Natural Ventilation

COBE Wins First Prize for Bike-Friendly Norreport Station in Copenhagen

COBE Architects blasted away its competitors with a sexy and bike-friendly new design in the recent competition to redesign Copenhagen’s Norreport train station. Almost retro in its lines, the architects’ vision of the new station is composed of a series of rounded, floating roofs set upon striking glass pavilions. Since bicycles are a preferred means of transportation in Copenhagen, ample bike parking was a main feature of the new structure, and other green features will include energy-efficient lighting and natural ventilation.

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Rathaus Terraces: Mixed-Use Development for Medieval German City

by Bridgette Meinhold, 10/20/09

Weilburg, a medieval city not too far from Frankfurt, has announced plans to demolish a parking structure on the edge of its dense core and replace it with a mixed-use development with retail, residential and park space. Recently they revealed this beautiful proposal from ACME, which won the all-important public vote and second place from the professional jury. Inspired by the nearby Baroque terraced-landscape design of the Weilburg Castle Gardens, the Rathaus Terraces will feature green roofs, as well as natural ventilation and daylighting.

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Rio’s Paineiras Hotel to Receive Eco Renovation

by Bridgette Meinhold, 10/19/09

With the World Cup scheduled to take place in Brazil in 2014 and the Summer Olympic games following in 2016, officials in Rio thought it was high time to revitalize the abandoned Paineiras hotel and turn it into a model for sustainable tourism. Their recently unveiled plan is a stunning green-roofed eco-hotel that makes the surrounding environment its highest priority.

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Lessons We Can Learn From Old Buildings And Apply to New Ones

by Lloyd Alter, 10/15/09

Buildings consume 76% of electricity generated; they create 48% of our greenhouse gases; a quarter of our waste in landfills comes from construction. Yet we continue to tear down perfectly good ones and replace them with new ones that don’t perform as well and don’t last as long. If we understood what old buildings are saying to us, we would be less eager to rip them down, and perhaps might even emulate them in our new buildings. Read on for examples.

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Mason Lane Farm Showcases Beautiful Bamboo Construction

Farms are close to nature – places to harvest the fruit of the land and care for animals and livestock. As such they should be built and operated with respect for life through sustainable construction and operation. The Mason Lane Farm Operations Facility in North Carolina is just such an example. Designed by De Leon & Primmer Architecture Workshop out of Louisville, KY, the beautiful eco farm facility supports 2,000 acres of agriculture, recreation, wildlife habitat and conservation land as part of the University of North Carolina. Two barns were designed and constructed on a well planned site using sustainable materials like locally-sourced bamboo and prefab panels and trusses.

Beautiful Atherton Residence Sustainably Connects With Nature

It’s always a pleasure to see a stunning home with sustainable features, but isn’t pretentious about it. This beautiful residence in Atherton in the Bay Area is such a house – gorgeous, with an obvious connection to the outdoors and sustainable features that could go undetected by the casual observer’s eye. Featuring many green design elements, this home designed by SF-based Turnbull Griffin Haesloop Architects, includes solar power, environmentally friendly materials and passive heating and cooling.

Dalian Shide: China’s Stunning New Sustainable Stadium

Sports fans, get ready for a spectacular new experience – NBBJ recently revealed their design for China’s new Dalian Shide Stadium and it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before. Built as though the stadium literally opened up from underground, two exterior walls of the structure are covered in grass and plants and the other two are open to connect the games with the city and allow glimpses of the intense action inside. Sustainability is a top priority and the design includes water recycling, daylighting, renewable energy and the beautiful and original living walls on the exterior.

Bubbletecture Stadium Popping Up in Melbourne

A bubbly new soccer and rugby stadium is popping up in Melbourne that will feature a highly engineered exterior structure combined with many sustainable features. Designed by Cox Architects, the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium is a marvel of architecture and engineering with it’s bubble-like facade inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome. Construction is fully underway, allowing a glimpse into how the cantilevered structure is being put together.

Self-Sufficent Floating House Powered by the Sun and Sea

House on the Water by Poland-based Formodesign is a stunning floating home that relies on the surrounding sea and radiating sun to keep it self-sufficient in terms of energy and h2o. Accessible only by boat, the cantilevered home rests offshore from a beautiful beach and is intended to be used as a rental home for those seeking a life offshore.

The Shard: Vertical City Will Tower Over London

Construction has begun on the Shard, a skyscraper that will be the tallest building in Western Europe and will provide amazing views of London. Designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop (who was also responsible for the California Academy of Sciences), the Shard was inspired by towering church spires and the masts of ships that once anchored on the Thames. The new mixed-use development is located in the heart of London Bridge Quarter and will sit adjacent to the London Bridge Station, one of the busiest train stations in London.

Indonesian D-Minution House Built for Under $20K

This simple, yet striking residence in Indonesia was built with a surprisingly small budget – $17,500. Looking at it, one would never guess such a low build-out cost, but there it is. The 3-bedroom D-Minution House is intended to provide affordable housing and was built on a 1,000-square-foot site in Jakarta, Indonesia, by SUB. Studio for visionary design. Constructed with simple materials, such as concrete, steel, wood and glass, the home blends into the surrounding architecture in Jakarta, but is a far cry from the average home.

BMW’s Stunning Energy-Efficient Production Plant

In a perfect world we’d all be getting back to our zero energy, prefabricated homes by foot, bike or public transport, but on a planet where cars won’t be disappearing anytime soon, it’s nice to know that some car companies are trying to reduce their carbon footprint when producing new vehicles. In 2003 BMW set out a design competition for a new building and distribution center located in Munich, Germany. The results were more than grand; not only is the new BMW Welt aesthetically pleasing with its sinuous curves and gleaming façade, but it was also consciously designed to save energy in its production of cars through efficient solar heating and natural ventilation systems.

Green Skyscrapers Unveiled for China’s Raffles City

Dutch architect Ben van Berkel of UNStudio recently unveiled a new set of elegantly twisting sustainable skyscrapers that will grace the skyline of Hangzou, China by 2012. Dubbed Raffles City, the design features two 60-story tall buildings set near the Qiangtan River in the captial city of Zhejiang province. The project will be a mixed-use development with office, retail, residential and hotel space and will be built according to LEED green building standards in hopes of achieving a Gold rating. On top of the green building techniques, the project aims for urban sustainability – it’s designed as a hub of activity, commerce and transportation meant to condense life into a smaller footprint.

Abu Dhabi’s Spiraling Helix Hotel

The Helix Hotel in Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Bay doesn’t have floors like we’re used to – instead it spirals in sections of a corkscrew from top to bottom with no clear breaks, flowing from retail to residential, and hotel suites to saunas. The hollow center keeps foot traffic flowing while infusing interior spaces with coastal air and natural light, while on the outside GROW panels are fast at work harnessing solar and wind energy. Because of its unique design, every room has a slighly different view — perfect for watching over the contruction of Zaha Hadid’s Sheikh Zayed Bridge just next door.

Passive Designed Llorenç House Optimizes the Sun

Located in Mutxamel, Spain, this gorgeous green home designed by Eneseis Arquitectura is half buried into the ground in part to take advantage of passive solar design techniques, but also to provide some privacy from its neighbors. The Llorenç House connects to the public street via a narrow 40 meter long driveway and is surrounded on three sides by other homes, while the fourth side opens up to beautiful mountain views. The Llorenç Home takes advantage of southern orientation, a man-made hill, and rainwater harvesting to create a beautifully sustainable secluded home.

Norman Foster’s Sperone Westwater Gallery Hits the Bowery

The Sperone Westwater art gallery in New York City recently filed plans for an incredible new gallery on the Bowery designed by none other than Inhabitat favorites Foster + Partners. Envisioned as a stacked set of lucid glass rectangles suffused with daylight, Foster + Partners’ design features an innovative layout that allows the interiors to change and morph to accommodate different exhibitions. The 9 story art gallery will also boast a moving exhibition hall that can be raised to any of five levels of public gallery space, and is set to be completed by December 2009.

Green Building in Zimbabwe Modeled After Termite Mounds

Biomimicry’s Cool Alternative: Eastgate Centre in Zimbabwe
The Eastgate Centre in Harare, Zimbabwe, typifies the best of green architecture and ecologically sensitive adaptation. The country’s largest office and shopping complex is an architectural marvel in its use of biomimicry principles. The mid-rise building, designed by architect Mick Pearce in conjunction with engineers at Arup Associates, has no conventional air-conditioning or heating, yet stays regulated year round with dramatically less energy consumption using design methods inspired by indigenous Zimbabwean masonry and the self-cooling mounds of African termites!

MEDLOCK AMES SOLAR-POWERED WINERY

In a sunny valley of Sonoma County two winemakers have forged green building, renewable energy and biodynamic agriculture into a bountiful endeavor. Founded in 1998 by Christopher Medlock James and Ames Morison, the Medlock Ames Winery has come to full fruition beautifully with glowing wine reviews and an operation that is now 100% solar powered. The sustainable philosophy of this forward thinking vineyard is entwined in its structures and practices. The winery building, designed by George Riley of Sebastopol, incorporates passive solar design, natural daylighting and natural ventilation.