Showing posts with label green. Show all posts

2012-05-21

Bosco Verticale a Vertical Forest Tower in Milan

DesignRulz | The World’s First Vertical Forest Tower Is Now Under Construction!

This vertical forest will span across two towers that have fabulous balconies designed to house these trees.

If we are talking about optimizing space, this vertical forest will consist of 900 trees, 5,000 bushes and 11,000 plants. This forest, designed by architect Stefano Boeri, will produces oxygen and cuts down on all the noise pollution in Milan. If this same number of trees, bushes and plants were planted horizontally around these houses on the ground, it would require 50,000 square meters of land and 10,000 square meters of woodland.

Source: DesignRulz | The World’s First Vertical Forest Tower Is Now Under Construction!

BOSCO VERTICALE « stefano boeri

The Bosco Verticale is a system that optimizes, recuperates and produces energy. The Bosco Verticale aids in the creation of a microclimate and in filtering the dust particles contained in the urban environment. The diversity of the plants and their characteristics produce humidity, absorb CO2 and dust particles, producing oxygen and protect from radiation and acoustic pollution, improving the quality of living spaces and saving energy. Plant irrigation will be produced to great extent through the filtering and reuse of the grey waters produced by the building. Additionally Aeolian and photovoltaic energy systems will contribute, together with the aforementioned microclimate to increase the degree of energetic self sufficiency of the two towers. The management and maintenance of the Bosco Verticale’s vegetation will be centralised and entrusted to an agency with an office counter open to the public.

Project information
location: Milano, Italy
commission:
year: 2007 (on going)
client: Hines Italia
built area: 40.000 sqm
budget: 65.000.000,00€

Architectural Design:
BOERISTUDIO (Stefano Boeri, Gianandrea Barreca, Giovanni La Varra)

Source: BOSCO VERTICALE « stefano boeri

Bosco Verticale in Milan Will Be the World's First Vertical Forest | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

Each apartment in the building will have a balcony planted with trees that are able to respond to the city’s weather — shade will be provided within the summer, while also filtering city pollution; and in the winter the bare trees will allow sunlight to permeate through the spaces. Plant irrigation will be supported through the filtering and reuse of the greywater produced by the building. Additionally, Aeolian and photovoltaic energy systems will further promote the tower’s self-sufficiency.

Source: Bosco Verticale in Milan Will Be the World's First Vertical Forest | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

Related

2009-10-02

Oogst by Tjep -- Farm of the Future

Clipped from: Farm of the Future - Design.nl

Farm of the Future

Tjep. designs three new self-sustaining farm (yes farm) concepts for a self-initiated project called Oogst meaning Harvest in Dutch.

How can we, as designers, contribute to the fundamental developments that are taking place in Dutch agricultural research? Is self-sufficiency the path towards a more ecological sustainable society? And if so, on what scale is it workable?

These are some of the issues that Tjep. is trying to address in their new project Oogst, meaning Harvest in Dutch. Oogst comprises three new proposal for farms that combine the latest technology with regards to self-sustaining living and agricultural systems, and design. Each closed-system supplies its own energy and water supply and recycles waste and carbon, with food grown in a greenhouse and in the surrounds where possible.

Clipped from: About Oogst

Introduction
In October 2008, Tjep. initiated an investigation into new developments in the agricultural sector. What we came across were radical ideas with regards to self-sufficiency, capable of getting us quite a bit closer to the concept of a sustainable society.

[...]
The first concept is a farm for one person:
Oogst 1 Solo
The second is a farm for one hundred people:
Oogst 100 Community
The third farm for a thousand people:
Oogst 1000 Wonderland

Clipped from: Oogst 1

Oogst 1 Solo is a house for one person that provides its resident with food, energy, heat and oxygen. In principle, one could live in Oogst 1 Solo without ever having to leave the house.

Oogst 1 Solo has a cross-shaped floor plan. The heart is the living area, with the kitchen, bathroom, storage room, living-room and at the top, the bedroom. The biggest part is reserved for the greenhouse and one section is reserved for all the recycling process such as seen in the Greenhouse Village.

Clipped from: Oogst 100

Oogst Community 100 is a self-sufficient farm for 100 people. The residents are all farmers. In the central greenhouse, all necessary crops are grown, the surrounding fields are for livestock.

The central windmill provides all the necessary energy, there is a water-well under the windmill. But clean water is mainly collected condensed water from the greenhouse.

Clipped from: Oogst 1000

Oogst 1000 Wonderland is a self-sufficient farm, restaurant, hotel and amusement park for 1,000 people per day. All food for the restaurant comes from the central structure and directly adjacent fields. Oogst 1000 combines extreme fun with extreme usefulness. One can see this amusement park as a huge people processor. Hotel guests are also the farmers, when you work, you can stay for free.

Sources:

Related:

2009-05-21

Harvesting the Wind

clipped from www.inhabitat.com

Wind Turbine Towers Win Metropolis Next Generation Prize!

Metropolis Magazine officially announced the winner of their 2009 Next Generation prize! Titled Wind-it, the brilliant project aims to give our existing energy grid a much needed boost by installing wind turbines in ailing electrical transmission towers.

clipped from www.metropolismag.com

From the window of a TGV hurtling through France, the countryside flattens to a smudge—electrical towers rise and recede in clusters, and tall, lanky wind turbines seem to whip off pirouettes like a young Moira Shearer. Most passengers turn their heads, nodding off on a neighbor or burying their noses in Le Monde, but for a triumvirate of young designers, the sight is a view of the future. The passing turbines and pylons augur a new way to harness renewable energy in a country that relies almost entirely on nuclear power. “When we’re riding on the train, we al-ways see pylons, and some turbines too,” Nicola Delon says. “We say, ‘Both are here. Can’t we mix them together?’”

clipped from www.metropolismag.com

Sources:

Paper House

Clipped from: The Wall paper house offers cheap dry home for poor and displaced - Times Online

The Wall paper house offers cheap dry home for poor and displaced

Clipped from: Paper Houses: New Design Could Revolutionize World Slums - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

New Design Could Revolutionize World Slums

A new invention could soon change the face of shantytowns across the globe. Called "Universal World House," the structures are light, cheap -- and made of paper.

Clipped from: Swiss Company Offers Paper Homes - Science - redOrbit

Swiss Company Offers Paper Homes

A Swiss company known as The Wall AG, has created a $5,000, 390 square foot modular home.

This house is marketed towards third-world towns, for long-term refugees. The Universal World House can be transported and used almost anywhere. It is light, easily assembled, environmentally friendly, earthquake-proof and extremely cheap.

The Universal World House is crafted out of a resin-soaked cellulose, made from recycled paper, shaped into honeycomb walls, which provide structural integrity and insulation for the home. It also comes outfitted for plumbing and boarding facilities of up to 8 residents.

The home's inventor, Gerd Niemoeller, says that the paper house weighs just 1,763lb, which is lighter than a VW Golf. “Without the foundation block, the whole house actually weighs in at about 400kg,” says the design engineer. However, despite it being light, the house will not simply blow away.

Clipped from: anArchitecture: Honeycomb Paper House.

Honeycomb Paper House.

SwissCell walls are based on hexagonal structures similar to honeycombs: the technique results in lightweight but strong boards, typical used in the vehicle and aircraft industry. Usually honeycomb boards are made of aluminum – an expensive and energy intensive material. SwissCell, by contrast, is a cellulose product, impregnated by synthetic resin.

Clipped from: SwissCell - The Wall AG

2008-07-03

A Greener Apple

clipped from www.tuaw.com

iPhone 3G to be shipped in eco-friendly packaging: spuds

clipped from www.theregister.co.uk

Apple's new iPhone 3G will be shipped on July 11 in a potato starch paper tray. Apple placed an order with Dutch company PaperFoam, which also makes packages for Motorola.

clipped from www.paperfoam.com

PaperFoam Carbon Friendly Packaging

For an introduction to our technological innovations throughout the years, please watch this video.

clipped from www.apple.com

Weight Recycled as % of Past Sales

By 2010, Apple may be recycling significantly more than either Dell or HP as a percentage of past sales weight.

All the e-waste we collect in North America is processed in the U.S., and nothing is shipped overseas for disposal.

Apple products are designed using high quality materials that are in high demand from recyclers.

Steve Jobs

2008-06-12

Power Flower -- A Green Computer

The Power Flower. one of the finalists at Dell's Design ReGeneration competition, issuing the challenge of environmentally responsible computing technology, is a highly conceptual device running on hydrogen fuel cell technology.

clipped from www.ecofriend.org

clipped from www.regeneration.org

The Power Flower is highly conceptual computing device. Initially conceived as a specialized videoconferencing device, it evolved into being a complete computer.

The mental model of “the computer” was stripped to the bare minimum elements: input, processing, output, and a way to power it. It was made to be more natural, to appeal to the customer’s sensitivities towards environmental issues and also how the customer relates to technology semantically.

clipped from www.regeneration.org

Instead of using a keyboard and mouse, the person interacts gesturally on the desk surface as a camera captures the movements. A face camera, which also houses a microphone and speaker, is directed at the person’s face.

clipped from www.regeneration.org

Power

The device runs on hydrogen fuel cell technology. Hydrogen mixes with oxygen to produce electricity. The only byproduct of this process is water. The cells can be recharged with more hydrogen, which will become more feasible as more manufacturers bring hydrogen fuel cell cars to market,

clipped from www.regeneration.org