:: image via People and Place
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Green House
A lovely photo via People and Place showing a home fully enveloped in vegetation, yet tamed as a topiary shrubbery... A few quick links led to a priceless comment - this scene being representative of the stories of my favorite author Haruki Murakami. I think is totally appropriate for a quirky scene from 'The Wind Up Bird Chronicle' for sure.
:: image via People and Place
:: image via People and Place
Paul Kephart - Living Architecture
Making Roofs Come to Life- Living Architecture: "Paul Kephart, Executive Director of Rana Creek- Habitat Restoration and Living Architecture, speaks about his mission to restore biodiversity and preserve healthy ecosystems in the city and built environment. Kephart is an expert in the fields of green roofs, living walls, and watershed management systems."Direct download: Paul_KPCast.mp3
City Forest Typologies
A cross-over post from Landscape+Urbanism investigates a proposal via Urban Omnibus for city reforestation using the Clip-on strategies on the faces of buildings in tandem with more traditional terrestrial opportunities. In this post, we delve into the typologies, which seem a good extension of some of the 'Roots of Vegitecture' addressed previously here.
:: image via Urban Omnibus
The group used a hypothetical six-story building, a common typology for the city, as a 'base' to apply a range of strategies for implementation. This "...hypothetical six story apartment building has a footprint of approximately 2,100 square feet. The vertical surface area available on the facade for the deployment of green technologies using wind and solar power, or green screens for vertical gardening, or water walls for cooling, is approximately 12,000 sf if the building is freestanding, and around 3,600 sf if it is in an infill condition. Add on the roof area, much of which remains unused, and you get 14,100 sf for the freestanding and 5,700 sf for the infill building. Multiply that by the sheer number of buildings occupying any densely populated urban condition and the number becomes more significant still. (Buildings are only one field of action among many: New York State also has 113,000 miles of highway, another overlooked infrastructure to which clip-ons may be added.)
A simple transformation of tar roof to white has gained much popularity recently in terms of reduction of urban heat islands. As mentioned, this gains are immense for sure, including: "...a study showing that the average American 1,000-square-foot white roof could offset 10 metric tons of carbon dioxide."
:: image via Urban Omnibus
The greening opportunities most commonly integrated include the typical green roof and the greenscreen, using vertical panels to hold plants or allow them to climb the walls. Most studies include roof area, but the post mentions the potential from the other faces of buildings: "The surface area of buildings multiplies the ground footprint of the city many times over, making vertical gardening and the integration of growing walls into our buildings an interesting practical solution."
:: image via Urban Omnibus
More intensive rooftop greening can provide additional opportunities by incorporating trees and shrubs, which also offer more habitat value (and allow people to interact with these spaces). Additionally, integrated wind-screens or energy producing structures called wind-belts, which are: "About the size of a cell phone, the final Windbelt prototype employs a taut membrane that, when air passes over it, vibrates between metal coils to generate electricity.”
:: images via Urban Omnibus
Another set of typologies is captured as 'blue roofs' and include variations of water flooded or sprayed atop the roof, mostly to provide evaporative cooling to reduce heat islands: "Roof ponds can be used for cooling in areas that are warm and not very humid. This technology has a lot of potential, but has been underused to date because of a fear of leakage on the part of architects and clients, however, if properly detailed it is a promising strategy and can help to reduce the heat island effect in cities."
:: images via Urban Omnibus
A final variant is the implementation of waterwalls along the outside for generating hydroelectric energy, which doubles as evaporative strategies and aesthetic features. Rooftop solar panels that are applied directly the the membrane are gaining in popularity as well for energy generation (although I'm a proponent of raised solar cells at optimum angle with green roof planted around for maximum benefit).
:: image via Urban Omnibus
Together these bring an interesting addition to the overall typologies of rooftop and building integrated solutions for urban areas. They can be applied in different configurations and sets to maximize the overall opportunities that exist with a particular building, and as shown in the graphic at the top, can be implemented in block and district scales to maximize overall benefits through grouping strategies.
:: image via Urban Omnibus
The group used a hypothetical six-story building, a common typology for the city, as a 'base' to apply a range of strategies for implementation. This "...hypothetical six story apartment building has a footprint of approximately 2,100 square feet. The vertical surface area available on the facade for the deployment of green technologies using wind and solar power, or green screens for vertical gardening, or water walls for cooling, is approximately 12,000 sf if the building is freestanding, and around 3,600 sf if it is in an infill condition. Add on the roof area, much of which remains unused, and you get 14,100 sf for the freestanding and 5,700 sf for the infill building. Multiply that by the sheer number of buildings occupying any densely populated urban condition and the number becomes more significant still. (Buildings are only one field of action among many: New York State also has 113,000 miles of highway, another overlooked infrastructure to which clip-ons may be added.)
A simple transformation of tar roof to white has gained much popularity recently in terms of reduction of urban heat islands. As mentioned, this gains are immense for sure, including: "...a study showing that the average American 1,000-square-foot white roof could offset 10 metric tons of carbon dioxide."
:: image via Urban Omnibus
The greening opportunities most commonly integrated include the typical green roof and the greenscreen, using vertical panels to hold plants or allow them to climb the walls. Most studies include roof area, but the post mentions the potential from the other faces of buildings: "The surface area of buildings multiplies the ground footprint of the city many times over, making vertical gardening and the integration of growing walls into our buildings an interesting practical solution."
:: image via Urban Omnibus
More intensive rooftop greening can provide additional opportunities by incorporating trees and shrubs, which also offer more habitat value (and allow people to interact with these spaces). Additionally, integrated wind-screens or energy producing structures called wind-belts, which are: "About the size of a cell phone, the final Windbelt prototype employs a taut membrane that, when air passes over it, vibrates between metal coils to generate electricity.”
:: images via Urban Omnibus
Another set of typologies is captured as 'blue roofs' and include variations of water flooded or sprayed atop the roof, mostly to provide evaporative cooling to reduce heat islands: "Roof ponds can be used for cooling in areas that are warm and not very humid. This technology has a lot of potential, but has been underused to date because of a fear of leakage on the part of architects and clients, however, if properly detailed it is a promising strategy and can help to reduce the heat island effect in cities."
:: images via Urban Omnibus
A final variant is the implementation of waterwalls along the outside for generating hydroelectric energy, which doubles as evaporative strategies and aesthetic features. Rooftop solar panels that are applied directly the the membrane are gaining in popularity as well for energy generation (although I'm a proponent of raised solar cells at optimum angle with green roof planted around for maximum benefit).
:: image via Urban Omnibus
Together these bring an interesting addition to the overall typologies of rooftop and building integrated solutions for urban areas. They can be applied in different configurations and sets to maximize the overall opportunities that exist with a particular building, and as shown in the graphic at the top, can be implemented in block and district scales to maximize overall benefits through grouping strategies.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Green Puzzle Solar Roofing
Via the Design Blog a form of astro-turf with solar-generating potential: "Green Puzzle” from Kalomix is a roof green with a difference that gives a whole new meaning to rooftop plantation. For it not only keeps the surrounding green but also generates green energy for your home. Integrating flexible solar panels, the new grass pad accumulates sunlight to turn it into sustainable energy. While the natural grass, grown on the green puzzle pad, converts the carbon dioxide into oxygen through photosynthesis and provides fresh and clean air."
:: images via Design Blog
:: images via Design Blog
Morristown Building Bio-Wall
Via Inspiration Wall, some pics and info on a recent interior green wall that works using bioclimatic principles: "The Morristown Building in New Jersey, headquarters for the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation has installed a 3-story vegetated wall, or “bio-wall” as they are calling it. With 38 ft in height and 14 ft wide, the system was built to assist with internal air filtration in addition to it’s luscious looks."
:: image via Inspiration Wall
More on the bioclimatic function: "The wall doesn’t just rely on the tropical plants and hydroponics system to passively pull toxins out of the air. The vegetated system has been constructed in conjunction with the HVAC system that sits behind the wall such that the air can be pulled directly through the wall media, allowing the roots to actively filter the VOC’s and carbon dioxide. Since the system takes advantage of recycled air, there is no need to re-cool or re-heat the air as it passes through the system. The air is returned to rooms through the raised floor duct system."
:: image via Inspiration Wall
Check out a video of the wall as well on the site:
:: image via Inspiration Wall
More on the bioclimatic function: "The wall doesn’t just rely on the tropical plants and hydroponics system to passively pull toxins out of the air. The vegetated system has been constructed in conjunction with the HVAC system that sits behind the wall such that the air can be pulled directly through the wall media, allowing the roots to actively filter the VOC’s and carbon dioxide. Since the system takes advantage of recycled air, there is no need to re-cool or re-heat the air as it passes through the system. The air is returned to rooms through the raised floor duct system."
:: image via Inspiration Wall
Check out a video of the wall as well on the site:
Shifting Sands
Via Arch Daily, a new project from Work AC, who brought us the fabulous PS1 installation 'Public Farm' two years back, take on a more functional building at the Brooklyn Navy Yard: "The stripped facade is comprised of low-cost standing seam metal panels in a variety of colors. The color palette is taken from the varied hues of the surrounding buildings as a way to tie this contemporary structure with the existing context. The form, a long rectangle with the top level shifted off center, allows space for a shared green terrace on the back side of the building while the protruding side makes the protected entry condition."
:: images via Arch Daily
:: images via Arch Daily
High Line Chicago? Redux
Another proposal for elevated greenery to complement the proposal for the Bloomingdale Trail is via The Infrastructurist: "The Loop, Chicago’s downtown elevated train system, is an icon, albeit a rough-and-tumble one. Garafolo Architects proposes new station stops (below) with public activity spaces and “continuous rooftop ecology,” making it one of several ideas in the BBV exhibit with emphasis on urban farming. Another, Hana Ishikawa’s “Urban Agriculture,” sets as its goal the production of “80% of fresh produce raised within city boundaries in 100 years.”"
:: image via The Infrastructurist
:: image via The Infrastructurist
Spa Blumeau
Spotted on Gardenvisit (along with a good post on LU), a project by Vegitectural pioneer Hundertwasser for the Spa Blumeau, where the buildings tucked under a layer of intensive greenery: "...increases the urban area while allowing a vegetated landscape to develop."
:: image via Gardenvisit
:: image via Gardenvisit
Friday, January 29, 2010
High Line San Francisco?
Another version, this time for San Francisco, involves the renovation of the Bay Bridge which, via Inhabitat, is "...currently undergoing a massive renovation as an aging section of the East Bay span is replaced with a new one, and the old conduit has fired up architects’ imaginations for new ways to use the soon-to-be abandoned space. Inspired by the success of New York’s recently opened High Line Park, Rael San Fratello Architects haver proposed a hanging neighborhood and sky park complete with 1.92 miles of bicycle paths, climbing walls, gardens, and meadows."
:: images via Inhabitat
In addition to the staging of the bridge deck for recreation and other uses, my favorite aspect of this proposal is the somewhat Gibsonian habitation of the underside of the bridge with an organic grouping of hanging pods clinging above the river... it's like I'm back in college reading Virtual Light once again... wondering if a girl like Chevette Washington was out there somewhere....
:: image via Inhabitat
:: images via Inhabitat
In addition to the staging of the bridge deck for recreation and other uses, my favorite aspect of this proposal is the somewhat Gibsonian habitation of the underside of the bridge with an organic grouping of hanging pods clinging above the river... it's like I'm back in college reading Virtual Light once again... wondering if a girl like Chevette Washington was out there somewhere....
:: image via Inhabitat
High Line Chicago?
Via Inhabitat, a proposal for the Bloomingdale Rail Line, an elevated section that is slated to become a linear urban park, ala the High Line.
:: image via Inhabitat
A brief description of the project shows the site to be a "...3 mile section of elevated train track running east and west into the heart of downtown. Overseen by Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail, one of the design proposals out suggests turning the line into a 3 mile greenhouse and hydrogen generation facility, providing organic and local food for the community and creating a fuel source for Chicago schools."
:: image via Inhabitat
:: image via Inhabitat
A brief description of the project shows the site to be a "...3 mile section of elevated train track running east and west into the heart of downtown. Overseen by Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail, one of the design proposals out suggests turning the line into a 3 mile greenhouse and hydrogen generation facility, providing organic and local food for the community and creating a fuel source for Chicago schools."
:: image via Inhabitat
La Granja Escalators
The lovely vegetated folds covering these semi-exposed escalators & stairs in Toledo, Spain. (via VULGARE). What could be a jagged scar across the hillside is mitigated through insertion of roof planes that blend the vegetation atop the protective layer, while still allowing access to sunlight and air.
:: images via VULGARE
:: images via VULGARE
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Ecoroof Penny Jam
Rarely do we have the opportunity to climb atop one of the many ecoroofs that dot the local central city... but a few of these are publically accessible, making them the perfect scenic setting for performance with a twist. The folks at The Penny Jam took advantage of one of those local gems, the ecoroof atop the Metro Headquarters, for the latest installment of their roving music video series, featuring local band Reporter.
:: images via Mattb on Picassa
A little about The Penny Jam: "The Penny Jam is a video series that documents local bands playing in nooks and crannies around the beautiful city of Portland Oregon. Every episode is a new and adorable baby of the Portland music scene." In this case it's also a baby of the ecoroof scene - along with one of the few good views of the downtown skyline on the east side of the river."
:: image via Mattb on Picassa
Check out the link to the Penny Jam site for the the full video here. Thanks Matt B. for the pics and link - and making this thing happen.
:: image via Mattb on Picassa
:: images via Mattb on Picassa
A little about The Penny Jam: "The Penny Jam is a video series that documents local bands playing in nooks and crannies around the beautiful city of Portland Oregon. Every episode is a new and adorable baby of the Portland music scene." In this case it's also a baby of the ecoroof scene - along with one of the few good views of the downtown skyline on the east side of the river."
:: image via Mattb on Picassa
Check out the link to the Penny Jam site for the the full video here. Thanks Matt B. for the pics and link - and making this thing happen.
:: image via Mattb on Picassa
Monday, January 11, 2010
How Steep?
Not specifically relating to building-vegetation interface, but related indeed. An interesting visual study in angles of repose for 'Vegetation Design on Soil Slope', it looks like from a graphic on Toyo Greenland systems, via People and Place:
Edith Green... Wall?
An antidote for really, really awful government architecture when faced with a rehab... in this case Portland's Edith Green–Wendell Wyatt Federal Building green renovation by SERA Architects and Howard S. Wright. The real key will be pulling this one off.
:: image via Design Observer
Thanks @sbaumberger on Twitter for this link.
:: image via Design Observer
Thanks @sbaumberger on Twitter for this link.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
More Tacoma Green Wall
I documented this project earlier this year on a visit up north... some press today via the Seattle Times: "VERTICAL GARDENS are literally climbing in popularity, and Tacoma is out front with a green wall designed by the man who invented them. French botanist and artist Patrick Blanc's 800-square-foot vertical garden for the Goodwill-Milgard Work Opportunity Center was unveiled in September."
:: image by CLIFF DESPEAUX - via Seattle Times
"The Goodwill's planted wall is as unusual and flamboyant as its designer. Thousands of multihued foliage plants run in diagonal ribbons across its 20-by-40-foot surface. Ferns and shrubs, heucheras and hellebores billow out from the wall. Liriope and Japanese forest grass sprout as if by magic. Out of the 96 different kinds of plants, a few, like the epimedium, are struggling. But most appear to be thriving, including plants like yews, andromeda and iris so unlikely to be growing high up in the sky you can't quite believe your eyes."
Read more...
:: image by CLIFF DESPEAUX - via Seattle Times
"The Goodwill's planted wall is as unusual and flamboyant as its designer. Thousands of multihued foliage plants run in diagonal ribbons across its 20-by-40-foot surface. Ferns and shrubs, heucheras and hellebores billow out from the wall. Liriope and Japanese forest grass sprout as if by magic. Out of the 96 different kinds of plants, a few, like the epimedium, are struggling. But most appear to be thriving, including plants like yews, andromeda and iris so unlikely to be growing high up in the sky you can't quite believe your eyes."
Read more...
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Vegitecture dot Net
I managed to snag this url last summer, and finally made it around to getting the blog moved over to the new location (one of my resolutions for 2010). From now on, the site will host from www.vegitecture.net which i will be populating with some additional information in web-format related to the wonder that is the vegetated architecture phenomenon. Update links accordingly - although the site should be redirected to the new location as well.
I will also outline a new approach in the next week or so for this blog and the upcoming content in response to a number of new green roof, living wall, vertical farming, and other related blogs and sites that have appeared in the past 6 months.
:: Marina South Gardens - image via Inhabitat
I will also outline a new approach in the next week or so for this blog and the upcoming content in response to a number of new green roof, living wall, vertical farming, and other related blogs and sites that have appeared in the past 6 months.
:: Marina South Gardens - image via Inhabitat
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