Green Building Blog - Jetson Green

Natural Design for a Creative Exchange

This building in Cambridge, England is not only called “Creative Exchange,” but it functions as one, too.  Designed by 5th Studio, the structure has a purposely small footprint and smart design that allows natural light to flood into interior spaces.  The interior spaces are open and function more flexibly than a typical office so occupants can collaborate and share ideas.  Similarly, the top floor has a working garden that also facilitates congregation and interaction among the occupants.  Other than the few private workspace areas, everything is quite open and communal at Creative Exchange. 

Rødovre Tower to be Plush Sky Village

Rødovre, an independent municipality of Denmark, was looking for a new residential tower and MVRDV, with co-architect ADEPT, rose to the challenge.  On Monday, it was announced that their "Sky Village" concept won a design challenge to create the next Rødovre skyscraper.  The 116 meter (~381 foot) tower will feature apartments, retail, offices, an hotel, as well as a public park and plaza.  The architects' contemporary design is based on a flexible grid of boxes, or "pixels," which are ~646 square feet each and arranged around the building's central core. 

Iconic Dubai Anara Tower Looking Forward to LEED Silver Certification

Developer Tameer Holding has another iconic tower in the works for Dubai called Anara Tower.  Designed by Atkins, the 600 meter (~1969 feet) tower won't be as tall as the world's tallest tower, Burj Dubai, which is ~707 meter (~2,320 feet), but it's not too far behind.  With 125 stories, Anara will have office space, 300 residential apartments, 250 hotel keys, and all sorts of other luxury amenities, such as pools, shops, and sky gardens every 27 floors. The design was inspired by the minaret, tall spires near Muslim mosques, with a purpose of being instantly recognizable worldwide. 

Will There Be One Global Green Building Standard to Rule Them All?

This article was written by Phil Clark who blogs about green building and development in the UK at Zerochampion.  Make sure to come back after visiting his site ...

Will there ever be one green building standard to rule them all?  It’s an interesting question given the explosion of new ones that are emerging around the globe: in the past month news has reached us over here of a new standard planned by the recently German Sustainable Building Council (this was discovered by Building Sustainability columnist and U.S. expert Jerry Yudelson, a reference of which is in this article) and of a new guide for eco-friendly projects in New Zealand.

LEED Platinum Twin Eco Towers Planned for Abu Dhabi

It's *interesting* to hear story after story coming out of the Middle East, almost as if there's no shortage of capital in that part of the world.  This project was announced during Cityscape last week, but the news was lost among the clamor for information on Jumeira Gardens, a development we'll mention later.  These two so called Eco Towers have been designed to be the first mixed-use towers in the Middle East with LEED Platinum certification.  The 23-story Eco Towers are being developed by Connection Real Estate for ~$245 million USD. 

Six Prefabricated Passive House, Zero Energy Designs

Kjellgren Kaminsky Architects have designed six new passive house designs for presentation at the Stockholm Housing Fair occurring October 9-12, 2008.  Presented in collaboration with Emrahus, these prefabricated, zero energy designs present a compelling concept for what is possible with good design and conscious materials.  Passive houses, using the definition of KKA on their website, "are extremely well-insulated buildings that are largely heated by the energy already present in the building."  Passive homes attempt to rely as little as possible on extra mechanical systems -- they conserve first and foremost.  Scroll through these six passive home designs and leave a vote for your fave:

Entrepreneurs to Sell Shipping Container Homes Below $10k

Okay, I'll admit it, I have a slight interest in container housing and am intrigued by the possibility of reusing containers for, among other things, affordable housing.  This weekend, I'll be bringing you news of a pretty high-end container home, but these homes are equally important at the opposite end of the economic spectrum.  Here's the story: A handful of entrepreneurs nurtured a graduate school business plan into an actual company called PFNC Global Communities.  The acronym stands for "por fin, nuestra casa," which is translated as "finally, a home of our own."  PFNC's purpose is to convert shipping containers into affordable housing for those who most desperately need it around the globe.

Samsø Gaining Recognition for Off-Grid, Carbon-Free Way of Life

A few months ago, I became interested in Samsø after reading Elizabeth Kolbert's column in The New Yorker entitled The Island in the Wind.  With news of this Danish Paradise chilling out in the recesses of my mind, just this week, I noticed a photo essay of Samsø in The Guardian with pictures from Nicky Bonne.  What's interesting about Samsø is that it's a producer of energy -- the entire island produces more energy from renewables than it uses.  They sell the rest and have been doing so since 2003.  Which makes me wonder, how did they get to this point? 

RuralZED Zero Carbon Eco Homes

I've been intrigued by ZEDfactory ever since I first started seeing their homes and designs.  The three letters "ZED", which stand for Zero Energy Development, seem to show up in all ZEDfactory designs.  But I must admit: their designs have a certain whimsical, if not playful, look.  That's no big deal, though, because future solutions are going to look different.  Certainly, ZEDfactory is serious when it comes to pushing the envelope towards sustainable housing options.  The above and below RuralZED was on display earlier this year at EcoBuild in Earls Court, London.  To be clear, RuralZED is more than a house, it's a system for developing zero carbon, zero energy, healthy homes. 

7 Amazing Olympic Green Buildings

If you're like me, the architecture and sheer grandiosity of Beijing 2008 Olympics is blowing your mind.  Gotta give props to what's going on over there, seriously.  The precision, planning, and persistence of this machine is quite compelling.   With all the new and temporary structures now built, it's hard to discuss everything -- but you'll find some interesting images and information below.  Notably, China might have raised the bar for future cities that are presented with the opportunity to host the Olympics.  China's work isn't done, I mean, pollution is unreal and the country is now the world's largest CO2 emitter, but this article is an attempt to recognize positive efforts.  When future Olympic cities start to build up infrastructure, transportation, and venues, as they invariably will, this website thinks China has presented some new lessons in how to be bold, economic, and green.