The Architecture of the City

On a hot day, instead of cranking up the air conditioning, this house transforms: A screen and shell move out to wrap around the entire home, shading everything so it cools down.

"It provides this flexible control over heat gain from sunlight," says architect Todd Fix, who compares the screen and shell to extra layers of clothes you can put on or take off. "So if it's a cold day, the sensor will sense that, and it will close both to keep the heat inside. If you want more light in the space, you can open up the screen or open up the shell."

It's a way to create a passive, zero-energy home without the typical passive house design. "The living area is all glass, from the walls and ceiling to the floors," Fix says. "This opens up a house. Instead of having really thick, insulated walls that are opaque, so you can't see out or see in, it kind of opens you up to the environment."

How can one transform a collection of concrete tubes into a site for experiencing contemporary culture?

That was the question posed by British architect and artist Thomas Heatherwick of Heatherwick Studio, whose imaginative designs can be found everywhere from Manchester to Shanghai. Heatherwick is used to creating striking sculptures on a grand scale, but his latest proposal is larger than any before—he plans to carve an art museum from the depths of an old silo in South Africa’s capital city, Cape Town. The building is a monumental sculpture in itself, and Heatherwick’s challenge was twofold: protect and celebrate the heritage of the city’s industrial past while simultaneously creating something wholly new within the inherited structure.

The history of architecture is deeply engrained in technological developments of the time. Skyscrapers would have never reached such heights without developments in steel, for example, and facades would have never slimmed down without thin-shell concrete.

In a time that is so buzzing with technological development, we cannot help but salivate a little at the material prospects for architecture that are just on the horizon. With 2014 just beginning, we want to take a moment to see what drastic innovations may be leaking into the world of architecture in the near future.

Although China has the largest agricultural output in the world, supporting more than 20% of the world’s population, only 15% of its land can be cultivated, of which only 1.2% permanently supports crops. The total land area used for farming is also set to fall as more and more land is used for development, though Spanish architectural firm Javier Ponce Architects has come up with an innovative solution. 

Its design concept, titled ‘Dynamic Vertical Networks’, consists of 615-foot tall structures to be used as farms located in close proximity to urban areas like Hong Kong, in order to keep food distribution costs low. The structures will be made of lightweight, recycled metallic materials, in a shifting floorplate design inspired by “traditional shifting terrace concepts in Chinese rice farming”. Crops would be grown hydroponically, to create a soil-free environment. The plants will benefit from high levels of natural sunlight from the unobstructed, open design. 

Gardens by the Bay is the newest addition to Singapore's green space innovations, making this architecturally brilliant metropolis truly a “City in a Garden.”

Still a work in progress, Gardens by the Bay was named the World Building of the Year at the World Architecture Festival 2012. The use of innovative energy saving technologies is a noteworthy element of this unique project.

More than 217,000 plants belonging to approximately 800 species and varieties are represented in the Gardens “with the hope that it will help to promote awareness of the wonders of nature and the value of plants to Man and the environment.” In this way, visitors are instilled with new or renewed awareness of plants, while experiencing different ecosystems without disturbing original forests. Gardens by the Bay also supports the sustainability of culture through a wide array of “edutainment” available onsite — from school programs to concerts  – to further enhance an understanding of this experience...

Part office, part exhibition space, a new London landmark aims to challenge our assumptions about green design.

A new building in east London’s Royal Victoria Docks aims to change public perceptions of green architecture – while trialling some new sustainable technologies and approaches at scale. There’s not a green roof or thick insulated wall in sight. In fact, the structure, which is called the Crystal, is everything we’ve come to believe a sustainable building shouldn’t be: lightweight, angular, glazed from top to bottom and with a roof made out of steel.

Part office space, part interactive exhibition about the future of cities, the building is intended as a living experiment in sustainability that business leaders, politicians and the general public alike can learn from. “The building is a great demonstration of the ‘art of the possible’”, says Martin Hunt, Head of Networks and Partnerships at Forum for the Future. “It’s refreshing to see an interactive exhibition that visualises what our cities could be like – based on high quality research and thoughtful benchmarking. It brings the big issues of urban living – such as water and energy consumption, public health and safety – to life in a way that engages people and inspires them.”

Seven million premature deaths in a single year were the result of air pollution exposure, the World Health Organization reported recently. That’s one in eight of total global deaths in 2012. This new finding doubles previous estimates, confirming that air pollution is now the world’s single largest environmental health risk. Cities around the world are increasingly turning to technology for solutions, and here are some of the most innovative designs...

More images at the link.

Capable de réfléchir la lumière, de produire de l'électricité ou de s'autoréparer, le béton de demain aura des propriétés étonnantes. Découvrez le béton intelligent.

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In the article entitled “It’s Alive,” the design team at engineering firm ARUP envision a city building in the year 2050 that includes flexible modular pods, urban agriculture, climate-conscious facades and intelligent building systems. ARUP hopes the proposal will ultimately answer the question, "As city living takes center stage, what will we come to expect from the design and function of urban structures and buildings?".

ARUP’s futuristic skyscraper will be a “smart” building that will plug into a smart urban infrastructure, and cater to an expanding and technological society. By 2050, the global population will reach nine billion, 75% of which will live in cities. Significantly, this date will also mark a generation of adults that have lived their entire lives engaging with smart devices and materials. The design theory is that the population of 2050 is likely to be in constant flux, and therefore buildings and materials that surround this urban lifestyle must also be capable of evolution and change.

ARUP has imagined a building of the future that produces more than it consumes. Alongside the sustainable construction, the design will feature photovoltaic capability to capture and transmit energy using on-site fuel cells. In addition, energy will be harnessed from elevators or similar internal systems, along with wind turbines and algae-producing bio-fuel pods...