South African architect
Shaun Killa (a UCT graduate) is now based in Dubai. His recent successes include the Yinchuan Hedong Airport (China), the Durrat Al Bahrain Resort (Bahrain) and the World Trade Center Memorial and Visitors Center, New York (USA).
And now, this innovative ‘local boy made good’, who is currently head designer of Atkins Middle East, is receiving acclaim for his work in designing sustainable, energy saving buildings – most notably the world’s first wind-powered building – The Bahrain World Trade Centre.
This beautiful, ultra-modern, space age building comprises a 240m high twin tower complex and three 275kw turbines that produce a total of 700kw. The turbines use wind power to reduce energy consumption.
Killa himself says the building is “…almost out of a science fiction movie”, and added that he would be very keen to work with a developer in South Africa to create a ‘significant’ (green) building here, if one such developer would rise to the challenge.
The full story can be read in last weekend’s edition of the Sunday Times (June 21, 2009).
