We’ve seen vertical gardens on the side of buildings before — but never one this, um, HUGE.
Architects and federal officials are planning a series of 250-foot-tall trellises designed to shade the west side of the remodeled Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building. The added greenery is just part of a $135 million project that will also feature elevators that generate electricity on the way down, solar arrays on the roof, smart lighting systems that adjust to the daylight available, among other advances. From the article,
Eggleston’s firm, SERA Architects, is working on some questions that weekend gardeners never have to figure out: what plants will grow readily at more than 200 feet in the air and how to water, fertilize, weed and prune at that height. The pruning might be done in much the same way windows are washed, he said, with workers hoisted and lowered on platforms. Rainwater collected on the roof, supplemented by city water, will be piped for irrigating the green wall, he said.
Construction is expected to take 30 to 40 months.
This will truly be a stunning addition to the Portland cityscape if constructed as planned — and we’re thrilled to see other buildings adopt vertical gardens, as well as sustainable features. Check out the full article for more!
Photo credit: Scott Baumberge
A lot of people are comparing this beautiful treehouse in Portland, Oregon to a hobbit dwelling. Personally, add a little black paint and it looks like something Darth Vader would retreat to when things get a little to hectic on the Death Star. It also looks like it would double as a swanky TIE fighter. From the architect,
Located on a flag lot, a steep sloping grade provided the opportunity to bring the main level of the house into the tree canopy to evoke the feeling of being in a tree house. A lover of music, the client wanted a house that not only became part of the natural landscape but also addressed the flow of music. This house evades the mechanics of the camera; it is difficult to capture the way the interior space flows seamlessly through to the exterior. One must actually stroll through the house to grasp its complexities and its connection to the exterior. One example is a natural wood ceiling, floating on curved laminated wood beams, passing through a generous glass wall which wraps around the main living room.
Check out some more pics here.
Wilkinson House via Boing Boing
To make the production of its hybrid Prius that much greener, Toyota has engineered two new plant species that absorb harmful gases and help take heat out of the atmosphere. It’s a move straight out of science fiction, but it’s not the first time the automaker has played God to help lower its carbon footprint. The grass around its Tsutsumi plant in Toyota City, Japan was developed to grow shorter — requiring cutting only once per year, compared with three times for the previous species. From Drive.com.au,
The flowers, derivatives of the cherry sage plant and the gardenia, were specially developed for the grounds of Toyota’s Prius plant in Toyota City, Japan. The sage derivative’s leaves have unique characteristics that absorb harmful gases, while the gardenia’s leaves create water vapour in the air, reducing the surface temperature of the factory surrounds and, therefore, reducing the energy needed for cooling, in turn producing less carbon dioxide (CO2).
Other green initiatives at the plant include roof-mounted solar panels, photocatalytic paint on exterior walls, reflective solar tubes that provide interior light, bathroom lights that automatically turn off, and reduced air conditioning.
Image credit: Drive.com.au
When you were a kid, did you ever dream up the goal of one day building the largest treehouse ever? For Horrace Burgess in Tennessee, that dream became a reality with this gargantuan structure that features 11 floors and more than 8,000 sq.ft. of real estate. From ZuZuTop,
The greatness of Horrace Burgess treehouse is not subject to the tree on which it is based alone though. As it turns out, while the tree in question does contribute something to the height of the treehouse, the owner’s efforts also go a long way towards this greatness possible. The tree’s contribution to the 97 foot edifice is only 80 feet, so that the other 17 feet on top of the basic 80 foot are from Horrace’s sheer effort. To be sure, we can’t begrudge the base tree of a claim to greatness too: a tree towering at 80 feet in height and with a diameter of over 12 feet is a real wonder.
Incredibly enough, Burgess isn’t done yet. This whole project, which he estimates to have cost north of $12,000, is still a work in progress. Tower of Babylon anyone?
More pics available here.
ZuZuTop via Gizmodo
We’ve seen ambitious treehouse projects before — but this is the first one that was the result of a clever marketing campaign. The idea behind this gorgeous design was to find and contact all those involved in the project using only the New Zealand Yellow Pages. The process was then blogged about and updated for all the world to see — resulting in a gorgeous restaurant high above the forest floor. From concept to reality took only 66-days. It opened earlier this year to a flood of bookings — and now the owners are considering renting it out for private events and functions. From the architect,
The concept is driven by the ‘enchanted’ site which is raised above an open meadow and meandering stream on the edge of the woods. The tree-house concept is reminiscent of childhood dreams and playtime, fairy stories of enchantment and imagination . It’s inspired through many forms found in nature -the chrysalis/cocoon protecting the emerging butterfly/moth, perhaps an onion/garlic clove form hung out to dry. It is also seen as a lantern, a beacon at night that simply glows yet during the day it might be a semi camouflaged growth, or a tree fort that provides an outlook and that offers refuge.The plan form also has loose similarities to a sea shell with the open ends spiraling to the center.
To learn more about the treehouse restaurant, jump here.
Looking like something out of a science-fiction movie, the concept for a proposed algae farm and vertical garden on the outside of an old Boston historical building is drawing some big attention.
The pods, which are prefabricated and designed to be interlocking, contain algae-incubators on the inside and plants on the outside. The architects for the project would use the old Filene’s Basement site in Boston’s Downtown Crossing as a temporary home for research and biofuel production. The city planners, meanwhile, would have plenty of time to work through the red tape of zoning, financial, and legal webs for any permanent ideas. From the article,
The pods, which are used as incubators for growing algae for biofuel, can be configured in several ways depending on the needs of a given site. Individual pods can also be rented out by researchers for algae-based projects, according to Howeler Yoon. The spaces that form between the attached pods allow for planting and creating a vertical garden.
What do you think? Would you want something like this in your city? I think it’s a pretty wild project that might give us a glimpse of permanent vertical gardens in buildings years from now. For others, however, such a radical shift in architecture might be less than pleasing. Still, better to take advantage of something just sitting there, right?
Continuing on our post from yesterday about the living root bridges of India, we present to you this beautiful creation now celebrating 10 years.
Started in 1999 by architect Marcel Kalberer and a group of 300 volunteers, the Auerworld Willow Palace is a canopy of strategically-placed trees woven together. The project was based on ancient techniques used in both Mesopotamian and European structures. The Willow Palace has proven so popular, that it is now the focal point of “Full Moon” celebrations that draw thousands.
Since Kalberer began creating natural structures back in 1984, he’s helped design more than 70 additional projects throughout Europe — and inspired thousands more willow designs around the world. For more photos, jump here.
In what’s a beautiful example of using nature without destroying it, a region in India (one of the wettest in the world) has over hundreds of years “grown” bridges. Using the secondary roots of a rubber tree called Ficus elastica, villagers have trained them into crossing rivers and creating a “living” bridge. A blogger explains the process saying,
In order to make a rubber tree’s roots grow in the right direction — say, over a river — the Khasis use betel nut trunks, sliced down the middle and hollowed out, to create root-guidance systems. The thin, tender roots of the rubber tree, prevented from fanning out by the betel nut trunks, grow straight out. When they reach the other side of the river, they’re allowed to take root in the soil. Given enough time, a sturdy, living bridge is produced.
As expected, the bridges take some 10-15 years to become usable. As a testament to their strength over time, however, some in the region are over 500 years old and capable of supporting 50 or more people at once.
For more images, jump here.
When you hear the words “rain collector”, the first thing that probably comes to mind are of barrels next to gutters. A company called Second Rain, however, thought that there might be a more aesthetic way to capture water — and as they say on their site “No offense to rain barrels, but they’re not easy to sit on.”
Hence, their multi-use rainwater collection system was born. Each “box of rain” holds about 40 gallons of water and is made from durable, 98% recycled premium grade HDPE plastic (2% is UV & color additive). They are also modular (so you can easily connect another unit) and include liner, fittings, adapters, valve, and tubing needed to connect to a garden hose.
Obviously, the greatest benefit to using a second rain system is that you can easily hide it within a patio. The demonstration design on their homepage shows that such a setup can store 495 gallons of water.
The major downside is that each of these boxes costs $299 — which for a 40 gallon capacity is quite expensive. You’re obviously paying more for the modular and aesthetic options this system gives you. But for those that want a certain look, perhaps Second Rain might be just the product they’re looking for.
Check out more details and pictures over on their website here.
We’ve all seen the terrible destruction caused by tornadoes — the homes, communities, and lives uprooted. In May of 2007, those images were played out on television screens worldwide when an estimate F5 tornado ripped through the town of Greensburg, Kansas leveling 95% of it. In the wake of this act of nature, the community resolved to rebuild green and become the first city in the nation to have all city buildings conform to LEED-Platinum specifications.
Of course, part of their “going green” also included ways to avoid future cataclysmic damage from tornadoes. Yesterday, a company called Armour Homes demonstrated how their Silo-Eco designs can withstand winds in excess of 200mph — the average force of an F5 tornado. To do this, they took a 1980 Honda Civic, strung it up 60ft above one of their new buildings in Greensburg, and dropped it. The 160 thousand pounds of impact force didn’t even put a dent in the building. From their website,
A round house has 15% less outside wall exposed to the elements than a box house per square foot. Wind passes around instead of building up pressure as on a straight wall, allowing for much higher wind ratings. The most important component is the roof. Traditional builders have improved construction methods of exterior walls, but still frame the roofs with lumber, which leads to the most common point of failure in fires and high winds. With our round design, we can achieve a concrete arched roof with no interior supports that completes a truly hardened, low maintenance exterior shell that any turtle would be proud of.
Sounds like a great building choice for anyone cosidering settling down in “Tornado Alley”. You can see more pictures and floor plans of their homes here.
via KSN.com
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