A universal city in the making. The Venus Project. Vidaurbana. 24 Fantastic Future Wonders of Green Design : WebUrbanist. 24 Fantastic Future Wonders of Green Design & Technology Article by Urbanist, filed under Conceptual & Futuristic in the Technology category.
The ‘green movement’ has swept the world and architecture is at the forefront of the new industrial revolution – buildings being by far the biggest energy-sappers in the world. Many contemporary architects are limited by the confines of budgets, time tables and constricting clients. Some industrious innovators, however, are breaking convention and collaborating to launch our imaginations into the future of green design. A surprising number of the following projects are even slated to be built. Some of these structures are already in the works while others may never be fully realized.
How to Build a Natural Swimming Pool. Learn how to build a natural swimming pool in order to create a cooling summer retreat for your homestead. Whether you like to practice your dolphin dives or lounge away the day on a raft, swimming is one of summer's perfect pleasures. With a minimum of materials and without an arsenal of chemicals, you can build an idyllic water oasis right in your own back yard and thwart summertime's sultry dog days. Though fairly common in Europe, natural swimming pools (like the one pictured above in an Austrian family's backyard), are in their infancy in the United States.
Ask most American swimming-pool contractors to build a backyard pool and chances are they'll roll out a long list of goods, including rebar, gunite, fiberglass, chlorine and an energy-sapping filtration system. But in recent years, a few builders and a growing number of homeowners have learned how to build pools without relying on a mass of manufactured materials and chemical additives. Natural Pool Filtration. Sexy and sustainable- swimming pools you can drink from! Environmental Building Technology. PassivHaus UK. How Smart Growth Reduces Emissions. Rob Steuteville has posted a terrific analysis on the New Urban Network rebutting the claim by the National Association of Homebuilders that “the existing body of research demonstrates no clear link between residential land use and greenhouse gas emissions.”
Rob responds with Todd Litman’s excellent research and writing on the subject, along with the Center for Neighborhood Technology’s great mapping of CO2 emissions per household for every metro area in the US. As Rob points out, CNT’s research shows a very consistent geography in just about every region: The farther out one goes from downtowns and strong suburban centers, with their superior central locations and neighborhood characteristics, the greater the miles driven and carbon emitted per household.
I’m headed to a conference later this month in Wilmington, Delaware, so I pulled CNT’s emissions map of the region containing Wilmington. Move your cursor over the images for credit information. Jardines verticales Urbanarbolismo. En Urbanarbolismo le ofrecemos nuestros servicios de diseño e instalación de jardines verticales. Nuestros sistemas pueden instalarse en diferentes climas creando superficies verdes que mejoran la calidad paisajística de nuestras ciudades.
Ofrecemos una amplia gama de sistemas de jardinería vertical que se adaptan a direfentes requerimientos estéticos y funcionales: Jardín vertical del Palacio de Congresos de Vitoria-Gasteiz. Nuestro objetivo es integrar completamente la vegetación en la arquitectura para lograr los máximos benefícios ambientales con el mínimo consumo de agua y energía.
Para ello, junto al diseño de jardines verticales, utilizamos sistemas de captación y almacenamiento de agua de lluvia, cubiertas ajardinadas, depuración y reutilización de aguas grises, especies vegetales que optimizan la captación de contaminantes del aire y sistemas de refrigeración y recirculación de aire. Nuestros sistemas de jardinería vertical: 1. 2. Eco Friendly Sustainable Development/Architecture. Green architecture notes. Pavement in the Park: How Removing Parking Adds Acreage. A seventh excerpt from the recently released book published by Island Press called Urban Green: Innovative Parks for Resurgent Cities.
In this post, we look at some cities who have created parkland by removing excess parking spaces. Do you park in your park? Does it seem to be a parking lot more than a park, a lot? Urban park advocates struggle mightily to create new green space through a precious parcel here and an irreplaceable acre there. But a large swath of existing parkland is given over to the prosaic task of automobile storage, complete with its side impacts–impermeable surface, water runoff and erosion, oil drippings, heat island effect, displacement of trees and meadows, and loss of playing area. A 2007 study by the Center for City Park Excellence of 70 major city parks in the United States revealed that, collectively, they devote a total of 529 acres to the very technology that many people seek to escape when they head into their local patch of nature.
Sustainable Suburbia : A Walkable Suburb - MJP Architects - (Bui. Creating a nationwide network of trails from former rail lines. ResourceFurniture. Higher Density Living.