marks barfield architects - more than meets the eye
The Beacon
The Beacon has been designed in response to the challenge of climate change. It is a new form of wind turbine for sustainable urban energy generation, bringing power generation into the city where it is needed. We have teamed up with Quietrevolution and Price & Myers to develop the proposal.
Designed to be located on roundabouts, along major roads, and in other appropriate areas of the urban realm, the Beacon’s 40m high Y-shaped structure will harness energy from the strong winds above the city’s rooftops, with minimal visual impact on the skyline.
The Beacon’s structure supports five vertical ‘triple-helix’ wind turbines called quietrevolution, each five metres high and three metres diameter designed to achieve ultra-quiet operation and more efficient utilisation of urban winds. Local energy production is significantly less wasteful than generation and transmission from remote power stations where up to 60% of energy is lost in transmission. Each beacon would generate over 50,000kWh/yr, and be connected directly into the local grid to service local homes and businesses generating power in the city for the city.