Aedas R&D

Aedas R&D, in close collaboration with Thornton Tomasetti and phaconsult, developed a concept design for the Taiwan Tower in Gateway Park of Taichung City in Taiwan. Like a pebble dropped into the sea, the tower’s shape derived from the form that emerges when a falling object hits the surface of water. The scheme’s plan takes the geometry of the new Gateway Park and forms a series of ripples that weave the tower into it surroundings, forming terraces, bridges and the main structure of the tower itself. Aedas R&D and Thornton Tomasetti jointly devised a parametric model to control the tower’s form, optimise floor space area and determine the number, size, pitch and distribution of the structural ribbons to fulfil architectural and engineering requirements. The tapered ribbons are of two types, with wider members acting as load bearing elements and thinner members helping stiffen the structure.

Great care has also been taken to reduce the tower’s energy footprint by making use of passive design strategies such as incorporating a central atrium and reducing slab depth to allow for natural light and air penetration, and offsetting the façade surface inwards to provide shading and at the same time minimise production costs. In addition to the above, the design suggests the use of wind and solar energy systems together with rainwater collection, ground source heat pumps and bio-fuels harvested from container grown algae.