Thursday, November 27, 2008
Architect David Fisher has proposed a plan for rotating towers that produce all of their own energy through wind power. The Rotating Tower would be built by stacking platters on a central concrete core with wind turbines located between each of them. Each floor will rotate 360 degrees about once every 90 minutes; as the floors will rotate independently, they will create a constantly changing silhouette in the sky. Inside the concrete core will be elevators, emergency stairs and lobbies. The Rotating Tower will be built in Dubai in the next six months.
Teatro del Agua
As water becomes an even hotter commodity in the future, engineers are looking for ways to ensure a continued supply of fresh water to meet the needs of the world’s growing population. Charles Patton is tackling this problem with his Seawater Greenhouse, a carbon-neutral desalination method which is being incorporated into the design of the Teatro del Agua. This Theater of Water will be a performing arts center in Spain’s Canary Islands. It works by coupling a series of evaporators and condensers such that the airborne moisture from the evaporators is then collected from the condensers, which are cooled by deep seawater.? The center will operate almost entirely on renewable energy.
Dice House
Passive House Museum
Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco
Pelli Clark Pelli architects recently got approval for their design for a new green Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco. The transit center will consist of a glass tower and a five-and-a-half acre public park, and will be packed with sustainable features like green roofs, passive solar shading, wind turbines, a rain and graywater recycling system and geothermal heating and cooling. The aim of the building is to centralize the region’s transportation system while also providing a community space. The center will be completed by 2014.
Habitat 2020
California Academy of Sciences Museum
Landscape House
Singapore City
London-based Foster + Partners, who are also working on the aforementioned Frasers Broadway complex, have another green complex in store. This one will be located in Singapore City, measuring 150,000 square meters and set for multi-use functioning. The complex’s exterior will be covered with solar cells, and direct sunlight will also be harvested by tall ribbon-like canopies rising into the skyline. The slanted design of the facades will allow wind to flow into the building for a natural cooling effect, and vertical green spaces will provide ambient temperature moderation. The building will also be equipped with a rainwater harvesting system, geothermal heating, chilled beams and an ice storage system for cooling.
Nano Vent Skin
What is it? In short it is a structure that acts like a skin. It is composed of mini wind turbines made out of micro organisms which generate energy from wind and sunlight. NVS was born as a small scale alternative after seeing all the gigantic projects (like those mentioned above) being built around the world. Where it seems that in order to be green you have to think big and build something impressively huge. This concept tries to make Architects and Designers think on a smaller scale and apply it to existing buildings, houses and structures or even tunnels and barriers to generate energy.
Lighthouse Skyscraper
Dongtan EcoCity
Bahrain World Trade Center
The most impressive feature of the new Bahrain World Trade Center is, no doubt, the three massive wind turbines situated between the two towers comprising the main building. Each of these 80-foot turbines projects from a bridge between towers. The shape of the towers themselves channels and accelerates air moving between them which will help the building generate even more power. It is by far the largest wind-powered design incorporated into a massive building project to date.
All in One Eco Towers
Vertical Farming Skyscraper
Architect Pierre Sartoux of Atelier SOA has gone a step further and put some serious design talent behind his proposal for a vertical farming skyscraper. A light-shading skin wraps around the structure and opens to admit sunlight at particular locations for various functional (and aesthetic) purposes. The building’s air, heating and cooling systems are wind-driven and circulate oxygen and carbon dioxide between growing and living spaces. The simple but reinforced structure is designed to handle additional dead loads from the weight of growing floors and also serve to make the entire building more durable (and thus sustainable).
Sky Farm in Toronto
Architect Gordon Graff may succeed in the more green and progressive city of Toronto with his plans for a sky farm with 48 floors and millions of square feet of floor space (and even more growing space). This building, if constructed, will be able to feed tens of thousands of people per year. Best of all, particularly in Canada, the success of the building’s crops isn’t contingent upon climactic conditions. As an architectural and urban design gesture this structure both fits into the city skyline and differentiates itself with simple layers of green.
Vertical Farm in Seattle
The Pacific Northwest regional architecture firm Mithun developed a compelling vertical farm building design to incorporate various green building strategies in a mixed-use residential and commercial complexdesigned for downtown Seattle. The concept? Simply put, the structure is designed as a kind of built organism - completely self-sufficient and adaptive to its surroundings. The design includes water and energy self-sufficiency from rainwater and gray water collection and reuse, solar cells, vegetable and grain growing spaces and even a chicken farm - all built on a small-footprint downtown urban lot.
Symbiotic Interlock
Given that most urban cores are already densely built, one designer has proposed an auxiliary series of structures to be attached to existing structures in downtown areas. These modular constructions would provide garden and recreation spaces for residents as well as light and air filters for the adjacent buildings. In some cases, these retrofits could even provide structural stability to aged buildings and prevent the need to tear them down. Architecturally, these modular units stand out and add another layer to the visual hierarchy of the cities around them.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Stanford University Medical Center
Stanford Hospital & Clinics' renewal process was brought about to address state-mandated seismic safety laws, a critical shortage of beds, increasing patient needs, undersized facilities, and the space requirements of new medical technologies and advances in medical care.
Rafael Viñoly Architects are the architects appointed to design the new hospital: a healing environment that will care for the whole person, addressing emotional, social and physical needs following Stanford’s clinical excellence. President and CEO of Stanford Hospital & Clinics Martha Marsh remarked: “Rafael Viñoly has brought creativity and innovation to translating our vision, as well as future flexibility to assure that these exciting facilities will keep pace with rapid advances in medicine and technology.”
The new plans propose a net increase of approximately 441,500 sq ft on the current site. The new facilities will add 104 beds for a total of 361 patient beds on site; new diagnostic and treatment rooms; nursing and support services; clinics and administrative offices.
The new building will benefit from light-filled corridors with views to the foothills and beyond. The design includes a central courtyard and roof gardens that will re-establish the tradition of the Stanford campus by integrating the landscape within the new building, aiming to create an uplifting atmosphere. A sloped courtyard with a prominent water feature organizes public circulation on the lower levels and brings natural light into the centre of each floor. Accessible roof gardens surround a unique public floor that contains family and staff amenities.
During the unveiling ceremony architect Rafael Viñoly said: “We are challenging outdated conventions in hospital design to establish a new architectural identity for Stanford Hospital that will allow it to continue to provide outstanding care for its community as well as innovate and develop treatments that will benefit communities the world over.”
Stanford University Medical Center has submitted a formal application to the City of Palo Alto for the Renewal Project. The City of Palo Alto is conducting the required Environmental Impact Report (EIR) process, which includes multiple opportunities for public comment. Phased construction is scheduled to begin in 2010. The existing hospital will remain operational through construction and the original 1959 and 1973 portions will be demolished after the opening of the new facilities.
Tower Hamlets in East London
The 1,500 meter tall tower would have about 500 floors. You'd find floors or sections for needs such as a university, farmer's market, pubs, a town hall, sky gardens, etc. Anything and everything would be in the building. There's even a fire station on the 419th floor! Which raises the question: what do you do if there is a fire above or below the 419th floor?
If built, Popular Architecture' s concept would be three times larger than anything in London. Construction would occur in 20-floor phases, with the final height of 1,500 meters subject to completion of the entire phased construction program.
Yeang, Nakamura, Lim
The reputation of Veg.itect extraordinaire Ken Yeang is undisputed, but it's always nice for a refresher on how far he has been pushing in designing (and getting built) these bioclimatic treasures. Inhabitat has recent coverage of an old favorite - the EDITT tower in Singapore, which is slated for construction. Can't wait to see this one.
:: image via Inhabitat
Via Inhabitat "The verdant skyscraper was designed to increase its location’s bio-diversity and rehabilitate the local ecosystem in Singapore’s ‘zeroculture’ metropolis.. . Approximately half of the surface area of the EDITT Tower will be wrapped in organic local vegetation, and passive architecture will allow for natural ventilation. Publicly accessible ramps will connect upper floors to the street level lined in shops, restaurants and plant life. The building has also been designed for future adaptability, with many walls and floors that can be moved or removed. In a city known for its downpours, the building will collect rainwater and integrate a grey-water system for both plant irrigation and toilet flushing with an estimated 55% self-sufficiency. "
A very different scale is found via What We Do Is Secret is an verdant apartment complex in downtown Tokyo - with trees and vegetation woven into the fabric of the building by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP... this is sweet - and I particularly this model.
:: images via What We Do Is Secret
Mind the GAP
Or in the words of the Design Trust for Public Space: "Designed in 1867 by Olmsted and Vaux, this magnificent 11-acre plaza is home to the Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Arch, the elegant Bailey Fountain, the Greenmarket, and the entrance to
The results of the competition are in, and the winning entries are featured below, including the dueling French tied entries for first place... 'Please Wake Me Up' by Guillaume Derrien & Gauthier le Romancer from Paris, France and 'Canopy' by Anne-Sophie Coué, Christian Matteau, Stephane Mauget, and Chrystelle Sanaa from Nantes, France, which also picked up the People's Choice vote. The following materials are from the submissions.
T1. Please Wake Me Up"Traffic is "squeezed" to the Plaza's spine, allowing the berm areas to reconnect with surrounding residential neighborhoods. A generous, open, urban square bridges the gap between Park and Plaza, and offers a sense of tranquility and expansiveness. A market hall becomes the greenmarket' s year-round home.":: images via Design Trust for Public Space
T1. Canopy
"Canopy" stands for a strategy of spanning different areas and uses with a connective or sheltering roof. Green 'canopies' or roof-decks bridge over
2. Urban Stripes
Vincent Hertenberger, Andras Jambor (
:: images via Design Trust for Public Space
3. A Center for Brooklyn
James Garrison, Brandt Graves, Simon Kristak, Vanessa Moon, Tim Peterson, Sal Tranchina, Aaron Tweedi, Darshin Van Parijs, Elliott White from Garrison Architects; Michael King from Nelson/Nygaard (Brooklyn, New York, USA) -- "A wide center Plaza is created by pushing all traffic to a broad, tree-lined circular boulevard that replaces the berms. The expanded center becomes a platform for a range of community activities, much like
:: images via Design Trust for Public Space
Also, as an extra bonus, check out the 30 finalist proposals for some additional info as well - on the people's choice voting site (although voting is closed). Contrary to the typical response of competitions, the broad distribution of a number of non-winning schemes allows for some interesting additional viewpoints, not just the winning proposals.
Park Houses
A great example of vegetated form-making via WAN - these 'Park Houses' by Ushida Findlay Architects in the UK offers a number of interesting strategies: "Park Houses' design features an undulating green roof linking five individual homes and shared family leisure facilities, subtly integrating them with the surrounding landscape and ecology. ... Strips of indigenous plants, set within furrows in the roof, will flourish to merge the building with the landscape, and attract local flora and fauna to the site."
Terunobu Fujimori
From Archidose on Japanese architect Terunobu Fujimori. While Archidose rightly points of the standardization of roof greening as 'product' something I've discussed at length - these Fujimori projects: "...whose surfaces hint at the uniqueness of his buildings, what Thomas Daniell describes as "shaggy and bristling, humorous and grotesque, uncanny and vaguely obscene, and at times surreally beautiful." This last can easily be attributed to his handling of vegetation on roof surfaces."