The
name itself says it: NASA wants this building to be the greenest in
history, a piece of architecture that not only refuses to hurt the
environment, but actually benefits it.
NASA's Sustainability Base
The
$20-million project, located at the Silcon Valley's Ames Research
Center at Moffett Federal Airfield will generate most of its needed
power through the use of solar panels. For approximately 325 days out of
the year, the building -- which was built using mostly recycled
materials -- will need no artificial lighting. Most interestingly, the
building will be able to adapt to changes in sunlight, temperature and
usage over time and automatically optimize its performance.
The
city of Portland has an ambitious goal: to be the home of the world's
greenest office building. The $62 million project aims to be the first
mixed-use office building in the U.S. to meet the Living Building
Challenge standards, which includes net-zero levels of electricity and
water usage.
To
do that, the building will be blanketed with photovoltaic cells for
collecting energy. It'll have an underground tank that collects water
and a geothermal well system that heats the building during winter and
cools it during summer. Finally, the building will be toxin-free, built
with locally sourced materials.
This
pyramid-like structure, due to be finalized in 2015, will be a unique
sight in Manhattan. Designed to marry a perimeter block and a
skyscraper, at 467 feet it won't tower above the New York City skyline,
but it will be one of the greenest buildings around, anticipated for
LEED Gold certification.
Bjarke
Ingels Group strives to make this building a pleasant and desirable to
live, so it gave every residential unit in the building a balcony (or a
bay window) opened to natural light. Furthermore, the building's
courtyard will provide the inhabitants with a large green area, an
uncommon feature among New York skyscrapers.
In
August 2011, Steve Jobs proposed to the Cupertino City Council a new
campus building for Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, which attracted a
great deal of attention since it just might become one of the most
technologically advanced office buildings in the world.
Among
other bold plans, the building's power will be self-sufficient. The
huge building ring (larger than the Pentagon) will be 1,615 feet in
diameter, with a huge amount of greenery in its middle. Apple plans to
plant 2,300 trees, with greenery covering approximately 80% of the
150-acre site.
The
winner of eVolo's 2011 Skyscraper Competition, LO2P is a
groundbreaking concept: a skyscraper which cleanses a city -- in this
case, New Delhi.
Acting
as a giant lung for one of the world's most polluted cities, the
enormous turbine-like structure would be built out of recycled cars, and
purify the air using large-scale greenhouses as filters. In addition,
LO2P would use rotating filters to capture suspended particles from the
air, then recycle waste heat and CO2 to grow plants.
Sustainable design. Experts have been telling us for decades that we should be building with these two words in mind, but which projects are really pushing the envelope, and which are merely adhering to the current standards?
We’ve done some digging and found wonderful architectural designs that are either planned or in development. The projects are not only beautiful — they’re also easy on the environment.
Be it by reducing the carbon footprint, saving water, or harnessing renewable energy sources such as sun and wind, these projects stand out as examples of the direction we should take if we want to make the world a more pleasant and healthy place to coexist.
Source: JiroTech
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