The carbon neutral building features a vacuum toilet system, anaerobic digestion system and reduced car parking. The building will be self sufficient for water, making the scheme both water balanced as well as carbon neutral.
The building is studded with energy and resource efficient elements such as: rooftop wind turbines; sun-tracking photo photovoltaic panels that generate electricity; and distinctively shaped sun-shade system on the building’s exterior that allows the maximum amount of daylight into occupied space, but prevents excessive glare and heat from penetrating the building envelope.
Pixel is installed with smart windows that open automatically in the evening to enable ‘night purging’ which means filtering out heat in the building and allowing fresh air to cool it. The use of a specially developed concrete, called Pixelcrete, helps in reducing the embodied carbon in the mix.
Project partners include architects at the firm studio 505, building services engineering and sustainability consultancy Umow Lai and structural engineering company VDM Consulting.
The sustainable building developed by Australian development and construction firm Grocon, has achieved a score of 100 points under the Green Star rating system for building design, with 75 points the benchmark for 6 Star Green Star. It gained an extra five points for innovation.
The building is also seeking certification at the high levels from the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED system and the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM).
