Whether it is the spectacular result of a collaboration between Chetwood Associates, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, an ancient Greek myth-maker and ILM special effects supervisors or not, the Wind Dam is truly something to behold, either digitally or when fully realized.
From Building Design:
The dam, which would be located over a gorge at Lake [Ladoga] in north-west Russia, includes a cup-shaped spinnaker sail, believed to be the first of its kind, which will generate renewable energy by funnelling the wind through an attached turbine.
The spinnaker shape is similar to the mainsail of a yacht, and is thought to be particularly effective in capturing wind.
Project architect Laurie Chetwood, said that the shape of the sail was influenced by functionality and a desire to produce something “sculptural”.
No doubt Chetwood and colleagues will next propose to gouge a network of artificial valleys in the Tibetan Plateau and then install thousands of these lepidopterian wind turbines to alleviate China's energy needs. A new kind of prayer flags billowing between jagged peaks and ridges, simultaneously symbolizing Tibet's complete colonization and echoing the last few sighs of a dying culture.
Extrapolating a bit further, why not bore a Turrellian complex of tunnels through the world's mountain ranges, specifically those soon to be depleted of their glaciers, wherein wind turbines are strategically inserted. Bolivia may not supplant Venezuela as South America's premier energy producer, but its sonic landscape will surely generate billions in tourism revenues. Andean folk pipe music writ large.
The Jersey Array
Should read:
'The spinnaker shape is similar to the *spinnaker* of a yacht...'
mainsails are typically triangular or square and are braced by a mast, a boom, and sometimes additional spars.
And they're not "*thought* to be particularly effecting in catching wind", they *are* the most effective -- the more contact-lens-like, the more efficient.
Nevertheless, it's a breathtaking (pun intended) design.
Yes, that was my first thought when I saw this contraption. Since the air will be accelerated through the funnel, once a bird flies in, it will be hard to fly back out. And at the end of the funnel, there's a turbine? Ouch. That sounds worse than a conventional windmill.
Regarding the "spinnaker" shape of the sail -- on another forum, someone noted that it looks exactly like a woman's thong underwear! And that the lavender fabric only added to the resemblance.
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