The visionary team at Terreform ONE in New York City have unveiled designs for an eight-story Monarch Butterfly sanctuary tower that promises to enliven the facade of a forthcoming commercial building with a vertical terrarium.
The diagrid structure will be made out of 3D-printed carbon-sequestering concrete components infilled with a dual-skin facade wrapped with glass and "pillows" of ETFE foil. The design will create a three-foot by 70-foot "vertical meadow" filled with "suspended milkweed vines and flowering plants to nourish the butterflies at each stage of their life cycle," according to a project website.
The performative facade will also be coated with "hydrogel bubbles" and small algae-filled sacs that will serve to purify air and building wastewater, while also maintaining an optimum humidity level in the terrarium.
Mitchell Joachim, Terreform One co-founder, told Fast Company, "We realized that what’s happening is literally extinction–to us and everything around us. The thought was we need to change our mantra from a group that’s consulting about the environment to a group that deals with design against extinction."
At street level, LED screens depicting close-up views of the inside of the terrarium will fill each of the concrete frames. An atrium located at the heart of the building will also contain butterfly-supporting plants and surfaces. Plans for the building include a fleet of butterfly-sized drones that will continuously monitor and document the terrarium to make environmental readings of the space.
The building is currently undergoing permitting and approval. A construction timeline for the project has not been released.
Good questions and there are many reasons; initially the client was not interested in doing anything more than develop a regular eight story commercial building in NYC. They had very little interest in creating anything green or sustainable. We suggested they go elsewhere and find a normal professional firm - as we are a nonprofit and don't perform commercial work (obviously). Later, they came back requesting we propose something that is ecological and connects to two adjacent parks. Our response was "if you truly want to be green don't build anything there" - and supplied a host of relevant statistics, and etc. They were building a structure regardless and wanted more viable options. Telling them to leave the site fallow didn't work as the property value in Soho is enormous. We proposed an integrated natural vent double skin facade system, roof garden, and atrium space not a building. This was intended to allow another species bedsides humans to survive and prosper. The system is designed to be replicated in many variations and types. As long as it creates suitable habitat in an urban space. Milkweed is very invasive and requires careful stewardship. A greenhouse or similar enclosure can help mitigate its unwanted spread. Yet milkweed is the only thing that Monarch butterflies require for survival. People have been destroying milkweed for generations everywhere in America. The project centers around the careful control and distribution of milkweed in order to protect the butterflies native habitat.
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while I like the ambition of their projects, I have a hard time understanding why a building needs to be part of the scheme.
do we really need prisons for butterflies? this is orwellian.
per the article:
"LED screens depicting close-up views of the inside of the terrarium will fill each of the concrete frames. ... a fleet of butterfly-sized drones will continuously monitor and document the terrarium"
The facade serves as a porous “way station” - butterflies come and go freely. The roof garden, courtyard, and atrium spaces all provide connected habitat for the butterflies to periodically visit. There’s simply not enough milkweed based areas in NYC for the native Monarch to live. They are becoming an endangered species.
So propose a plan to integrate more milkweed. Why does this need to be a building? Why do architects always assume that every solution requires a building? Seems over complicated and under effective. I love the work you guys do, but this one misses the mark for me. What could be implemented with bags of seed, or 1 gallon vines, strategically planted in “terrain vague” sites, now requires a multi million dollar building...I’d bet that a way larger and more spread out biomass of milkweed could be planted for the cost and the trouble of the building...
There is also a reason why you probably haven’t ever seen a butterfly enter inside a house or building...
Good questions and there are many reasons; initially the client was not interested in doing anything more than develop a regular eight story commercial building in NYC. They had very little interest in creating anything green or sustainable. We suggested they go elsewhere and find a normal professional firm - as we are a nonprofit and don't perform commercial work (obviously). Later, they came back requesting we propose something that is ecological and connects to two adjacent parks. Our response was "if you truly want to be green don't build anything there" - and supplied a host of relevant statistics, and etc. They were building a structure regardless and wanted more viable options. Telling them to leave the site fallow didn't work as the property value in Soho is enormous. We proposed an integrated natural vent double skin facade system, roof garden, and atrium space not a building. This was intended to allow another species bedsides humans to survive and prosper. The system is designed to be replicated in many variations and types. As long as it creates suitable habitat in an urban space. Milkweed is very invasive and requires careful stewardship. A greenhouse or similar enclosure can help mitigate its unwanted spread. Yet milkweed is the only thing that Monarch butterflies require for survival. People have been destroying milkweed for generations everywhere in America. The project centers around the careful control and distribution of milkweed in order to protect the butterflies native habitat.
Thanks. The article wasn’t very clear, or maybe I misread it...didn’t know that their was a client requiring a commercial program...
I like the integration of architecture, technology, and nature...just seems that many of these attempt (by various firms) are over built...but I’m a landscape designer, so maybe I’m a little biased :)
And if you must use a structure...Something more along the lines of this seems more feasible...jus sayin
Please see the comment above. And sure that works if you are given a different site -- not in a dense NYC neighborhood lot near Soho.
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