H20tel sounds weird. It’s the name given to the prototype of a sustainable luxury hotel developed by RAU and Powerhouse Company for Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The high tech building primarily uses water along with interesting design principles to make it energy efficient.
Water acts as the main carrier of energy for the hotel building. Situated alongside Amstel river the hotel employs oxy-hydrogen generators for heating, cooling, cooking and electricity generation. The building is equipped with sensor based climate system monitors which adjusts the level of conditioning required in real time for each room. By automatically switching off lights in empty rooms, the system helps save at least 40% of the building’s energy consumption.
The fanning out pattern of the hotel’s façade containing a dense arrangement of wooden lamellas protects the building from overheating at mid-day and during the warm season. It also offers panoramic view of the city itself. Inventive design principles also include a large atrium which intersects the building thus maximizing physical space within the hotel.
Thus, innovative technology combines with design principles to create energy efficient, carbon neutral building with minimal energy demands. The project, a prototype for luxury hotel typologies, is shown at the National Design Triennial ‘Why Design Now?’ at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum in New York.
Via: ArchDaily