Tag Archives: sustainable construction

This sky-high tower is actually a liveable carbon sink designed for future sustainable cities!

Posted on by

If we could draw up a pie chart, you’d be able to visualize just how much damage the construction industry causes. To be specific, the building and construction industries are responsible for 39% of the world’s carbon emissions – to put it into perspective, the aviation industry produces only 2.4% of the global carbon emissions. So it is evident exactly where we need to make a change for it to have a large scale impact that can slow down climate change. Industries have to be responsible to reduce emissions and pursue carbon neutrality through investment in renewable energy, energy efficiency or other clean, low-carbon technologies like the architecture firm Rescubika has done with their Mandragore concept. The tower was designed in response to the City of Tomorrow Project which aims to make New York City carbon-neutral by the year 2050.

Mandragore is a sky-high green residential tower envisioned to be constructed on Roosevelt Island, New York City. The project aims to push the existing limits of sustainability practices in construction and imagines the future of urban areas to be a lot cleaner. The renderings of the tower show a dynamic form using parametric design software to create a silhouette of the mandrake plant that also inspired the name of the project – Mandragore. The project also aims to make Mandragore the tallest tower in the world while being carbon negative which means it will use more canon than it actually produces.

The building mimics the natural processes or forms found in nature to be sustainable – this is called biomimicry. Rescubika’s building is a mandrake analogy that represents the shifting identity of the man and the natural world showing a close relationship between ourselves and other living things. Ambitious architectural concepts all aim to make sustainable structures that reduce the overall carbon footprint of the industry – but how will they make these liveable carbon sinks? The Rescubika team suggests it can be achieved by pulling from the best of modern sustainable architecture with advanced passive heating/cooling techniques to condition interior spaces, natural material choices, and lots of plants.

Currently, Mandragore’s plan is to house 1,600 trees with about 300,000 square feet of living plant walls across its 160 levels! The concept also looks at ‘energy sobriety’ which calls for a shift in lifestyle choices that helps the resident reduce individual carbon footprints by reducing the energy they consume. A small detail to help the residents and stay aligned with the building’s mission is to have home offices integrated into the house plan to reduce commute and emissions. While concepts are largely based on future technologies and still have a lot of logistical challenges to solve, structures like Mandragore are important to study to push boundaries and work towards green cities. We have 30 years left to reduce carbon emissions to have a shot at a healthy future, so no design is crazy and everything is on the table!

Designer: Rescubika Architecture

These repurposed shipping container offices are designed to be economic and eco-friendly!

Posted on by

Repurposing shipping containers to create homes and offices is a sustainable trend that is gaining momentum. Similar to the tiny houses, these structures are compact, modular and can be designed to fit any purpose that you may have for a place -right from a remote campus, ICU pods, office network, or even a small town. The possibilities are endless and CAPSA Containers hosted a competition, ‘Design for Tomorrow’ that is focused on innovative and alternative construction solutions. Construction is responsible for 30% of the greenhouse gas emissions so these designs can help us build more responsibly and sustainably – they are ecological, economic, and meet the societal expectation of doing better with less, reducing environmental footprint, and limiting the consumption of natural resources.

“Bio-based materials, recycled, reused, smart, and sustainable construction will be our tools to meet these challenges. In the diversity of offer that the construction offers today, the marine container is an alternative offering a great number of assets: modularity, mobility, scalability,” says the team at CAPSA.

Designers: Bureau Agreste by Hugues Hernandez, Morgan Baufils, and Ariane Marty. Flowers in the Garden by Eu Jin Lim. Side Up Project by Mengfan Sha, Wang, and Zhang.

The winner is ‘Bureau Agreste’ – a modern shipping container office that provides professionals with a dedicated working space. The contemporary aesthetic masks the fact that it is an eco-friendly space. It has two levels with an open floor plan that makes it feel roomier and encourages productivity. It also features solar panels on the roof along with a rainwater harvesting system which makes it perfect for off-grid locations – this way businesses can save on the high rent they would usually pay in big cities. The container suspension frees up the ground space for organizing recreational outdoor activities (or even parking!) and gives the elevation needed for natural light. The first floor is organized concentrically around the central point of arrival, from the collective space (exchange and debate) to the intimate space (concentration and introspection). “The project aims to a certain resilience and seeks to minimize its ecological impact, by the use of recycling end-of-life containers, rainwater recovery tank, photovoltaic panels, dry toilets, wood stove, ceiling fan or even the use of bio-sourced materials from the local industry,” says the winning design team.

The second place was awarded to ‘Flowers in the Garden’ which was designed to be a hybrid of communal workspace and a garden. The project challenges traditional office settings by integrating the natural environment as a part of the whole workspace. It is an organic but playful structure with soft screens and in-between green-buffering spaces that creates a diverse ecosystem of perforated mass that is always ‘breathing’. This office design lets you stay healthily distanced but not socially separated and provides a refreshing break from staring at your screens.

The third place goes to the ‘Side Up Project’ that creatively transforms shipping containers into a semi-open space. It uses containers like LEGO blocks and combines multiple ‘side-up’ containers to form a flex space that could be used for work, camps, exhibitions, or events. The design turns the closed, small individual containers into a connected entity allowing occupants to move freely through the space while creating pockets that can be used for specific purposes. Not only is it a place for productivity and collaboration, but also a catalyst for future sustainable working communities.

Transformable to infinity, these repurposed shipping containers are the ideal ingredient for the wildest architectural projects while reducing the construction industry’s negative impact on the environment. These sustainable workplaces are definitely one of the coolest office designs we’ve seen!

NASA + BIG are working on a sustainable 3D printed moon habitat using moon dust to reduce waste!

Posted on by

While Mars missions are getting all the media and sci-fi attention, a trusty celestial friend is making a comeback as an option for hosting human colonies outside Earth – it is our moon! Bjarke Ingle’s BIG and 3D-printed building company ICON are working on Project Olympus – a mission to develop robotic construction for the moon.

Bjarke Ingles is the Elon Musk of the architectural world, he loves to explore the impossible and has a penchant for designs that can help save mankind right from his environmentally friendly buildings to Project Olympus. Project Olympus is about finding a way to create a 3D-printed infrastructure for living on the moon using materials found on its surface. Why do we need a habitat on the moon? So that we can launch sustained lunar exploration missions where the astronauts will be able to stay comfortably and carry out their research for extended time periods. The project has also enlisted SEArch+ (Space Exploration Architecture) after it received a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) government contract boosted with funding from NASA.

“With ICON we are pioneering new frontiers – both materially, technologically and environmentally. To explain the power of architecture, ‘formgiving’ is the Danish word for design, which literally means to give form to that which has not yet been given form. This becomes fundamentally clear when we venture beyond Earth and begin to imagine how we are going to build and live on entirely new worlds,” said Bjarke Ingels, founder of BIG.

Making a habitat base on the moon is no ordinary construction project. There are many factors at play – it is an inhospitable environment with only a fifth of Earth’s gravity and none of its atmosphere, plus it will have to be created almost entirely from locally available materials i.e. moon dust which will be sustainable and reduce waste! Working with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, the team will use a simulant of moon soil to experiment with 3D-printable construction.

“3D printing with indigenous materials is a sustainable and versatile solution to off-world construction that will prove to be vital to our future here on Earth and in Outer Space. The habitat will be designed with the inherent redundancy required for extraterrestrial buildings, while also using groundbreaking robotic construction that uses only in-site resources with zero-waste left behind,” SEArch+ added. A by-product of all the developmental research and experiments being conducted for Project Olympus is that it will also reveal new ways to build more sustainably on Earth while reducing the construction industry’s carbon footprint.

BIG is a perfect fit for this project as they have previously designed a simulation of Mars called Mars Science City in Dubai. ICON too was a finalist in NASA’s 3D printed habitat challenge with many innovative projects under its belt and SEArch+ is an architecture firm that has worked with NASA for a long time on human-centered designs for space exploration making this a complete dream team. *Plays Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me to the Moon*

Designers: BIG, ICON, and SEArch+

This 3D printed house reduces carbon emissions and takes 48 hours to build!

Posted on by

The construction industry contributes to 39% of global carbon emissions while aviation contributes to only 2% which means we need to look for alternative building materials if we are to make a big impact on the climate crisis soon. We’ve seen buildings being made using mushrooms, bricks made from recycled plastic and sand waste, organic concrete, and now are seeing another innovative solution – a floating 3D printed house!

Prvok is the name of this project and it will be the first 3D printed house in the Czech Republic built by Michal Trpak, a sculptor, and Stavebni Sporitelna Ceske Sporitelny who is a notable member of the Erste building society. The house is designed to float and only takes 48 hours to build! Not only is that seven times faster than traditional houses, but it also reduces construction costs by 50%. No bricks, cement, and concrete (responsible for 8% of CO2 emissions alone!) are used which means it reduces carbon emissions by 20% – imagine how much CO2 could be reduced if this was used to build a colony. A robotic arm called Scoolpt designed by Jiri Vele, an architect and programmer, will be used in 3D printing and can print as fast as 15 cm per second.

The 43 square meter home will have all the essentials – a bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bathroom. It will be anchored on a pontoon and is designed in a way that owners can live in it all year round. Prvok is partially self-sufficient and is equipped with eco-technologies that enable it to recirculate shower water, use a green roof, and host reservoirs for utility, drinking, and sewage water. Each detail and element of the house has been thoughtfully added after making sure it can last for 100 years in any environment. Prvok is an example of what the future of hybrid houses that work for you and the environment could look like.

Designers: Michal Trpak and Stavebni Sporitelna Ceske Sporitelny

Recycled sand and plastic waste are used to make this sustainable brick!

Posted on by

Did you know that the construction industry actually contributes more to global warming than the aviation industry Construction is responsible for 39% of the world’s CO2 emissions while aviation is responsible for 2% and that means we need a sustainable building material before we need electric airplanes. Rhino Machines is an Indian company that has recently launched a sustainable alternative to the traditional brick called the silica plastic block in collaboration with architectural firm R+D Studio.

We’ve seen mushrooms turn into bricks and now we are seeing this brick made of 80% recycled sand waste/foundry dust and 20% mixed plastic waste. The SPB (silicone plastic block) was created to curb the gigantic dust waste from construction that contributes to India’s pollution levels that are already hazardous in major cities. The project started with a goal of producing zero waste from the sand reclamation plant in the Rhino Machines foundry plant. There were many experiments before landing on this ratio, initially foundry dust was used in cement-bonded fly ash bricks (7-10% waste recycled) and clay bricks (15% waste recycled). This production process was reliant on natural supplies such as cement, fertile soil, and water which wouldn’t justify the team’s criteria of creating something that was more environmentally friendly. After multiple trials and research, the solution of bonding sand/foundry dust with plastic was born. Since it is made out of waste, the cost of production is relatively low and Rhino Machines is working on an ecosystem solution so that the foundries across the country can develop and distribute the SPBs within their zones.

The team used mixed plastic waste as a bonding agent which reduced the need for water during mixing and thereafter curing is completely eliminated. These sustainable bricks would be directly used after cooling down from the molding process. Over four months the team approached hospitals, societies, individuals, social organizations, and the local municipal corporations to provide clean plastic. A total of six tonnes of plastic waste and sixteen tonnes of dust + sand from the foundry industry were collected, ready to be recycled. The SPB bricks were 2.5 times stronger than the regular red clay bricks and used 80% lesser natural resources too – now you can build a stronger home that also lets your home planet be strong. Better to use that plastic in bricks than to put it in the sea!

Designers: Rhino Machines and R+D Studio

Organic concrete curves give an unconventional vibe to this sustainable luxury home

Posted on by

When I first saw the Domik house, it felt like someone brought a kid’s illustration to life in the most aesthetically pleasing way possible! Nestled into the sandhills south of Noosa National Park, Australia, this private residence is playful retention of modern architecture. It’s curves make it positively stand out (as curves always do!) and every crevice by Noel Robinson Architects is just giving us house goals!

Designed for a client who wanted a timeless and practical holiday home, I imagine he is truly enjoying his quarantine overlooking the Pacific Ocean because that is where I would be living out the pandemic if I had the option. The eco-home has 3 floors, 6 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, and is one of Australia’s most expensive homes. The exterior is anything but that of a conventional house – it has several large domes stacked upon each other and covered with green roofs to blend in with nature. The unusual shape and use of natural materials truly optimize the natural sunlight and ventilation that Domik gets due to its premium location. It almost looks like the house is wearing a hooded cloak of eco-consciousness.

It was clear to the design team that sustainability was a very important aspect of the house – no air conditioning was to be installed and renewable energy should be used to generate power on-site along with using sustainable construction materials. So that is why the Domik house features an expansive rooftop solar array supported by a battery storage system. The design also incorporates the collection of roof water to be reused on-site. The internal non-loadbearing walls are made with hempcrete for thermal insulation (and acoustics!). Hempcrete has high carbon sequestration and is a fully recyclable product.

The sculptural forms were designed to give it an organic appeal and not destroy the landscape the house was in by using an angular build. The concrete arches were a smart move because they minimized the need for internal columns, made way for high ceilings, and maximized the space for spanning windows. The floor + footprint area of the property is massive and the landscape continues from the ground to the top using lightweight timber ‘eyelids’ to form the concrete arches. The residence is camouflaged into the natural setting seamlessly with the fluid shapes and gardened roofs. Quarantine or not, a getaway home has 3 cores – entertainment, sports, and health which is exactly what the team delivered with their eco-friendly and visually appealing design plan. Huge but still cozy!

Designer: Noel Robinson Architects

These sustainable terraces create the largest interconnected community living room

Posted on by

Innovative Dutch architecture studio, MVRDV, is all about enabling the development of cities and landscapes towards a better future for its residents and the environment. Their most recent project, the Shenzhen Terraces, is being built at the Shimao ShenKong International Centre and it is a glimpse into what architecture in 2020 will look like. The Gryffindor common room has got nothing on these sustainable community terraces, you’ll see!

The Shenzhen Terraces are designed to encourage sustainable living and the structure will be the center of the student community at Universiade New Town in Longgang District. Think of it as a multi-dimensional urban living room for the busy college town. The terraces are all stacks of unusual shapes because the idea is to build them around the existing outdoor public places – evolving spaces without disrupting them. All the buildings in the structure will be connected through the second floor and the small outdoor atriums throughout the community are actually places where the terraces converge to connect. “Shenzhen Terraces aims to bring vitality and innovation to the area through seamless integration of landscape, leisure, commerce, and culture,” says MVRDV. The largest building will consist of a bus terminal and a conference center connected by a large open-air atrium in the middle which optimizes the horizontal space that makes the terraces stand apart from the rest of the town.

It is a sustainable hub for the surrounding town as it offers entertainment, educational, transportation and recreational amenities while also giving back to the surrounding environment. There is a generous amount of water features and plants included in the plan so it can contribute to reducing the local temperature and become a safe space for urban wildlife. The terraces also have a facility to collect rainwater and that can be used for additional food and water resources making the community more self-reliant. Cement alone is responsible for 8% of the global CO2 emissions which makes MVRDV’s choice to use recycled concrete a very eco-conscious one while NASA and architecture schools around the world continue to test other construction material alternatives like mushrooms! The recycled concrete will be used in all buildings as the aggregate, and photovoltaic panels will adorn extensive portions of the rooftops. The entire structure is designed to sustain the community without adding any burden on the local environment – that is why the integration of natural elements is crucial to create a climate buffer for the interiors. In addition to the facilities in the larger buildings, the terraces also host a library, a gallery, and an outdoor theatre.

Each element has been carefully thought about in the aesthetic sense but also how it merges with the structure, the city, and the community – there are a purpose and benefit for it all. The Shenzhen terrace’s grassy, sub-tropical plateaus contrast the city’s vertical high-rises as an example of creating a space where civilization can co-exist with nature. It provides a landscape that beautifully knits life as we know it with a better future.

Designer: MVRDV