Miami Gives the Go-Ahead for Green Tower

Ground-breaking will begin in July 2007.

by Staff -- Interior Design, 11/14/2006

Green towers are on the rise. New York has the Hearst Tower, and Miami will soon have COR, designed by Chad Oppenheim, principal of OPPENheim Architecture + Design. The sustainable mixed-use building, slated for Miami's Design District, is a collaboration between Oppenheim, engineer Ysrael Seinuk,
and energy consultants Buro Happold.

COR was unanimously approved by the Urban Design Review Board of the City of Miami. Slated to break ground in July 2007, the tower will stand 400 feet tall and employ the latest developments in wind turbines, photovoltaic panels, and solar hot water generation, in order to produce its own power. 

Integral to the design is a hyper-efficient shell which the project team touts as a major design and engineering breakthrough. This multi-purpose shell supplies building structure and thermal mass for insulation, as well as shading for natural cooking, enclosure for terraces, and armatures for turbines.

"It is one of the first times that energy efficient elements play an integral part of the design of a building in Miami,” says Oppenheim. “The building produces its own energy using alternative technologies and employs a wide variety of cost-effective design strategies.”