Algae-powered apartment complex blooms in Hamburg BIQ House, a
15-unit net-zero energy apartment complex clad with an algae-
filled bio-adaptive shell, is completed in Hamburg, Germany, as
part of the International Building Exhibition. Today, here’s a
look at a freshly completed residential complex in Hamburg,
Germany, where even Slimer would feel right at home. And while
it may not contain an ounce of ectoplasm, tiny photosynthetic
organisms commonly associated with pesky green slime are key to
the zero-energy structure’s groundbreaking renewable energy
systems. As the world’s first building powered by algae, the
15-unit Bio Intelligent Quotient (BIQ) House generates biomass
and heat with the assistance of 129 integrated glass bioreactor
panels (read: microalgae harvesters) measuring .78 inches thick
and covering approximately 2,150 square feet of the four-story
structure’s southeast and southwest facing sides. Most
conveniently, the algae-cultivating bio-façade provides the
building with thermal insulation,