February 7, 2009
AGAIN Green DESIGN, STUFFS & Architecture 2
The Landmark Cyber Park: India’s Cutting Edge IT Hub
The construction industry is booming in India, and skyscrapers are lining the country’s skyline. Much of this development does not integrate sustainable features, however many architects and planners have realized the importance of green building practices, and many new buildings and housing projects have adopted green technologies. In line with these developments, India’s new Cyber Park IT hub is vying to be one of the greenest sites in the country.
The Cyber Park is situated in sector 67 of Gurgaon city, India’s new business destination and economic hub. The park will be built on 1.5 million square feet of land and boast 100% wi-fi support, fiber-optic connectivity, and 100% power back-up, all of which are prerequisites of any IT industry. The facade has been designed facing North and North East to help mitigate the heat of the tropical South.
The park will incorporate several green design strategies. The building will be energy efficient, significantly reducing energy costs. The external walls will be clad to reflect the sun and insulate the interior work areas. Natural light will shine into working areas without heating up the structure, which reduces the need for lighting during the daytime. Terrace gardens in the sky courts will help to cool the interior, and will be irrigated by the structure’s water recycling systems. The design also integrates rainwater harvesting and ground water recharge. These eco-friendly features will cut the structure’s energy use by over 35 percent.
Other amenities include a swimming pool on the top of the terrace, business centers, conference rooms, and a recreation center, health club, and library with a helipad on the rooftop.
The park will incorporate several green design strategies. The building will be energy efficient, significantly reducing energy costs. The external walls will be clad to reflect the sun and insulate the interior work areas. Natural light will shine into working areas without heating up the structure, which reduces the need for lighting during the daytime. Terrace gardens in the sky courts will help to cool the interior, and will be irrigated by the structure’s water recycling systems. The design also integrates rainwater harvesting and ground water recharge. These eco-friendly features will cut the structure’s energy use by over 35 percent.
Other amenities include a swimming pool on the top of the terrace, business centers, conference rooms, and a recreation center, health club, and library with a helipad on the rooftop.
+ Christopher Charles Benninger Architects
Via The Hindu
The iconic park has been designed by Christopher Charles Benninger Architects, a reputable design house that aims to “seek the poetry in the place, the lyricism in the built-forms and vibrancy in the inhabitants’ lives.” The project is scheduled to be completed over the next three years.
New Green Complex in China by Steven Holl
Architect Steven Holl always appeals to our sustainable side, capturing our imagination with beautiful designs that incorporate both social and environmental responsibility. His new design for a mixed use development in China is bringing a green sensibility to the skyline of Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan. The ‘Sliced Porosity Block’ will house offices, apartments, retail, a hotel, cafes and restaurants within five towers and a multi-level plaza rivaling Rockefeller Center. This high-performance building will integrate green strategies in heating, cooling, lighting and materials to attain an LEED gold certification.
The design is meant to draw natural daylight into the plaza where three ponds play multiple roles, including skylights to a six-story retail space below. The eccentric shapes of the towers allow vertical space to be filled within this urban setting without blocking daylight from neighboring buildings. Within the voids of the staggered construction, three pavilions will create distinct spaces, each created by a different designer including Steven Holl, Lebbeus Woods and Ai Wei Wei.
The ‘Sliced Porosity Block’ will use a geoexchange system to heat and cool the buildings. Ponds within the plaza will harvest rainwater and provide habitat for natural water vegetation – which will help moderate and cool ambient temperatures. The buildings will use high-performance glazing, energy-efficient equipment and locally sourced materials. Construction is expected to be completed by 2010.
STEVEN HOLLS’S HERNING CENTER OF THE ARTS
A few days ago we got word that the Herning Center of the Arts building, designed by Steven Holl, broke ground in Denmark. As with other projects by Holl, this building is a playful combination of light, shape and meaning that manages to work both as a museum and as an architectural showpiece.
Designed just over two years ago, the Herning Centre of the Arts building brings together three cultural institutions: the Herning Art Museum, the MidWest ensemble and the Socle du Monde. The 5,600 square meter building will house permanent and temporary exhibition galleries, a 150-seat auditorium, music rehearsal rooms, a restaurant, a media library and administrative offices.
Inspiration came from the old fabric building which houses the existing art collection. To emphasize the link with its prior history, a textile mesh was used in the formwork of the concrete, giving it a rough, textile-like texture. Natural daylight is brought in through the curved roofs to the gallery spaces which, as per the curator’s requirements, had to be designed to be completely movable to accommodate future use.
Inspiration came from the old fabric building which houses the existing art collection. To emphasize the link with its prior history, a textile mesh was used in the formwork of the concrete, giving it a rough, textile-like texture. Natural daylight is brought in through the curved roofs to the gallery spaces which, as per the curator’s requirements, had to be designed to be completely movable to accommodate future use.
In keeping with the fabric theme of the museum, the shape of the building was created to resemble a collection of shirtsleeves when viewed from above, while the roof structure is essentially a high-tech stressed skin structure giving the impression of being within a tent.
Furthermore, the building was created on a completely flat site, which provided the opportunity for the building to break up the site, creating the idea of a series of grassy knolls. To do this, the design team incorporated a green roof and reflecting pools on top of the parking structure. Other sustainable features involve gray water recycling and a geothermal HVAC system.
Furthermore, the building was created on a completely flat site, which provided the opportunity for the building to break up the site, creating the idea of a series of grassy knolls. To do this, the design team incorporated a green roof and reflecting pools on top of the parking structure. Other sustainable features involve gray water recycling and a geothermal HVAC system.
+ Steven Holl Architects
+ Herning Center of the Arts
You may think that we have a small obsession with Steven Holl (see here, here, here, here, here and here), but it’s hard to not be excited whenever a new Holl design surfaces. His buildings have always brought us architectural experimentation of science, color, shape and light, and this new building should be no exception.
Steven Holl’s Proposal for the Hudson Yards
We can’t help but love Steven Holl, so when we saw his design proposal for the Hudson Yards in NYC, we once again marveled at how good he is at creating responsible, human, and sustainable design that is just as wonderful and intriguing as the best architecture out there. Granted, this design is a proposal, but alas, we can still marvel at the beauty of great design.
The site is located right at the Eastern and Western Rail Yards and, essentially, is the last undeveloped site in midtown Manhattan. As part of an attempt to revitalize the area, Mayor Bloomberg and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority opened the site to proposals for the air space on top of the rail yards themselves. Therefore, Extell Development Company selected Steven Holl Architects to put forward a proposal that would give them the rights to the site.
The site poses serious challenges, chief amongst them is the fact that the rail yards, where the trains are stored at the end of their daily service, must be kept operational during and after the construction of the site. Holl’s proposal calls for using the areas that aren’t covered by the rail lines themselves. It’s these filled sites where the development of the residential, retail, commercial, and educational components will be located.
What’s surprising about this proposal is the idea of covering the entirety of the rail yards with a suspended roof garden, which will be landscaped in a manner similar to that of New York’s Central Park. This park will not only serve as much needed green space within the development and the city, but will also contain a water strip that will collect and purify the rainwater from the site. The location and orientation of this park will ensure that it will have generous light and wonderful views of the city’s skyline. It will also contain an outdoor amphitheater and a performance hall for public events.
Building-wise, the project calls for a mixture of residential, retail, and commercial spaces, as well as a performance arts school. Of note are the six residential towers to the south side of the Western Yards. These oddly shaped towers aren’t designed just on the whims of the architect. Rather, they are designed according to a rigorous sun angle study, with the intent of bringing and lighting different areas of the park throughout the day and the years. The entire proposal will also make use of geothermal exchange, gray and storm-water recycling, a cogeneration plant, and high performance buildings. But it’s the park that’s expected to bring the most benefits to the development, creating a microclimate on the site and reducing the energy demands of the railways below.
The site is located right at the Eastern and Western Rail Yards and, essentially, is the last undeveloped site in midtown Manhattan. As part of an attempt to revitalize the area, Mayor Bloomberg and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority opened the site to proposals for the air space on top of the rail yards themselves. Therefore, Extell Development Company selected Steven Holl Architects to put forward a proposal that would give them the rights to the site.
The site poses serious challenges, chief amongst them is the fact that the rail yards, where the trains are stored at the end of their daily service, must be kept operational during and after the construction of the site. Holl’s proposal calls for using the areas that aren’t covered by the rail lines themselves. It’s these filled sites where the development of the residential, retail, commercial, and educational components will be located.
What’s surprising about this proposal is the idea of covering the entirety of the rail yards with a suspended roof garden, which will be landscaped in a manner similar to that of New York’s Central Park. This park will not only serve as much needed green space within the development and the city, but will also contain a water strip that will collect and purify the rainwater from the site. The location and orientation of this park will ensure that it will have generous light and wonderful views of the city’s skyline. It will also contain an outdoor amphitheater and a performance hall for public events.
Building-wise, the project calls for a mixture of residential, retail, and commercial spaces, as well as a performance arts school. Of note are the six residential towers to the south side of the Western Yards. These oddly shaped towers aren’t designed just on the whims of the architect. Rather, they are designed according to a rigorous sun angle study, with the intent of bringing and lighting different areas of the park throughout the day and the years. The entire proposal will also make use of geothermal exchange, gray and storm-water recycling, a cogeneration plant, and high performance buildings. But it’s the park that’s expected to bring the most benefits to the development, creating a microclimate on the site and reducing the energy demands of the railways below.
+ Steven Holl’s proposal for the Hudson Yards
This proposal was created to achieve the goals set out in the PlanNYC project in New York City. Other proposals have been submitted for the site, and you can see them if you are in Manhattan at the northwest corner of 43rd Street and Vanderbilt Avenue.
Spiraling Calatrava Chicago Tower to be World’s 2nd tallest
Chicago Spire skyscraper, Santiago Calatrava, Santiago Calatrava architect, Santiago Calatrava Chicago, sustainable building Chicago, green building Chicago, LEED Gold Chicago, LEED certified buildings Chicago, rainwater recycling in skyscrapers, high performance glass facades, geothermal cooling in skyscrapers, world
Spiraling Calatrava Chicago Tower to be World’s 2nd tallest
Chicago’s city skyline is about to be graced by a stunning new super-structure that will rise above its shore like a helical seashell. Designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the 2000 foot Chicago Spire will be the world’s second tallest building upon its completion in 2011. The halcyon monolith is beautiful example of biomimicry, taking cues from the spiraling structure of the nautilus. It’s an iconic spire with a timeless form that will take strong future-forward steps with a projected LEED gold rating.
The Chicage Spire has been called the world’s most significant residential building, featuring 150 floors and 1,194 residences. The slender structure rotates each floor an average of 2.44 degrees to total 360 degrees from top to bottom, guaranteeing that no two views are the same. Calatrava explains: “what distinguishes this building from any other tall building . . . is that this building is not done for a corporation, or a group of corporations, it is done for individual human beings”
The sparkling super-structure incorporates a variety of sustainable elements, including a fluid facade shrouded in high performance glass that has been designed to protect migratory birds. All landscaping is maintained via a rainwater recycling system, and a geothermal system draws river water to cool the building. The entire interior is outfitted with an Intelligent Building & Energy Management System, and it bests energy efficiency standards by 15 percent.
The sparkling super-structure incorporates a variety of sustainable elements, including a fluid facade shrouded in high performance glass that has been designed to protect migratory birds. All landscaping is maintained via a rainwater recycling system, and a geothermal system draws river water to cool the building. The entire interior is outfitted with an Intelligent Building & Energy Management System, and it bests energy efficiency standards by 15 percent.
+ The Chicago Spire
+ Santiago Calatrava
Via Associated Construction Publications
Lately we’ve seen Chicago bolstering its eminent architectural heritage with scores of stunning projects and sustainable initiatives; this latest project is sure to be a sustainable gem that will channel and exemplify the ardency of these efforts.
As fears of global warming induced population displacement are steadily realized, the allure of waterborne aquatecture becomes more and more enticing. Designed by Alexander Asadov, this incredible floating Aerohotel features a lighter-than-air aesthetic that sits serenely atop an elegant system of supports. Conceived as an elevated aquatic structure replete with hanging gardens, the space-age floating island preserves the entire extent of the ecosystem beneath it, contrasting with man-made islands that disrupt their immediate environment with tons of gravel fill.
Asadov’s Aerohotel consists of a 200 meter wide circular hub lofted by an interlacing network of supports anchored by three arms that stretch to the bottom of its site. The structure’s body will contain cafés, restaurants, and winter gardens in addition to a hotel. The Aerohotel can be installed in any body of water, and the plans include docking arrangements for boats as well as a landing strip for a zeppelin - how slick is that?
+ A.Asadov Architectural Studio
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