Will This Be the Greenest Residential Building in the World?

• January 30, 2014
• 3 Comments

by Lark Turner

Clearpoint Residences via designboom.

A Sri Lankan city is getting the country’s first sustainable high-rise, and the building is literally wreathed in green.

Every apartment in the 46-story Clearpoint Residences near Colombo will have giant gardens watered by a centralized irrigation system that will help shield residents from sunlight and pollution while bringing down the building’s cooling costs during hot summers. The building’s common electricity will be sourced in part by solar panels on the roof. The sky-reaching project was designed by Milroy Perera Associates and Maga Engineering, according to designboom. The scheduled completion date for the building is 2016.

A living room at Clearpoint Residences.

While both in terms of energy-efficiency and height, this building will look quite foreign to DC residents, our city does have its outsized share of LEED-certified buildings. And a few new residential projects are making energy-efficiency a priority:

• Skyhouse DC, a recently-opened two-tower renovation of the EPA’s former headquarters in Southwest DC, aims to achieve a certification of LEED Silver or better.

• 17 Solar is a project of 26 glassy, solar-powered, modern-looking homes from District Development Group (DDG) planned near 17th Street NE between D and E Street.

• Rhode Island Row, a 274-unit rental building on Rhode Island Avenue NE, offers energy-saving appliances and water-saving fixtures in each of its apartments. The development also has a green roof and offers electric car-charging stations for its tenants, according to the building website.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/forget_green_roofs_this_entire_high-rise_is_green/8062

3 Comments

1. Rick said at 10:38 pm on Thursday January 30, 2014:
   Awesome! Love Sri Lanka... and love it even more after reading this. Highly recommend traveling to The Pearl if you can!

1. MarkNearRFK said at 8:43 am on Friday January 31, 2014:
   17Solar isn't NEAR 17th Street NE; it is ON 17th Street NE.

1. jamescole said at 8:42 am on Saturday January 24, 2015:
   A very good initiative taken.Most of the countries are taking serious efforts to use solar power. Even solar funds are available for commercial installation. Visit here for more information http://www.cleanenergycorp.com.au/