This is part of our special feature, Sustainable European Cities and Digitization.
With a mission to advance a just and equitable energy transition in response to the climate crisis, the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) helps co-design places for people that share land use with distributed renewable energy generation. Works of art in civic space distribute clean energy and provide other sustainable services to buildings and the utility grid while beautifying the built environment. We work with public and private organizations and with neighborhood groups to help them meet their greatest potential as they plan, design, and implement new clean energy projects. LAGI design competitions for Dubai/Abu Dhabi (2010), New York City (2012), Copenhagen (2014), Santa Monica (2016), Melbourne (2018), Abu Dhabi (2019), and Fly Ranch Nevada (2020) have brought forward innovations in regenerative design that have captured the imagination of the world. Land Art Generator co-design projects and Solar Mural installations demonstrate the benefit of applying best practices of creative placemaking, urban design, and civic art to renewable energy developments.
The Solar Hourglass
Winner of the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) design competition for Copenhagen
Designer: Santiago Muros Cortés
Energy Technology: concentrated solar power (thermal beam-down tower with heliostats)
Annual Capacity: 7,500 MWh
“Beyond the Wave”
A submission to the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) design competition for Copenhagen
Designer: Jaesik Lim, Ahyoung Lee, Sunpil Choi, Dohyoung Kim, Hoeyoung Jung, Jaeyeol Kim, Hansaem Kim (Heerim Architects & Planners)
Energy Technology: organic photovoltaic (OPV), kinetic harvesting (piezoelectric)
Annual Capacity: 4,229 MWh
“Energy Duck”
A submission to the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) design competition for Copenhagen
Designer: Hareth Pochee, Adam Khan, Louis Leger, Patrick Fryer
Energy Technology: photovoltaic panels, hydraulic turbines (Kaplan, Francis, or similar 100–500 kW capacity)
Annual Capacity: 400 MWh
“The Pipe”
A submission to the 2016 Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) design competition for Santa Monica
Designer: Abdolaziz Khalili, Puya Kalili, Laleh Javaheri, Iman Khalili, Kathy Kiany (Khalili Engineers)
Energy Technology: photovoltaic panels
Water Technology: electromagnetic desalination
Annual Capacity: 10,000 MWh to generate 4.5 billion liters of drinking water
“Cloud Field”
A submission to the 2019 Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) design competition for Abu Dhabi
Designer: Ignacio Marti
Technology: organic photovoltaic (OPV)
Annual Capacity: 1,172 MWh
“Masdar Calligraphy”
A submission to the 2019 Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) design competition for Abu Dhabi.
Designers: Alfio Faro, Davide Persanti
Technology: color laminated solar photovoltaic, vertical axis wind turbine
Annual Capacity: 1,250 MWh per year
“Light Drop”
A submission to the 2016 Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) design competition for Santa Monica
Designers: Antonio Maccá, Flavio Masi
Energy Technology: semi-transparent photovoltaic panels, tidal power pumps
Water Harvesting Technology: reverse osmosis desalination
Annual Capacity: 3.5 billion liters of drinking water from solar and tidal energy
