Jetson Green - green facade

The World’s Largest Vertical Garden Rises in Colombia

Green facades, or just adding some greenery to city buildings, help purify the air and make the cityscape that much more beautiful. Adding living greenery to our urban buildings in the form of vertical gardens not only helps to make cities more beautiful, but also serves the practical purpose of producing extra oxygen and cleaning the air. One great example of such a vertical forest is the Santalaia building in Bogotá, Colombia, which is also the world’s tallest vertical garden.
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By Christine Walsh|October 13th, 2017|Green Building|0 Comments

Proposed Paris Building Renovation is Really Out There

French architect Stéphane Malka has a very interesting proposal for how to renovate an old apartment building in Paris. Plug-in City 75, as the project is named, calls for attaching a series of wooden boxes to the building’s façade, which will have the dual function of increasing the interior space of the apartments, as well as make the structure more energy efficient.
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By Christine Walsh|August 14th, 2017|Modern architecture|1 Comment

The City of Nanjing Will Soon Get a Vertical Forest

When architect Stefano Boeri first came up with the concept of the so-called Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest), that is two skyscrapers clad in greenery, many people believed it would remain just a concept and never see the light of day. But now, a third Vertical Forest is to be built in Nanjing, China.
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By Christine Walsh|August 12th, 2017|Green Building|0 Comments

Naturally Cooled Concrete House

The Vietnamese firm Vo Trong Nghia Architects recently completed the so-called Binh House in Ho Chi Minh City. While it is made of concrete, which is not the most sustainable material, they have found a way to cool it naturally. It also has many plants softening up its façade, which makes it a welcome island of greenery within the city. The firm is planning to build other such houses as part of their House for Trees series.
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By Christine Walsh|May 22nd, 2017|Modern architecture|0 Comments

Unique Approach to Increasing the Sustainability of Old Buildings

Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut has recently come up with an interesting and unique solution to turning an old, 1970’s apartment building into a very sustainable complex. His plans call for the transformation of the existing concrete structure into an energy producing building with a green façade.

Callebaut would leave the building as is, but would add 274 planter beds into its ornamental façade. These would hold about 10,000 plants carefully chosen by botanists, to create a sort of vertical garden or green façade, which would increase the building’s thermal performance and clean the air. According to Callebaut’s calculations the plants would capture 50 tons of C02 per year. The windows of the apartments would also have to be exchanged for energy saving ones to further improve the thermal performance of the building. Keeping the green façade flourishing would not be difficult at all, since there would be a drip-feed system that would require maintenance only twice a year. (more…)

By Christine Walsh|March 13th, 2017|Green Building|0 Comments

Self-Sustaining Vertical Garden

Vertical gardens are great for façades, insulation and to add a bit of greenery to a home or office. But the problem with them is that they require a lot of maintenance and power to flourish. Well, that could be a thing of the past. The firm Treebox, which specializes in urban greening, has created a vertical garden, which is entirely self-sustaining. (more…)

By Christine Walsh|October 19th, 2015|Green Building|0 Comments