Cool innovations in sustainable design
According to the Whole Building Design Guide, building construction and operations can have extensive direct and indirect impacts on the environment, society, and economy, commonly referred to as the 3 P’s: People, Planet, and Pocketbook. Keeping sustainable design objectives within sight can help to reduce or avoid the depletion of critical resources like energy, water, and raw materials, avoid environmental degradation, and encourage the creation of safe, liveable spaces.
Keeping sustainable design objectives within sight can help to reduce or avoid the depletion of critical resources like energy, water, and raw materials, avoid environmental degradation, and encourage the creation of safe, liveable spaces.
In honor of Earth Day, we want to showcase a few phenomenal sustainable design projects that will dramatically change our future, in quite stunning ways.
L’Oasis d’Aboukir, Hymne à la Biodiversité
L’Oasis d’Aboukir, Hymne à la Biodiversité
L’Oasis d’Aboukir, Hymne à la Biodiversité
L’Oasis d’Aboukir, Hymne à la Biodiversité
L’Oasis d’Aboukir, Hymne à la Biodiversité
L’Oasis d’Aboukir, Hymne à la Biodiversité
Wonderwall
This living wall oasis in the Parisian streets of the second arrondissement is called the Oasis of Aboukir, a.k.a. L’Oasis D’Aboukir. The botanist-inventor of living walls, Patrick Blanc, coated this blank building canvas with 237 different species of plants that grow skyward on the 5 story structure. A whopping 7600 plants now thrive.
After 30 years of creating green walls for over 3 decades, Blanc shared, “I am very happy to contribute to the welfare and environmental consciousness of the inhabitants of a historic district in the heart of Paris.”
Sponge Suit
Can a leisurely swim become an ocean clean up? A bikini has been designed from a sponge-like material to repel water while absorbing oils and filtering impurities from water. Eray Carbajo, a New York architecture and design studio, is responsible for developing the material for Reshape15, a wearable technology competition. The eco-friendly activity inducing swimwear took home the gold for its remarkable pollution-absorbing qualities.
“In the near future it is not hard to imagine facilities, much like dry cleaning locations, that collect the Sponge Suit’s inner sponge fillers to recycle to separate any contaminants,” said the team.
Vertical Farms
2015’s INDEX: Award-winning Sky Urban Vertical Farming System is altering how metropolitan communities source fresh fruits and veggies. These towering hydraulic-powered greenhouses rotate 38 living shelves to make the most out of sunlight and water during the course of the day.
Locally grown produce is in heavy demand, so addressing the issue of supply is crucial for urban centers like Singapore, where nearly five million people live in less than 280 square miles. Founder Jack Ng says his low-carbon solution can cut the amount of land, water, and energy necessary for fresh vegetables. It also outputs at least ten times more produce per land area unit than traditional farms.
Ng’s towers use a mere 0.5 liters of water per day, but water is also recaptured to be reused throughout the system. The cost? Roughly twenty cents more per kilogram than the popular Asian vegetables in Singaporean supermarkets.
