Zira Island is Zero Energy

Sort of a Masdar with mountains, Zira Island is a zero energy resort and entertainment city designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, on an island in the Caspian Sea off Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. It is designed to mimic "the seven peaks of Azerbaijan."


The architect writes:

The Seven Peaks fo Azerbaijan is a master plan for a Zero Energy resort and entertainment city on Zira Island situated in the Caspian Sea. Located within the crescent shaped bay of Azerbaijan's capital Baku, Zira Island is designed to be a sustainable model for urban development and an iconographic skyline recognizable from the city's coastline. As a young post-soviet democracy, Azerbaijan is rediscovering its national identity, the Seven Peaks of Azerbijan propose an architectural landscape derived from its natural landscape. The mountains are conceived not only as metaphors, but engineered as entire eco-systems, a model for future sustainable urban development.

Preston at Jetson Green tells us:

Zira Island is intended to be entirely independent of external resources – to provide “high-end living with low end resource usage.” Here’s how they plan to do so:

* Heating/cooling by heat pumps connected to Caspian Sea
* Photovoltaics strategically placed on facades and rooftops
* Solar thermal panels integrated into architecture
* Energy efficient architecture
* An offshore wind farm for island power
* Waste and storm water collection, treatment, and reuse in landscaping


MY PERSONAL NOTE:
Unbelievable don't you think? Great concept! Very cold but great concept.