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The Energy+Art Garden

Design team: Artist, Raphaele Shirley; Nina Colosi, Streaming Museum; Architects Bernardo Zavattini, Claude Boullevraye de Passillé

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The Energy+Art Garden (TEAG) has been selected by The Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) design competition jury to be among the designs exhibited in Spinelli Park, Mannheim, Germany, April to October 2023, and included in the publication. The project is a partnership of LAGI and BUGA 23, the German Federal Horticulture Show, (founded in 1951) which will open in mid-April along with an exhibition of selected proposals, a book launch, educational game and activities, and an award ceremony.

 

TEAG immerses visitors in a futuristic world of dramatic energy producing and reactive sculptures and lighting, lush plantings, pathways, and gathering points for public engagement within Spinelli Park. During the day, night, and all seasons, the beauty and multi-sensory experience of TEAG sparks visitors’ imagination and desire for a world powered by clean energy. “Before change can happen it must be imagined.” - LAGI

 

TEAG starts from the design forms that have been central to the social systems of civilizations throughout history and augments them with 21st century technologies that unlock the energies of the earth and sun. These forms–mound, ziggurat, pyramid, arena, and circle--used for agriculture, community, and ceremony, have cosmological, cultural and spiritual meaning, and align with the symbiosis of humans and the cycles of nature.

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TEAG is a self-sustaining oasis that provides energy to the grid using geothermal, solar and kinetic energy technologies. The energy production finances TEAG’s integrated systems including its maintenance, community programming, gardens and organic farm. The composting of organic waste supports the hanging gardens that grow vegetables, such as butternut squash and spinach.

 

TEAG uses the geothermal energy system Climeon (Climeon.com); photovoltaic and thermodynamic solar systems by SoloPower Systems Inc. (solopower.com); and Pavegen (pavegen.com) floor tiles that generate kinetic energy from people’s movement over them, and produce light patterns and energy for visual displays and personal electronic device recharging. TEAG generates 17,720 MWh per year for the grid of Mannheim, Germany and district heating for 2000 homes. 

 

The quality of the air and its flow through Mannheim is enhanced through the plantings of diverse native wildflowers such as blue cornflowers, white German chamomile, purple and yellow summer forget-me-nots, and other vegetation that is integrated into the TEAG design and supports eco-regeneration for rewilding the site. 

The Energy+Art Garden helps advance UN Sustainable Development Goals
Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages
Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, modern energy for all
Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive, sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

 

The Land Art Generator (LAGI) brings together artists, architects, scientists, landscape architects, engineers, and others in a first of its kind collaboration. The goal of the Land Art Generator is to see to the design and construction of public art installations that uniquely combine aesthetics with utility-scale clean energy generation.

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Solar Pavilion: Galvanized steel tubing and profiles for the structure with concrete footings. Anodized aluminum panel supports and framing for ETFE or similar panels with photovoltaic applied film for the greenhouse-like roofline. Steel aircraft cable tension lines. Pavegen Kinetic energy floor tiles.

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The Concentrator’s sculpture surface rotates as it follows the sun and creates electricity in 2 ways–-one from an ETFE transparent thin film photovoltaic system, the other from a solar heat concentration to glycol liquid spiral connected to a Climeon (climeon.com) device. This spiral would be inside a ETFE ovaloid shaped inflatable membrane.

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Energy Sphere. ETFE and PTFE inflatable form. Concrete anchor in water basin, with aircraft cable ties, motorized winch system aluminum solar collector panel. Photovoltaic panels and thermodynamic generator system create power which is sent to the grid and used within TEAG to power the park facilities.

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Data Lightways. Photovoltaic panels, kinetic floor tiles, 3D printed structure. The archways are lit by the stored photovoltaic energy. The kinetic floor tiles generate energy from footsteps and dance events. The archways display the total amount of energy produced by TEAG.

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Hanging Garden (left) : photovoltaic panels on 3D printed structure. Vertical hanging garden design of concentric circles for hydroponic gardening, seed collection, programs and performances. Stored solar energy illuminates its pattern at night creating a light sculpture.

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