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Dutch architect Sim Van der Ryn, a pioneer of green architecture and a longtime professor at the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design, has died at age 89 according to the San Francisco Chronicle. He will be remembered for his experimental teaching methods and approach to designing... View full entry
Forbes and Egyptian real estate development company Magnom Properties have announced plans to construct a 55-story zero-carbon commercial tower in Egypt’s New Administrative Capital outside of Cairo. Called the Forbes International Tower, this marks the first time the media giant has... View full entry
New legislation aimed at enacting a countrywide mandate for the use of passive house design standards in all new housing developments is gaining traction in Scotland after Labour MSP Alex Rowley’s bill was endorsed by the national government earlier this month. The new Domestic Building... View full entry
New York-based Laguarda.Low Architects has designed a sprawling 128-acre, mixed-use park in Shenzhen that aims to restore the city’s Bao’an district “to its former high level of livability.” The OCT OH Bay Waterfront Retail Park, which opened in February of this year, joins the new... View full entry
In response to the idea of the “city of tomorrow,” one that will become carbon neutral by 2050, French architecture firm Rescubika created a proposal for a 2,418-foot tower on Roosevelt Island. With wood construction materials, 36 wind turbines, 8,300 shrubs, 1,600 tress, 83,000 square feet of plant walls, and nearly 23,000 square feet of solar panels, it would be the world’s tallest “carbon sink” tower–one that absorbs more CO2 than it releases. — 6sqft
London-based architecture practice Foster + Partners recently announced its goal to "outline a holistic sustainable approach" towards its projects as a way to measure "embodied and operational carbon in each project." Aiming to use their international stature and design prowess to... View full entry
It's a small, dense, island nation where 100% of the population is urbanized. And yet, the city-state of Singapore is the greenest city in Asia, according to the Green City Index, and arguably has few competitors in the rest of the world. As Singapore's population and economy grew, so did its green cover: it was about 36% in the 1980s and it now stands at 47%, according to the Center for Liveable cities. — CNN
Becoming one of the "must-see" places in the world, Singapore has created a name for itself amongst travelers. Even Hollywood has already capitalized on the nation's likability and illustrious cityscape thanks to the top-grossing film, Crazy Rich Asians. However, beyond the food and Instagramable... View full entry
The buildings, which resemble glass jars, preserve an image of Amazon’s supposed benevolence as a company and an image of neoliberal capital as growth, as opposed to absence and austerity... Amazon’s decision to abandon plans for its New York–based HQ2 still fresh in everyone’s mind, it’s hard to see The Spheres as anything but an oversized swear jar brimming with half-hearted promises and watery intensions. — Los Angeles Review of Books
Though the greenhouse is one of the oldest building types, its conflation with the office building types in the 20th century was still regarded as a wondrous spectacle. Kevin Roche's Ford Foundation building, for example, was a marvelous example of the combination of corporate modernism and... View full entry
Researchers say India could alleviate its growing shortage of sand, which is needed for concrete, by partially replacing it with waste plastic.
Research carried out by the University of Bath in the UK, and India’s Goa Engineering College, has found that concrete made with an admixture of ground-up plastic bottles is almost as strong as traditional concrete mixtures.
— globalconstructionreview.com
With India's rapid urbanization, concrete construction has dramatically increased causing a shortage in the country's sand used to make the building material. Mixing in plastic bottles focuses on solving both the issue of a sand shortage and the accumulation plastic waste on the streets. While... View full entry
The UNStudio Futures Team (UNSFutures) recently announced plans for a 'Station of the Future' at the first edition of HyperSummit. Organized by Hardt Hyperloop, the summit took place in Utrecht, Netherlands focusing on urgency, research, and collaboration to realize a European hyperloop. ... View full entry
As with every single other thing about Seattle, there’ve been some developments in residential design since 2008 [...] Here are five opportunities, in the form of developments in residential architecture over the past 10 years as identified — and expressed — by some plugged-in visionaries. — The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times tracked 5 developments in residential design addressing housing issues in the city. For each trend they spoke with an architecture professional working in the field. Below are Seattle's identified trends and some of the visionaries addressing them: 1. Multifamily Housing Moves... View full entry
UNStudio's Ellipsicoon was designed by Ben Van Berkel and created as part of the Revolution Precrafted pavilion series, focusing on collectible structures whose wide variety of functions are designed to complement existing spaces. Ellipsicoon by UNStudio. Image: Revolution Precrafted. This space... View full entry
Beating out SOM and Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, the Portland-based firm ZGF Architects has taken the number one spot in Architect Magazine's annual ranking of the fifty best architectural firms. The ranking, which evaluates firms using the criteria of Business, Sustainability, and... View full entry
The Urban Green Council, which calls these glass towers “high cholesterol buildings,” published a report earlier this month, which asserts that high energy use associated with the use of clear glass degrades air quality and exacerbates global warming... the Council is urging for the reduction of transparent glass, replaced with heavily insulated solid walls or highly advanced glass facades that would be more expensive. — 6sqft.com
Need some ideas for designing a solar home or to make your space a little greener? "A Place in the Sun: Green Living and the Solar Home" could be a helpful guide -- and Archinect is giving away 5 copies to our readers.Released this past April, the 228-page hardcover book by green-living writer and... View full entry
