Urban

Inhabitat

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Guangzhou Revamped as New Sustainable Super City

by Bridgette Meinhold, 09/24/09

It’s an exciting time right now for Asia, which is expanding so quickly that whole cities are being designed, and existing cities have to be redesigned to accommodate all of this new development! Guangzhou, China’s 3rd largest city, is now joining the ranks of these foward-looking cities, and is getting a revamp to allow for more growth and at the same time make it more livable and sustainable. Some of the upgrades include mixed-use amenities like parks, commercial space, and increased transportation facilities that will make the city more cohesive. San Francisco-based Heller Manus Architects is responsible for the master plan of this new Southern axis to the city, which will tie into the recently designed Northern axis, also designed by Heller Manus.

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The plans include waterfront, open space, increased density and transit corridors adding up to 3,652 acres of development. Once complete in 10 years, the North and South Axes will be combined to create a new urban center for Guangzhou. Green and open space will snake its way along streams and waterways out to the waterfront. Low density housing will be replaced with denser housing schemes, and government, civic, commercial and retail will also be added to create a truly mixed-use environment. Other amenities include schools, hospitals, entertainment venues, hotels, a TV tower, a sports park, an aquarium, a hotel and a ferry terminal.

Heller Manus was chosen for the redesign due to their use of sustainable design features, focus on urban open space and preservation, and integration of traditional Lingnan culture. Taylor Manus, marketing coordinator at Heller Manus says, “Lingnan culture encourages the harmonious integration of nature with the city environment along with innovative garden design.” Following this philosophy, the building design concepts were organized buildings around landscaped courtyards.

The expansion of the transportation system is a major feature of the redesign, including the development of a light rail system. From the TV tower in the north all the way to the riverfront in the south, transport nodes will be placed along the corridor for increased accessibility. Mixed-use neighborhoods and stations will be placed at these nodes.

+ Heller Manus Architects

Via World Architecture News

Plastic Concrete

Plastic Concrete: Building Bricks Made From Landfill Waste

by Trey Farmer, 09/21/09

Recent RPI Masters of Architecture graduate Henry Miller has devised a way to reuse waste plastic as an aggregate in cement, circumventing the energy-intensive process of plastic recycling. By grinding up landfill-bound plastic and mixing it with portland cement, Miller was able to create a material just as strong as traditional concrete made with mined aggregate. The ingenious solution netted miller first place in the “Component Category” of the second annual Concrete Thinking for a Sustainable World competition.

Using recycled materials is so hot right now, but using them as aggregate is hotter than Hansel in a black shirt on a summer Sunday. While living in Albany, Miller saw many areas cut their plastic recycling programs for the cheaper (now) solution of landfills, and noticed the astounding number of brownfield sites that were simply being abandoned. Miller’s idea: Why not use plastic waste as an aggregate in concrete and create a more sensible product. By mixing together ground-up plastic with cement and soil reclaimed from the brownfields, Miller was able to create a material just as strong as conventional concrete.

The Concrete Thinking for a Sustainable World competition only asked students to conceptualize a design, but Miller he was not satisfied with a mere idea. He actually used his plastic concrete to build a screen and a wall. In doing so he showed that his ideas were viable alternatives to the status quo and that there was no excuse to merely fall in line.

Describing his project, Henry Louis Miller states: “Recycling plastics is a difficult, energy intensive process, and yields a product that is inferior to the virgin material. I have researched the possibility of using granulated, post consumer waste plastics as the aggregate in concrete. In this application, unlike plastics can be universally mixed with no adverse affects, heat driven re-amalgamation is not required, and my early test results show the resulting product is as strong as conventional concrete mixes (between 3000 and 5000psi.) As a result of using plastic rather than conventional aggregate, the mining of new material to serve as aggregate is not necessary.”

+ Concrete Thinking for a Sustainable World Competition

+ RPI’s Masters of Architecture

villa

The Madrona Residence by Vandeventer + Carlander Architects

Posted by Dave on September 23rd, 2009

Vandeventer + Carlander Architects designed the Madrona residence in Seattle, Washington.

Sited on a narrow thirty-five foot urban lot, the house design maximizes access to natural light and views yet maintains privacy.

Designed for a young couple, the wife desired to live at “grade” and the husband to “dwell” in the sky. The plan evolved with public living spaces on the ground floor, private bedrooms on the second, and a shared office opening onto rooftop desks on the third. A linear floor plan allows for a very efficient layout and a compact service core. The south facade features large expanses of glass and is protected by a cedar sun screen. Materials used include clear cedar siding and fibre cement panels.

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Green

Inhabitat

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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