Sustainabilty: The Latest Architecture and News

MVRDV ‘s latest project designed for government-owned power company Taipower is “a tool for energy production”, communicating Taiwan’s goal of transitioning to green energy. The morphology of the project and its architectural image are entirely data-driven, the expression of the most efficient way of generating solar energy on the site. An operations facility comprising offices, a maintenance workshop, storage spaces, and a public gallery, the project is defined as a “built manifesto”, projecting the company’s aspirations for achieving a “carbon-free future”.

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Videos

According to a 2021 Food Waste Index Report by the United Nations, 17% of global food production goes to waste, becoming the third biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions. 11% of this waste is generated by households, not only contributing to the climate crisis, but also provoking large economic costs, biodiversity loss, and the rise of pollution levels at unprecedented rates. Therefore, considering the key role that architecture and design plays in providing more eco-friendly housing options, it is essential to adopt and enhance a more self-sustaining, zero-waste approach.

Heatherwick Studio has been selected to design an office building in Madrid for the Spanish department store chain El Corte Ingles. The studio's first project to be built in Spain, Castellana 69 embodies a comprehensive sustainability strategy while also promoting a new vision of the office space. Developed together with local practices CLK architects and BAC Engineering Consultancy Group, Castellana 69 features a green inner courtyard, taking advantage of a strong connection between indoor and outdoor spaces.

Schoonschip is Amsterdam’s innovative circular neighbourhood, a community-driven project set to become a prototype for floating urban developments. With a masterplan designed by Dutch architecture practice Space&Matter, the project comprises 46 dwellings across 30 water plots connected by a jetty and features decentralised and sustainable energy, water and waste systems. With the last of its buildings completed this year, the development showcases a valid adaptation strategy in the face of climate change and rising sea levels.

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Valentino Gareri Atelier have joined forces with technology and wellness consultant Steve Lastro of 6Sides and global wellness real estate innovators Delos to create Sunflower Village, a humanistic and sociological approach to residential technology & community living. The proposed residential village includes 19 homes arranged in a sunflower composition that 'follows the sun'.

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The massive new hub for lab research, by Behnisch Architekten, marks a new chapter of sustainable construction and campus planning. James McCown explores in his article originally published on Metropolis, Harvard's latest addition in the Boston campus, the new Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) designed by German-based firm Behnisch Architekten and centered on sustainability and well-being.

Australian research lab Finding Infinity has collaborated with architects, councils and investors to create a strategy that would turn Melbourne into a self-sufficient city by 2030. Building on exemplary case studies and scientific research, the initiative proposes a 10 step plan for the city’s transition from a consumer of resources to a zero-carbon urban environment.

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Establishing strong connections between urban and nature, tradition and innovation, and economy and culture, SOM has designed a master plan for the Central Area of Guangming District, Shenzhen, China. A new benchmark of ecologically integrated development, the project will lead the next generation of urban growth in the Greater Bay Area.

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Under construction in the tropical rainforest of Cameroon, Warka Village is an integrated space for the Pygmy community, an isolated society located in the Mvoumagomi area. Constructed using only natural materials and ancient local construction techniques, the project, created by Warka Water and Italian architect Arturo Vittori, is currently operational, and expected to be completed in 2022.

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Moving away from its early exclusive focus on natural disasters, resilient architecture and design tackles the much tougher challenge of helping ecosystems regenerate.

Thirty years ago, as a high school student at the Cranbrook boarding school in suburban Detroit, I wrote a research-based investigative report on the environmental crisis for the student newspaper. I had been encouraged to do so by a faculty adviser, David Watson, who lived a double life as a radical environmentalist writing under the pseudonym George Bradford for the anarchist tabloid Fifth Estate. His diatribe How Deep Is Deep Ecology? questioned a recurring bit of cant from the radical environmental movement: Leaders of groups like Earth First! frequently disparaged the value of human life in favor of protecting nature.

KPF and the Chiofaro Company have released images of their latest project The Pinnacle at Central Wharf, a high performance and resilient mixed-use development on the Boston Harbor waterfront. Aiming to reconnect Downtown Boston to the waterfront, the project also puts in place a new public space.

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Some years ago, researchers in the United States previously tested the concept of using synthetic urine-based substances to fabricate building materials. However, new research conducted by Masters student Suzanne Lambert at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, puts forth a zero-waste process of producing urine-based bricks by using collected human urine for the first time.

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Cristopher Cichocki's Root Cycle combines installation art with existing architecture in an effort to spark a discussion regarding the relationship between design, both contemporary and historical, and environmental sustainability.

Cichocki partnered with Geoplast, a local Italian designer and manufacturer dedicated to producing innovative sustainable design products. The artist uses a particular Geoplast elevator product and Aloe Vera plants as the main components for the artwork.

Did you know that tree-lined streets are proven to be beneficial to physical and mental health? So why not include them in health funding? The Nature Conservancy's new research demonstrates the number of reasons why this should be done.