HI-TECH GREEN
Architects are devising ingenious designs, using less power and employing new materials, to build sustainable and smart, green buildings. Compiled by San Francisco-based architect, Brendon Levitt of Loisos + Ubbelohde, some of the most notable examples were recently featured on Forbes.com.
- Milwaukee Art Museum Quadracci Pavilion, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, includes giant wings that open and close to shade the building from the sun (picutred).
- Eden Project in Cornwall, England, has domes covered with pillows of Ethylene-Tetra-Fluoro-Ethylene, that can be inflated or deflated to adjust the level of insulation with the outside temperature.
- Port of Portland in Oregon generates its wastewater though a system called a Living Machine, and plants and micro-organisms filter waste water so it can be reused for flushing toilets.
- SAP America Headquarters in Philadelphia has a sensor system that measures daylight and occupancy to ensure the building uses no more light than necessary.
- r128, designed by German architect Werner Sobek in Stuttgart, has been designed to be easily disassembled and completely recyclable.
- New York Times Headquaters in Manhattan is draped in shades that can adjust to the movement of the sun, the conditions of the sky, and changing shadows.
- Chartwell School in California has a 9,000-gallon cistern that condenses and collects fog and rain water, regenerating it for educational activities, irrigation and flushing toilets.
- Musée du quai Branly in Paris has vertical gardens, where the vegetation that grows soil-free is designed to improve air quality and reduce energy use.
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