This is unusual, but incredible, in a weird way. The Science Barge is a sustainable urban farm powered by solar, wind, and biofuels, and irrigated by rainwater and purified river water. It’s a mobile illustration of growing food in the city with no pollution or carbon emissions. Check the solar panels and small wind turbines. I’m thinking this is another illustration of the savvy behind solar and wind power for residential use. Via Archidose.
With the weird looking skyscrapers, there’s a business problem of having expensive, unusable space. Often, the most pragmatic, profitable shape is the plain old rectangle. So for the sake of staying grounded in reality, today I’m going back to the boxy, modern-style skyscraper. Above is Arrowhead, a 525,000 sf office building under construction in South Quay, London (UK) by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The 26-story building is expecting an "excellent" rating under BREEAM, the environmental building assessment tool used in the UK. Among other green features, Arrowhead will have a green roof on the top and a mid-level rooftop terrace. The building also has a glass climate wall with external metal shading to retain heat gain in the winter and permit cooling in the summer.
Good Links:
++Arrowhead, London, United Kingdom [SOM]
++SOM Gets Green Light for Office Development in Millennium Quarter [WAN]
::"S2" is short for "Skyscraper Sunday," a weekly article on green skyscrapers posted every Sunday::
Recently, an Atkins office complex concept received big-time coverage by being awarded the 2007 MIPIM Architectural Review Future Projects Award in the Office category. I’m blogging about it because I like some of the sustainable elements. The 180 meter Al Sharq tower includes an executive gym, health club, spa, and swimming pool at the top. The building also features planted sky gardens in strategic locations where people can step outside, take a break, soak in the view, and think. Commenting on the building’s unique green attributes, Nicholas Bailey of Atkins in Bahrain said:
This is a green building – literally – because of its foliage camouflage. Vertical fins to the street elevation, formed in colored glass, are fitted with integrated solar panels that contribute to the building’s energy needs. The project showcases a new way of building the working environment. It is no longer a cage to confine workers, but a creative living environment to encourage productivity. The groundbreaking concept of the project is the provision of different scenarios where business can take place. More images below.
Good Links:
+Atkins Office Concept Wins International Award [atkins global]
+Kuwait Office Development Short listed for MIPIM Award [WAN]
This year’s Met Home Design 100 list has a ton of green projects and products and one of the magazine’s choices is the David Hertz LivingHome shown above. Built from a unique, aluminum-based panelized system, the Hertz home is about 2,650 sf with four bedrooms + four bathrooms. For ease of reference, I’m going to refer to this home as DH1 (see also RK1 and RK2), which I think works because in all likelihood, LivingHomes will feature more Hertz designs in the future. DH1 features a green roof and a private balcony that can be accessed by three of the four bedrooms. And like the other LivingHome prefab products, it will be LEED certified.
At a price point of about $215 psf, I hear LivingHomes is looking for the right client to take the plunge on DH1. What does it take? (1) land in or near Los Angeles, (2) intent to build within the next six months, (3) a budget of about +$750,000, (4) interest in building a green home, and (5) tolerance and patience throughout the process.
To me, this is a no-brainer. If I were out of college and established in business, I’d plop down a million in a heartbeat just to get the DH1 built and use it as a vacation home (at a minimum). I’d buy it for the joy of having one of the greenest prefabs in the country and I’d let all my friends stay in it. Actually, I’d probably hire a management company to lease it out by the day, week, or month, so anyone in the world could test out the joys of living in a modern + green home. I’d invite builders from all over the country to stay in it for free and showcase the green benefits. I’d make green viral. That’s what you can do with a great-looking, high-performance home like the DH1.
Not only is this place sustainable, but rooms are small, too. With 96 units at an average size of 300 sf, Near North Apartments (NNA) is a pretty incredible habitat for people that deserve to live in a well-designed space. NNA is the creation of renowned architect Helmut Jahn, who designed the single-occupant spaces for limited income, homeless, and disabled persons. You’ll notice from the images that the building generates some power through roof-mounted wind turbines, or aeroturbines. to be precise, the building shape was conceived to maximize wind to the aeroturbines. They were invented at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and are now being marketed through Aerotecture International.
The building also uses solar thermal collectors and a rainwater reclamation system. The water system recycles shower water to flush toilets, apparently making it one of the few graywater systems in Chicago. NNA is located at 1244 North Clybourn Avenue in Chicago and is owned by Mercy Housing Lakefront group. The reason I’m blogging about this structure, in addition to being an example of small, sustainable living, is because it was listed on Metropolitan Home’s 2007 Design 100 list. Congrats.
Project Profiles
