential surface.  The heron’s fountain mechanism became perpetual thanks to the necessity to have a constant situation in “b” and “c” tank.

With the combination between the heron’s fountain mechanism and the communicating vessels theory we can have the project proposal. Four perpetual fountains that can work without any addition of exterior energy. The falling wall advances the idea of a big fall in an urban contest.

To produce energy the project plans to using turbines under the water of the first tank, at the end of the four different big fall, we could also produce energy. Thanks to the high falling walls, water could have a cinetic energy which turns on pelton turbines and while they move, they produce energy in relation to the flow rate of water collected and carry on by heron’s fountain.

The production of electricity through a hydroelectric system excludes the use of any fuel and any production of pollutants. The micro-hydro system respects the environment because of their no evasive installation.

Micro- hydro system

Micro- hydro has the same function of the traditional hydroelectric system but without erecting a dam: the water falls down in a system of turbines that generate electricity.
For the realization of a micro-hydro system you should have a stream with a constant flow rate; it is necessary to know the flow rate and the hydraulic jump in order to size the system.

The heights and dimensions of the four volumes grow up or decrease to give to the architecture a new rhythm and movement.