Bold Innovation in Building

I’m always happy when someone puts the money behind projects that make sense.

So when I saw this article in INHABITAT, I was pretty psyched.

Just like the first person to write a check for a Bauhaus building cemented modernism, the person who green-lighted The Strata in London could one day be known as the person who made self-reliant buildings a reality.

The Strata - London

Whoa, that is NOT a glass box.  How could someone have finally paid for one of these to be built?  Oh yeah, it’s in London.  (side note, here’s what we’re building for our new embassy there.  Shameful, I know)

But beyond it’s looks, there’s a great practical side, too.  The building comes with three wind turbines build in. Here’s how INHABITAT described it:

Nicknamed “The Razor”, the 148 meter-tall Strata tower is topped with a trio of turbines that will produce enough power to meet 8% of its energy needs.

We’ve seen skyscrapers studded with wind turbines before, but the Strata is the first building to integrate turbines directly into its facade.

Measuring in at 42 stories tall, the Strata tower has enough height to eclipse the buildings surrounding it, allowing it to take full advantage of the area’s 35mph wind speeds. The tower is also designed to utilize the Venturi effect created by nearby structures to force wind through the turbines at accelerated rates, generating an expected 50MWh of electricity annually.

According to The Guardian, each of the building’s 19KW turbines will have 5 blades rather than 3, which will reduce noise during operation. The skyscraper will also boast other green building strategies such as the exclusive use of natural ventilation, high-performance glazing, and other energy efficiency measures that will keep the building’s power use 6% below current building requirements.

The Strata tower cost £113 million and is set to complete construction this April. The skyscraper’s revolutionary design makes bold steps towards meeting the UK’s requirement that all new buildings be zero-carbon by the year 2019

So while it’s not carbon-neutral, this building is great looking and will require 14% less power than normal.  Considering the size of the building, that is a huge benefit to us all.  Good job.

Supermodel + Green Message: No way I could resist

spreading this message

I would rock this t-shirt

Thoughtful Action is needed NOW: Chicago Carbon-Reduction FTW

While I have less than heartfelt concern for Chicago as a metropolis in general, I definitely applaud Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill for coming up with this remarkable (and hopefully very marketable) plan to reduce the carbon-usage of Chicago in a rather short time-frame.

Let me be clear.  I really dig buildings.  So much that I’ve often thought I should pursue a career as an architect, though I doubt I could toil away in a craft where I win awards and no products are ever made for decades at a time.

That said, it should be apparent to anyone who can tilt their head vertically and left-to-right at the same time, that every major city has buildings that poorly planned, under-used and over-powered.  Spaciousness is great, opulence for the sake of grandeur is fantastic.  Better, however, is useful design and the promotion of livable space over sell-able space.

There’s a few things I believe here:
– Walkable neighborhoods can also be veritical
– Street-level retail and dining does not detract from the cubicle farms on the 12th floor
– Parking lots are some of the worst things ever invented.  Especially in Phoenix.  Basement garage FTW
– Why not take every opportunity to incorporate nature into our urban areas?  Does anyone WANT to live/work in a place that’s gray and not blue or green or earthy?

So when I see a plan like this, one that calls for a Stop Order on new buildings until the current ones can be used adequately, I have to applaud.  In America, we have such little History, there’s no reason we cannot conserve what’s here and still create a “city on a hill”.

Hey, if they could pull this off, I’d have to change my whole opinion of Chicago.

From Inhabitat:

The breadth of the initial phase of the Chicago Central Area DeCarbonization Plan proposes eight key strategies to meet the city’s carbon reduction goals. The first, “Buildings,” discourages new construction, and focuses on retrofitting existing structures to increase their energy efficiency, raising the value of aging building stock and tapping into the potential to transfer excess energy loads back to the grid. “Urban Matrix,” promotes residential use of the Loop area by convert outdated office buildings into homes, schools and other services. Their “Smart Infrastructure” strategy explores energy generation, storage and distribution. “Mobility” assesses public transit and connectivity. “Water,” examines resource conservation, “Energy” highlights new and existing sources of power, and “Waste,” looks at the city’s system for processing, reducing, recycling, and disposing of garbage. Lastly, “Community Engagement” outlines ideas for involving the city’s inhabitants in the greening process.

Here's an idea

We all have our reasons to care

Clearly, by “martini” I mean “Manhattan”, but you get the idea.
Now go do something about it.

I might ride this to the market….

Whoa, take a look at that bad-boy in action.

According to TreeHugger, the Nijland (crazy Swedes and their product names) can carry up to 1,100 pounds of cargo, and it as easy to ride as a bike. 

I could see myself riding up to the Safeway or AJ’s, and hitching this monster to a post to get my weekly shopping done.  Even better, maybe I could hook a sail to it….

Why we should be concerned about Global Climate

The Summer Olympics did a good job trying to hide how polluted cities in China are.  Many of us probably wanted to ignore it and think “yeah, well that’s China, that’s not here”.

Well, take a look at what’s really happening.

Yup, those of us living in Phoenix, LA, San Diego, etc, have been breathing in that lovely, unfiltered pollution as it blows around the world.

Thanks China, and thanks Bush & Obama for not pushing for tougher global standards.  My lungs love you guys!

Shelf/Book Tree?

This is actually kinda impressive to me.  I’d use this idea if someone could come up with a way to include ornaments and/or lights without seeming cheesy.

I would totally own one of these, today.