news
- 01.04.2008
SIEEB - Sino-Italian Ecological and Energy Efficient Building
Beijing, China
In December 2005, extensive coverage was given in the Italian media to the Far East visit of a delegation led by former President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and accompanied by a corps of businessmen looking for investment opportunities in the new China. The trip also coincided with the presentation, in Beijing, of the SIEEB project (Sino Italian Ecological and Energy Efficient Building), inspired by a joint initiative of the Italian Ministry for the Environment and Land Protection and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology in response to the Kyoto accords on the reduction of CO2 emissions and as part of a broad programme of measures targeting environmental problems.
More exactly, it was on 16 February that the Kyoto protocols on global warming became legally binding. China emits a quantity of greenhouse gases equivalent to 11% of the world total, but is not bound by the protocols as the country is not yet classified as a major power, notwithstanding its rapid economic growth in recent times.
This cooperation between the two Ministries has resulted in a project for a building on the campus of the Tsinghua University, situated north-west of the capital Beijing. The designer is architect Mario Cucinella, working with a team from the Milan Polytechnic. The building, which will be situated in a particularly dense urban complex, surrounded by other very tall buildings, has been conceived as a leaf capable of converting sunlight into energy.
A series of south-facing garden terraces will be planted with rich vegetation and more than 1,000 m2 of solar panels able to meet the greater part of the electricity demand for the building.
Project: Ministry for the Environment and Land Protection, Italy Ministry of Science and Technology, China
Project leader: Politecnico di Milano, BEST Team
Architectural design: MCA Mario Cucinella Architects, CAG China Architecture Design & Research Group
