The world's first building powered by algae has been unveiled at the International Building Exhibition in Hamburg by engineering firm Arup.

[partner id="wireduk"]The "bioreactor façade" has been mounted as a kind of "second skin" onto the sun-facing sides of the BIQ building. The panels – which are more like tanks – contain algae that grows in the direct sunlight. It can then be harvested and turned into a biofuel-like pulp that is burned in a generator at the heart of the building.

The algae feeds on carbon dioxide and nutrients that are supplied via a water pump, and further energy is also harvested by solar panels, with energy stored for later use in 80m deep boreholes filled with brine.

The whole building is intended to be completely self-sufficient. As pleasant side effect is that the algae panels – each just over 8' by 2' in size, with a total surface area of 2152 square feet – also provide shade for the building's occupants.

The building was completed on March 22, but won't be put into full operation until April 25.

"Using bio-chemical processes in the façade of a building to create shade and energy is a really innovative concept." says Arup's research lead for Europe, Jan Wurm. "It might well become a sustainable solution for energy production in urban areas, so it is great to see it being tested in a real-life scenario."

Arup led the design project, which also included work by Splitterwerks Architects from Austria and Germany's SSC Strategic Scientific Consult. It was funded by the German government's "Zukunft Bau" ("Future Construction") subsidy, which looks to support innovation in the construction industry when it comes to renewable and zero-energy design.

The BIQ building itself contains 15 apartments, of which two apparently don't have rigid interior layouts. Instead, the "individual functions of the apartment – bathroom, kitchen, sleeping area – can be swapped about or combined to form a 'neutral zone'" by residents as and when they need to. According to the International Building Exhibition, an "increased demand for adaptable housing spaces" means this is how we're going to live in the future.

Algae-powered buildings have been theorised, but not built, up until now. Wired UK covered the AlgaeHouse Concept in 2009, a proposal from a group of Cambridge students that works in a slightly different way to the BIQ building. Its algae excrete concentrations of hydrogen that can be used in fuel cells to power a house, but dead concentrations of algae would also be fed into a generator as a biofuel that would heat water.