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A COTE Top Ten Green Project outperforms expectations and earns more recognition. Like its surrounding SoMa (South of Market) neighborhood in San Francisco, 355 11th Street is an eye-catching hybrid of old and new. And in the three years since this formerly derelict but National Register–listed plumbing warehouse was renovated into a LEED-NC Gold–certified mixed-use office building and LEED-CI Platinum–certified restaurant, it has become a community magnet. These attributes, among many others, garnered the project an AIA COTE Top Ten Green Project designation in 2010 and, this year, the inaugural 2013 AIA COTE Plus award.
Via Lauren Moss
Resilience is the word of the decade, as sustainability was in previous decades. No doubt, our view of the kind and quality of cities we as societies want to build will continue to evolve and inspire a new descriptive goal. Surely we have not lost our desire for sustainable cities, with footprints we can globally and locally afford, even though our focus has rightly been on resilience, after what seems like a relentless drum beat of natural disasters around the world. It speaks to the question: what is the city we want to create in the future? What is the city in which we want to live? Certainly that city is sustainable, since we want our cities to balance consumption and inputs to make a footprint that can last into the future. Certainly it is resilient, so our cities are still in existence after the next 100-year storm, now apparently due every few years. And yet: as we build this vision we know that cities must also be livable. Indeed, we must view livability as the third indispensible—and arguably most important—leg supporting the cities of our dreams: resilient + sustainable + livable.
Via Lauren Moss
One person's junk becomes another's treasure at Sarasota Architectural Salvage, where doors, windows, floors and pretty much anything from the built environment can be recycled or upcycled.
The theme of World Water Day 2013 is the International Year of Water Cooperation. Instrumentation and Big Data analytics are truly the foundation for cooperation about water management.
The world's first algae-powered building is being piloted in Hamburg. Designed by multinational firm Arup, features panel glass bioreactors on a facade containing microalgae that generate biomass and heat, serving as a renewable energy source. The systems provide insulation for the building- 129 bioreactors have been fitted to the southwest and southeast faces of the building. They are controlled by an energy management center in which solar thermal heat and algae are harvested and stored to be used to create hot water. Jan Wurm, Arup’s Europe Research Leader, said: 'Using bio-chemical processes in the facade of a building to create shade and energy is a really innovative concept. 'It might well become a sustainable solution for energy production in urban areas, so it is great to see it being tested in a real-life scenario.' The news comes after Arup announced their vision for the future of skyscrapers which suggested that buildings would be 'living' buildings powered by algae that respond automatically to the weather and the changing needs of inhabitants...
Via Lauren Moss
In Bolzano, Italy, almost a quarter of the population is over the age of 65. In fact, Italy, along with Japan, has one of the oldest populations in the world...
Sustainability in architecture reveals itself in many forms, some more subtle or hidden than others. It’s much more complicated an issue than just green lawning your building, but sometimes that’s just what you need to get your message across. The House in Travessa do Patrocínio by RA\\ does just that. The narrow townhouse is situated in the center of Lisbon, in a neighborhood with little access to green spaces. To compensate for this, the architects draped the house with lush green facades that cover 100 square-meters of wall space. The facades are integral components to the architecture, and are planted with approximately 4,500 plants sourced from 25 different local varieties, all of which require little maintenance. The result is a vertical garden that functions as an urban “lung” within the pavement-heavy area, helping to rid the residential street of excess noise, carbon, and other pollutants floating about. Though small and humble in proportion, the architects hope that the house is an “example of sustainability for the city of Lisbon,” a new urban model applicable at all scales of building.
Via Lauren Moss, Susan Davis Cushing
Locally owned shops were once cornerstones for products, services, employment and social networks in urban neighborhoods. The rise of automobiles, franchises and Internet shopping has forced many out of business or into niches that don't correspond with the needs of their local communities. However, in some cities they're seeing a resurgence due to creative initiatives that link grassroots activism with public- and private-sector resources. In February, a special kind of shop opened in Amsterdam's Van der Pek neighborhood. It is called the Wisselwinkel, meaning "shift shop," because it hosts a new local entrepreneur every six months. If this trial period goes well, the entrepreneur receives assistance in setting up a more permanent location in the neighborhood. Designed and constructed by MOS Collectief, the Wisselwinkel interior is flexible so that different startups can use it according to their needs. Along with the storefront, entrepreneurs receive practical guidance in connecting with support organizations, fulfilling legal requirements and attracting customers...
Via Lauren Moss
Daily Mail
JANET STREET-PORTER: If women designed cities they would be stylish and ...
It wasn't too long ago that the term 'Smart City' was not on very many people's radar screens, but today smart cities are popping up all over the place and (10 Most Impressive Smart Cities On Earth http://t.co/N2XEQBSQ...
Natural Resources Defense Council (blog) Why smarter land use can help cities attract and retain young adults Natural Resources Defense Council (blog) Here's the nutshell: 20th-century land use won't help your city attract and retain 21st-century...
Fast Company
Karen Randal Refashions Philadelphia's Urban Factories
Fast Company
Recently the factory hosted an artist-in-residence as part of Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program, for which Randal served as an adviser.
Inner City Farms is a small business that uses organic practices to grow vegetables in residential spaces in Vancouver. They revive neglected garden space and convert lawns into beautiful and productive urban farms, ...
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San Francisco Chronicle Painters brush new life into Philadelphia 'ghost signs' Pittsburgh Post Gazette Matt Rourke/Associated PressA cyclist passes as Nathaniel Lee, with the Mural Arts Program, restores the advertisement at Hermann Henssler...
Cities as organsims, not machines, is a more useful view and leads to living traditions which empower the townspeople to take ownership of the town again
A new breed of high-rise architecture is in the process of being born, thanks to the collaborative efforts of modern design pioneers. Envisioned as the best sustainable option for meeting world housing demands and decreasing global carbon emissions, wooden mega-structures are now one step closer to becoming a reality. “Big Wood,” a conceptual project to the eVolo 2013 Skyscraper Competition, builds on the premise that wood, when harvested responsibly, is one of the best tools architects and engineers have for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and creating healthy communities. Aspiring to become one of the greenest skyscrapers in the world, Big Wood challenges the way we build our cities and promotes timber as a reliable platform to support tomorrow’s office and residential towers...
Via Lauren Moss
Voice of America Rooftop Bee Hives Create Buzz Above French Parliament Voice of America The project is part of a new trend across Europe to put bee colonies on city rooftops, taking advantage of the fact that bees adapt well to urban living and can...
A new wave of social networks are helping police and residents fight crime more collaboratively. (RT @owashb: Specialized social networks engender govt-citizen collaboration & smarter cities, e.g.
Conceived in response to a densely populated Chinese city's unchecked growth, Asian Cairns is an ambitious take on vertical farming. A Belgian architect recently unveiled the 79-acre masterplan for Asian Cairns, a dizzying new vision of urban vertical farming in China. Consisting of a sextet of “sustainable monoliths for rural urbanity” — stacked, pebble-esque, steel-ringed transparent pods that are powered by both vertical wind turbines and photovoltaics — Vincent Callebaut Architects’ Asian Cairns is planned for the rapidly swelling, skyscraper-heavy port city of Shenzhen in the southern province of Guangdong north of Hong Kong.Beyond agricultural concerns, Asian Cairns is envisioned as a mixed-use development that also incorporates residential, retail, and recreational areas. Imagined as being completely emissions-free and producing more energy than they consume, the Cairns were conceived in direct response to Shenzhen’s unchecked urban development and the population growth and increased pollution levels that have accompanied it...
Via Lauren Moss
Linking you to the freshest innovative and eco-friendly designs, trends, and ideas for the stylish urban garden.
Via ManureTea Since 1924
Using bicycle-friendly cities like Copenhagen as inspiration, a growing number of cities around the world are changing their urban design to become biking cities. Each year, Copenhagen eliminates 90,000 tons of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere from the sheer number of cyclists versus cars. Designing cities with bicycles in mind reduces emissions, commute times, urban sprawl and illness. More cities are looking to bike-friendly sustainable development as they aspire to become green. Urban planners and architects are increasingly faced with the challenge of compacting development and designing a sustainable transport pattern...
Via Lauren Moss
Explore a New York exhibition of small-space design proposals that rethink current ideas about housing
Why graffiti should be regarded as art - and what that means for today's culture. (RT @fbrancoli: chiesa pop.
“@emaleigh: Abandoned DC church gets drenched in color.
Some cities are adding high-tech infrastructure. Some are implementing revolutionary sustainability plans. Others are fostering innovative business and science developments. But which city combines these qualities and others to be the smartest city?
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The photo is Amsterdam...the story is the same....