Foster + Partners has quite the pipeline of projects and this supertall skyscraper, Russia Tower, is one of them.  Russia Tower is expected to be the tallest building in Europe, and one of the tallest in the world, coming in at a whopping 2,009 ft tall, just behind Taipei 101 and Burj Dubai.  Even further, it’ll be the largest building in the world with a natural ventilation system.  Foster + Partners designed the building with an "energy cycle" system, which is a hot water circuit that runs through the building distributing the energy to regulate temperature and heat water.  The energy cycle system is intended to chart new territory in sustainable architecture. 

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Zorlu Ecocity is a Llewelyn Davies Yeang project located in Istanbul, Turkey.  It’s a mixed-use development located at the southern extremity of Buyukdere Street in Istanbul.  The plan is conceptualized as a "city within a city" and conforms to the city’s planning strategy to multiply the number of urban centers throughout the Marma region to relieve pressure on Istanbul’s historic core. 

Zorlu Ecocity will have 588,850 sm (6,338,329 sf) of accommodation, which includes office towers, residential towers, two hotels, apartments, and resort-style elderly units above a three story retail complex.  In total, we’re talking about 14 towers ranging from 8 to 26 stories. 

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Steve Duncan and Leslie Avery, designers and owners of 3rdEmpire Design, are proud to have registered the first LEED project in Newfoundland & Labrador-Canada.  With the e3 Home, they’re aiming for Gold Certification and plan on completion in September 2008.  Duncan and Avery say the home presents a unique challenge due to having to conform to local Heritage Area guidelines (because of its location in downtown St. Johns).

From the renderings, you’ll notice the second empire style architecture, which 3rdEmpire Design went with to complement the neighborhood.  The inside of the 3000 sf home will incorporate modern and innovative materials/technology, wherever possible, and will feature a more open design.  Proposed features include pervious hardscaping and landscaping, recycled construction waste, bamboo and cork flooring, thermostatically controlled radiant flooring, low E glass, low VOC paint, upgraded insulation, CFL and LED lighting, dual flush toilets and low flow faucets, FSC timber, use of natural ventilation and lighting.

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This is just another example of micro-green technology in an entirely necessary and functional setting.  The video shows a streetlight running on both wind and solar in front of Panasonic Center in Tokyo.  In addition to the helix turbine and butterfly solar panels, there’s a high-efficiency light bulb and battery for capturing energy during the day (to be used at night).  Someone tell me why we don’t see more any of this in the U.S.?  Via EcoGeek.

Your version of the proverbial American Dream may not include a house, dog, and white picket fence, but I’m sure it’s something like that.  But what happens to your American Dream when future development policies encourage greater density and vertical construction?  Don’t get me wrong.  Greater density is a good thing and it alleviates the harmful effects of sprawl.  But, at the same time, our vision of the American Dream becomes more and more obsolete.  Unless … you see greater density and vertical living as something similar to the above.  Designed by Reinier de Jong, MoCo Loco reports on the concept: "Tuin project is a proposal that places a typical two storey dwelling with a garden within a highrise framework in order to keep those who flee towards suburbia in search of space firmly in the city."  Why not, right?

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