|Danny Mui & Benjamin Sahagun|
|Site: Congress and Wells, Chicago IL, USA|
Institution: Illinois Institute of Technology
Professor: Antony Wood
Studio: 2012 Hi-Rise, Lo-Carb: Chicago
|Every day, 77,000 carbon-emitting vehicles fly past the Congress Parkway interchange, polluting the air. This project creates a gateway over the corridor that filters air and fuels a new breed of car for its residents.|
|“The Congress Gateway project, with its carbon-scrubbing crown, naturally ventilated atrium and algae facade, seeks to establish a new high-rise vernacular which is a product of its time and place.”|
The site is all about cars: thousands of them swirl around it every day, entering and exiting the Eisenhower Expressway. The interchange represents a well-known fact: carbon dioxide pollution—a large percentage of which is produced by cars—is an international problem. The CO2ngress Gateway Towers incorporates a system of carbon scrubbers, filtration devices that clean carbon dioxide and other pollutants from the air. The captured CO2 is fed to algae grown within the building, which is in turn processed into bio-fuel used for building residents’ eco-friendly cars, further cutting CO2 emissions.
A Contextual Gateway to the City
The two buildings that comprise Congress Gateway Towers split to avoid blocking views for a neighboring building and converge at the top, creating a visual gateway over Congress Parkway into the city. A bridge, which contains a public restaurant, joins the towers. Covering and landscaping the access ramps to the Eisenhower Expressway creates pedestrian connections and upends the site’s car-centric identity.
Scrubbing the City’s Air
Carbon scrubbers, which capture carbon dioxide and other pollutants from the air, crown the Co2ngress Gateway Towers. The scrubbers are the first step in a process that generates fuel for a fleet of eco-friendly cars for building residents. The system raises public awareness of air pollution and its impact on the health of Chicagoans.
Living Over Congress Parkway
The CO2ngress Gateway Towers’ double-skin façade, a system of two layers of windows, reduces traffic noise and creates enclosed balconies. The façade is operable, which allows for natural cross-ventilation of the units through the building’s atrium.
An Integrated Bio-Fuel Farm
The irregular form of the tower, bisected by the central elevator core, results in some small spaces either side of the core. These spaces are utilized as communal outdoor terraces for residents and are enclosed by bio-reactor tubes. The tubes grow algae which is harvested and processed into bio-fuel.