Bio-cycle: Sustainable Energy Architecture
Located in Cleator Moor, Cumbria, a Biomass Analysis, Development and Transportation Hub is proposed, producing clean energy to Cumbria’s network grid through the collection of the community’s waste and the production of biomass energy from such. This creates a shift from the nearby nuclear energy site, located in Sellafield, into a clean energy industry which follows Cumbria’s clean energy coast proposal.
Through a community focused programme specific to the Training Centre, the project educates on topics relating to the future of clean energy whilst producing the research for this emerging industry in the Analysis and Research Hub. Amongst the design features that promote the educative programme include: the glazed exposed façade for the Machinery Room and the mezzanine space in the Training Centre which allows the community’s safe interaction with the procedures carried out in the Machinery Room.
Finally, the project identifies green energy industries’ constant ‘green-washing’ in rural areas such as Cumbria and chooses to tackle this through the use of a demand-focused project broken down into three phases as shown in the Masterplan. In phase I: Knowledge Phase , a careful consideration of the public and private spaces is done through the separation of the Training Centre which would be accessed by community and the Analysis and Research Hub which would be accessed by employers. Therefore, the project creates a safe, inclusive environment promoting interaction between community and on-site employers to close the knowledge gap on clean energy industries and shift the current image of industrial and damaging energy plants, into a sustainable practice.
