Green

Stunning Green Roofed High School by Off Architecture

by Bridgette Meinhold, 09/23/09

High school students in Revin, France will soon be attending classes in a stunning new terraced building covered in green roofs. Seen from above the new Lycee Jean Moulin school will simply appear as a terraced landscape, practically disappearing into the hillside. Designed by Paris-based, Off Architecture in association with Duncan Lewis Scape Architecture and Jeans Giacinto, this green roofed marvel is curvaceous and organic, blending into the countryside. We’re admittedly a bit jealous – our high schools weren’t nearly as cool.

This sustainable school will be built to utilize the constraints of the slope, receding and elevating up the hillside. Each terraced level is one single floor and has high windows to capture a lot of natural daylight. Rather than remain flat, the roof undulates in gentle waves across the level for a more natural look and is covered with vegetation to blend in with the surrounding landscape.

Set to be completed in 2012, these students will be attending class in a beautiful and natural looking environment. Their one complaint might be that it looks like they’ll be getting plenty of exercise, hiking up the interior hill of their school every day to get to class.

+ Off Architecture

Via designboom

Urban

Eco Towers / Greeen! Architects

08

Oct 2009

By Karen Cilento — Filed under: Awarded Competitions , News , Office Buildings , Sustainability , Eco Towers,Germany, Greeen! Architects, Hamburg

Greeen! Architects have been awarded an honorable mention for their Eco Towers, an office building in Hamburg, Germany for the Building and Environment Authorities. The office will accommodate 1400 people and will include several public areas as well as green gardens to “give room to nature and a create a green ambiance to all workers and visitors.”
More about the Eco Towers after the break.

As a highway and a frequently traveled road run along the southern edge of the project, the building’s façade prevents the impact of noise and heat against the east and south directions, while the panels also provide natural ventilation, views and sun protection. On the other side of the site, the façade is very transparent and open to provide “a nice, quiet and light urban space for the public.”

While the upper levels of the building are reserved for office uses, the lower floors, especially the exhibition spaces and the restaurant, allow the neighborhood to have access to the building. “The accessibility to the building for the public and the creation of informal and communicative meeting points are the leitmotiv of this design,” explained the architects.

Through extreme low primary energy needs (72% below EnEV 2007) the building obtains an excellent carbon footprint of only 18,9 kg CO2/m²a meaning a savings of more than 1.700 tons of CO2 per year. The building aims to receive the Gold certificate from the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) which analyses the project through three key sustainability aspects: Life-cycle cost analysis, ecology and social-cultural analysis and thermal, acoustical and visual comfort analysis.

ARUP Germany, Düsseldorf / Berlin – Civil engineering, facade and M&E
equadrat, Düsseldorf – energy concept
greeen! architects, Düsseldorf – landscape design
Spitthoever, Essen – fire prevention
TAW, Hamburg – building maintenance and accessability
dgk Architekten und Ingenieure, Berlin – Cost estimation
AlexanderSchmitz, Düsseldorf – Visualizations / alexanderschmitz.net
Dörre Modellbau, Düsseldorf – Modelbuilding
Client: Sprinkenhof AG with IBA and City of Hamburg, Germany
Location: Hamburg/Wilhelmsburg, Germany
District: Hamburg
Use: Offices, Restaurant, Exhibition, Library
Site Area: 22.450 sqm
Bldg. Area: 47.500 sqm
Gross Floor Area: 66.700 sqm (incl. Parking – 14.000 sqm)
Bldg. Coverage Ratio: 8.990 sqm (40%)
Gross Floor Ratio: 84 %
Bldg. Scale: 12 Stories above Ground
1 Stories below Ground
Structure: Concrete (columns and slabs for offices)
Max. Height: 53,60 m

Stadium

Populous Wins Incheon Stadium Design for 2014 Asian Games

by Mike Chino, 10/09/09

It’s an exciting time for sports fans everywhere as cities around the world unveil the incredible stadiums that will host the events of tomorrow, and the designers and architects of Populous have them in spades. The latest competition-winning proposal from the HOK offshoot was recently selected as the primary stadium for the 17th Asian games in Incheon, South Korea. The adaptable stadium creates an abundance of green space within the city that will serve as a public park when not in use.

Designed by Populous (formerly HOK Sport Venue Event) and Heerim Architects and Planners, Incheon’s new stadium is designed to hold 70,000 people for the Asian games in 2014, after which it will downsize and transform into a 30,000 seat stadium and public park.
The elegantly sloping structure is meant to reflect the traditional Buddhist ritual Seung Moo dances. According to architect Daekwon Park, “In architecture, as in dance, dynamic movement creates form, but can also be recognized by the space voids created around its form. The yin and yang of complementary opposites within a greater whole are represented inside the form of the master plan of the stadium, and the left over space around that form, becomes the main access to the building.”
The stadium has been described as promoting “a new era of designing sustainable venues for major events”, however the project’s sustainable features have yet to be disclosed. Ensuring environmental responsibility in a structure designed to draw thousands of spectators is a challenging goal, and we’re interested to see how populous plans on pulling off the feat.
For now Populous has said “The key to its success will be linking it into the surrounding parklands, to make it an open, accessible building for its people. It will be smaller, easier to operate and more usable by the community, securing its long term sustainability and providing a true legacy for the people of Incheon.”
+ Populous
+ Heerim Architects and Planners
Via Bustler

Urban design

SOM Wins Competition to Create Beijing’s Sustainable City Center

by Bridgette Meinhold, 10/26/09

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) was recently awarded the contract to create a stunning new Central Business District in Beijing. The project will integrate into the existing downtown urban district and will improve transportation infrastructure while introducing energy-efficient buildings green public space. The plan also provides a framework for new sustainable growth that would result in eliminating 215,000 tons of CO2 per year, which is the equivalent of planting 14 million adult trees.

SOM is well known for its architecture and urban design projects, and is also responsible for San Francisco’sTreasure Island Redevelopment Plan as well as the plan for Jumiera Gardens in Dubai. Their plan for Beijing’s new CBD calls for the creation of three new areas – the Cultural, Chaoyang, and the Gateway Districts, which will be anchored around new parks and green boulevards. The CBD will comprise a network of smaller, more walkable city blocks to encourage pedestrian travel and time spent in the expansive downtown parks system. Additionally, all of the streets will be built to accommodate safe bicycle travel.
A new streetcar system has been proposed to link all of the new areas with existing districts and popular destinations, providing commuters with easy access to high speed rail service. Updated transportation infrastructure will also include express commuter rail service between the Beijing Capital International Airport, the CBD, and high speed rail service to Beijing South Station.

SOM’s redevelopment plan also defines strategies for growth and expansion. They have created a framework for new infrastructure and high performance buildings that will enable the city to grow in a more sustainable manner. If implemented, the plan could reduce energy consumption within the district by 50%, reduce water consumption by 48%, reduce landfill waste by 80%, and result in a 50% reduction in carbon emissions.
SOM’s exciting new plan combines many of the necessary elements of a sustainable city – transportation, open space, pedestrian and bike friendly streets, and energy-efficient buildings. The Beijing CBD Administration Committee has stated that the plan would “enable China’s capital city to grow as a global center for commerce, yet be a green and ecological setting for healthy life.”
+ SOM