Archive for the ‘Sustainable Design’ Category
Monday, February 18th, 2008
Robert Watson is often hailed as the father of LEED, the nationally recognized gold standard for green buildings. As a founding member of the U.S. Green Building Council in the early 1990s, Watson, formerly senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, helped devise the now-popular rating system. But Watson has bigger aspirations yet: He is determined to turn LEED into a worldwide benchmark.
These days the New Yorker is busy bringing his green-building experience to China and India with his recently-founded enterprise, EcoTech International, a consultancy that provides green technology and project development expertise. He believes that market push, combined with government mandates, will spur sustainable development. Violet Law of Plenty magazine caught up with Watson in Hong Kong during his recent business trip to China.
Read more @ Greener Buildings | News & Columns | The Father of LEED Takes on China and India.
Posted in Environment, Sustainable Design | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 30th, 2008
Shanghai and Baoding have become the first cities to take part in a new WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) initiative to research less carbon-intensive paths to urban development in China, the international environmental organization said.
The Low Carbon City Initiative will initially focus on energy efficiency in buildings, renewable sources of energy and the manufacturing of energy-efficient products.
“Cities are an important part of China’s economic development, but many face problems such as low energy efficiency and degraded environmental quality,” Li Lin, head of conservation strategies at WWF-China, said.
Read more @ Chinadaily.com – Cities join WWF to cut carbon use by Sun Xiaohua (China Daily)
Posted in Environment, Sustainable Design | No Comments »
Saturday, January 26th, 2008
If art school was in our future we might opt to study under, or on top of, the amazing green roof at the School of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. This 5 story facility sweeps a wooded corner of the campus with an organic, vegetated form that blends landscape and structure, nature and high-tech and symbolizes the creativity it houses.
Read and See more @ Inhabitat » Amazing Green Roof Art School in Singapore.
Posted in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Sustainable Design | No Comments »
Saturday, January 26th, 2008
Two countries will lead the world in eco-cities: China and Britain.” The words of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown lingered in the cold Shanghai winter air long after he had given tacit approval to the Dongtan ‘eco-city’, set to be constructed on the formerly preserved wetlands of Chongming Island, near Shanghai. Dongtan was initiated by Shanghai Industrial Investment Corp, which contracted British engineering firm Arup to work on the development.
The heavily hyped, and controversial, development is being marketed as the world’s first “self-sustaining eco city” – designed to house up to 90,000 people by 2010, with 90 per cent of all waste to be recovered, recycled or reused. Last November, it was recognised as one of the “most innovative and outstanding buildings in Asia” by the MIPIM Asia Awards in Hong Kong.
However, speculation persists about the yet-to-be-constructed Dongtan’s actual ecological credentials, and rumours have surfaced that its near-neighbour may be a Disneyland theme park (reported here).
China Business News and Business in China - BizChinaUpdate.
Posted in Design, Environment, Sustainable Design | No Comments »
Sunday, January 20th, 2008
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has promised China £50 million in aid for “green” technology as he seeks to switch the focus of his visit to the country to climate change.
The Prime Minister has promised at least that sum will be handed out to support investment in energy efficiency, so-called “clean coal” and carbon capture in the booming Chinese economy.
The deal was done on the first day of Mr Brown’s three-day visit to China, where the environment will now increasingly take centre stage.
The Prime Minister will visit the environmentally friendly Taiyang Gong Power Station on the outskirts of Beijing which recycles its own heat sources to supply hot water and other benefits to the community.
Mr Brown will later fly on to Shanghai to see progress being made in the Dongtan “eco-city” with lessons being learned for the Thames Gateway project currently under development in London’s suburbs.
Brown offers China green incentive | UK Latest | Guardian Unlimited.
Posted in China, Environment, Sustainable Design | No Comments »
Friday, January 18th, 2008
Part 1 by Pam Baker looking at different models of the future cities and talking about the practicalities of Hyperstructures,
Issues raised about building and maintaining Hyperstructures by the author and interviewees include:
– Fire Protection
– Waste Management
– Hydraulics and Maintenance
Baker also talks about Dongtan on Chongming Island near Shanghai and its future of 500,000 people and sustainable design
Technology News: Future Tech: Cities of the Future, Part 1: The Hyperstructure Concept.– Pam Baker
The second part of this series looks at City planning and Environment.
A good summary looks at the past and also the future of city planning and models for different continents based on population (Asia – Hypercites and America – architectural experimentation and knowledge societies)
Technology News: Future Tech: Cities of the Future, Part 2: If We Build Them, Will We Stay?.
Posted in Architecture, Design, Sustainable Design, Technology, Urban Planning | No Comments »
Thursday, January 17th, 2008
Savvy designers are helping homeowners collect and reuse storm water rather than see it all wash away.
WHILE you watched much-needed showers race down the driveway and spill into street drains two weeks ago, did you perhaps think: How can I harness that rainfall? How can I save that water for a yard that has endured drought-like conditions?
It turns out that “harvesting” rainfall is not only good for the garden, but also good for the environment.
Read more at LA Times – Imagine: Rain, rain, stored away – Annie Wells
Posted in Landscape Architecture, Sustainable Design | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
SHANGHAI will turn a 165-meter chimney at an old power plant into a state-of-the-art observation tower for the 2010 World Expo.
The building will demonstrate architectural prowess in combining advanced technology with the city’s history - and to say that it is on track is a truism in more ways than one.
see image at Shanghai Daily
Tower of strength for Expo — Shanghai Daily
Posted in Architecture, China, Design, Shanghai, Sustainable Design, World Expo | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
Chongqing municipality will spend 100 billion yuan ($13.8 billion) over the next five years on the demolition and renovation of all old and dangerous houses in its nine urban districts, officials have said.
The mammoth project aims to build affordable housing for low-income residents, officials from the municipal government said.
The city’s development and reform white paper revealed the ambitious plan. The 100 billion yuan investment is about a quarter of Chongqing’s estimated gross domestic product for last year.
Zhou Bo, a spokesman for the municipal government, said the city will this year complete building an additional 1.8 million sq m of affordable housing for 30,000 low-income families.
Chongqing to spend $13b on housing – China Daily – Xinhua – Huang Zhiling and Chen Hong
Posted in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Sustainable Design, Urban Planning | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
A new flower model bridge has been lit up on famous shopping street of Huaihai Road near Shanxi Road S last night. The bridge uses solar energy and an irrigation system that recycles water. Officials said the city will use more concepts such as this to save energy.
see image at Shanghai Daily
Posted in Shanghai, Sustainable Design | No Comments »
