A Better Reason For Twin Towers
In Seattle, there has been a recent trend toward developing twin towers that appears to driven, at least in part, by the new downtown zoning code. But the twin towers of the newly opened Bahrain World Trade Center have a much worthy raison d’etre: wind power generation.
As can be seen in the image above, three 100-foot wind turbines span the towers, and are expected to generate about 15% of the building’s energy needs. The architects designed the towers to act as airfoils, directing and accelerating wind through the turbines. It’s engineering with a grand scale and elegance that would make Nikola Tesla proud.
What doesn’t make me proud, however, is that this project is not in the United States. And the turbine technology was provided by the Danish firm Norwin. We’ve got some serious catching up to do.