Posts Tagged ‘Urban Design and Built Form’
Wangaratta High School: Applied ESD
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on March 10th, 2010
Source: Green Building Council Australia (GBCA)
From the Green Building Council Australia Fact Sheet
Wangaratta High School in north-eastern Victoria was awarded a 4 Star Green Star – Education PILOT rating in August 2009 for Stage One in its three part redevelopment plan, becoming the first Green Star certified school in Australia. Utilising environmentally sustainable design (ESD) principles, the Taylor Oppenheim/Meinhardt Group project team aimed to reduce the new senior school’s negative impact on the environment, while at the same time, providing students and teachers with a healthier, more productive space. With US studies revealing green schools foster higher reading retention, better test scores and greater staff retention, it is easy to see why educational facilities around Australia are considering greener alternatives.
Ground heat exchange system
During project consultations, Wangaratta High School and the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development outlined their vision for the new school to be as energy efficient as possible, reducing the electrical power demand on-site as well as the recurrent energy costs accrued by the school. This brief was realised through the implementation of a ground heat exchange (GHE) system which would service the majority of the facility’s heating and cooling needs. This geothermal technology uses the earth as both a heat source and a heat sink, circulating water in a series of grid loops under the earth’s surface to cool or warm the building above. The system circulates water through a grid of 42 loops extending 100m below, using heat pumps to push the water through hydronic pipes in the building’s floor slab. Because heat energy naturally flows from areas of higher temperature to those of lower temperature, the GHE heating and cooling system is a highly efficient, renewable energy source that maintains a pleasant temperature range of 20-26°C throughout the year, with little need for supplementary heating or cooling.
Associate for the Building Science & technology Group at Meinhardt, Dr Mirek Piechowski says: “By tapping into the renewable energy stored in the ground, the GeoExchange technology offers the most energy efficient heat transfer mechanism for climate control system. The other significant feature of the GeoExchange technology is the fact that in the heating mode only up to 25 per cent of the heating energy is derived from fossil fuels, i.e. electricity, while the remaining 75 per cent is renewable energy. In contrast, in traditional gas heating systems 100 per cent of heat is derived from burning gas,” he explains.
A feasibility study conducted by the Meinhardt Group predicted the GHE system would save the school around $35,000 in energy bills, as well as a reduce CO2 emissions by 253 tonnes annually. Combined with other energy efficient measures, this system achieves energy savings of up to 75 per cent, compared to conventional buildings of the same size.
Tags: consumption, energy, innovation, Urban Design and Built Form
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Floating Office: Dispersed Work Environments
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on February 25th, 2010
Source: Springwise
From Floating Offices For Two:
If stand-alone offices can be set up in people’s gardens, then why not at the local marina? That, in fact, is exactly the concept behind WaterSpace, a Welsh company that offers self-contained floating office units designed to fit into a standard marina berth. The H2Office is a purpose-built floating office that can comfortably accommodate one or two workers. In addition to a sun deck above, the H2Office comes equipped with a work area featuring wood-like flooring and an L-shaped desk and shelving unit across the beam. A carpeted L-shaped “break-out” area includes a pull-out berth for occasional overnight stays, while an included kitchenette features over and under storage cupboards. Optional extras include teak-effect flooring, kitchen appliances and solar panels. In addition to the possibilities for telecommuting office workers and waterfront retail or professional space, WaterSpace notes that its floating offices could also offer a way for marina operators to create an income-generating floating business park that makes use even of areas with water too shallow for most boating purposes.
Tags: new systems/services, Urban Design and Built Form, workplace
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Carrot City: Urban Agriculture Exhibition
Posted in Movements by Kate Archdeacon on February 23rd, 2010
Image: Inuvik Community Greenhouse
What is the place of food in the city?
How are “waste” spaces being transformed by food projects?
What are the implications on materials, technologies and structures?
Carrot City is a traveling exhibit that shows how the design of buildings and cities can enable the production of food in the city. It shows how the design of buildings and towns is enabling the production of food in the city. It explores the relationship of design and urban food systems as well as the impact that agricultural issues have on the design of urban spaces and buildings as society addresses the issues of a more sustainable pattern of living.
The focus is on how the increasing interest in growing food within the city, supplying food locally, and food security in general, is changing urban design and built form. Carrot City showcases projects in Toronto and other Canadian cities, illustrating how such concerns are changing both the urban landscape and architecture. It also includes relevant international examples to show how ideas from other countries can be integrated into the Canadian experience. The exhibition contains a mix of realised projects and speculative design proposals that illustrate the potential for design that responds to food issues.
These projects are presented through three main sections, representing three scales of analysis: City; Community; and Home & Work. In addition to the projects, a fourth section, Products, illustrates technologies and systems that are innovating food production approaches in urban contexts.
Tags: exhibition, urban agriculture, Urban Design and Built Form
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Green Star Social Housing: Lilyfield, Sydney
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on February 10th, 2010
Source: Green Building Council Australia (GBCA)
The Lilyfield Housing Redevelopment in Sydney is the first social housing scheme in Australia to be awarded a Green Star certification, and is also the first project of its kind to achieve a Green Star residential rating on the East Coast of Australia.
Representing ‘Australian Excellence’ in environmentally sustainable design, this project by HBO+EMTB for Housing NSW sets a new standard for public housing developments in Australia, and demonstrates that highly sustainable public housing outcomes are both realistic and achievable in terms of building function and use, project demographics and importantly, housing affordability.
ESD initiatives featured in the project:
Indoor Environment Quality
* All 88 apartments are naturally ventilated and there is no air conditioning in the development
Energy
* Roof elements over stair wells have been designed to support and orientate solar hot water and photovoltaic (PV) panels, which provide on-site energy
* All roofs to north facing units are tilted in order to maximise solar access to those units during winter (low sun angle) and to avoid direct excess solar radiation to those units in summer (high solar angle)
* The lighting design has utilised energy efficient bulbs throughout
* A common area interior lighting occupant movement and daylight sensor
* Solid floors exposed to the northern sun for thermal mass
* Low-E glass in all east and west façades
Water
* Water efficient fixtures throughout apartments and common area
Innovation
* Exceeding the benchmarks of TRA-1 by providing significantly less car parking than the minimum – there is no on-site car parking in the development
Tags: behaviour change, innovation, residential, Sydney, Urban Design and Built Form
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Public, Private: Sustainable Precinct Development
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on February 8th, 2010
Source: The Ecologist
From “Forget eco-towns – real green house-building is already happening“, by Eifion Rees, 12th January, 2010:
Cambridge University’s expansion plans could change the face of sustainable building in the UK. In 2012, construction begins on the greenest development of its size and scope in the UK.
As far as trailblazing green building initiatives go, the development known as North West Cambridge (its official name as well as location) looks rather uninspiring at the moment, merely fields bounded by busy roads on the outskirts of an East Anglian university town. There aren’t many clues to suggest that, when construction begins here in 2012, it will change the face of sustainable building in the UK.
But that is what is scheduled to happen here with the creation of what will effectively be a new city quarter. The land is owned by Cambridge University, and the scheme is intended to accommodate the academic institution’s expansion over the next 25 years, when numbers of students and staff are expected to increase by 8,000. As a result 3,000 new homes will be built on this patch of the greenbelt, together with new faculty and research buildings, and a significant number of community facilities. This week, emulating universities in the US, Cambridge issued bonds for the first time with the aim of raising £400 million towards the cost of the £1 billion project.
From the North West Cambridge website:
The masterplanning proposals for the University of Cambridge’s North West Cambridge site are moving forward. To continue the success of this collaborative process we would like to obtain your views on the emerging masterplan. To this end, we have recently held a Public Exhibition as well as Public Workshops. These exhibitions and workshop form the next stage in the process of preparing the masterplan for the site – and provided an opportunity for stakeholders to contribute and comment on the proposals. The information that was on display includes:
* Introduction to the North West Cambridge project: The University’s need and vision – an introduction to what the project will offer local residents, students, faculty, staff and local businesses. This includes 3,000 new homes, 100,000 m2 of academic and commercial research space, accommodation for 2,000 students and local facilities and green spaces.
* Site: Context The site’s location and landscape features, and various site-specific opportunities that the masterplan should respond to.
The latest versions of the masterplan are available for public download, and are separated into four layers: Indicative Urban Structure, Indicative Landscape & Open Space, Indicative Land Use, and Indicative Access & Movement.
Tags: community, design, Urban Design and Built Form
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Rotterdam Market Hall
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on January 18th, 2010
Source: Inhabitat
From “Construction Begins on Amazing Tunnel-Shaped Rotterdam Market Hall“, by Bridgette Meinhold.
Rotterdam’s new Market Hall creates a 100,000 sq meter public market space covered in an arch of ten floors of 228 apartments. Of those apartments, the majority will be for purchase, but 102 of them will be available as rental properties. The bottom two floors will house restaurants and shopping, while underground, there will be a supermarket as well as a parking garage with 1,200 spaces. The archway will be protected from the elements on the front and back by flexible suspended glass facades.
The design for the Market Hall is a result of new laws from the Netherlands that require public markets to be covered, and also that certain rooms for a residential dwelling must have natural daylight. Each apartment is situated so that rooms and living spaces are situated on the exterior of the archway with views out to the city, while the kitchen, dining and storage is on the interior, with lots of insulation to block the noise from the bustling market below. One hundred stalls will be available for the sale of fresh foods daily and the interior surface of the archway will feature changing pictures projected from LCD screens. This mixed-use development combining residences, shopping, restaurants and a public market will be a central hub of activity for citizens and tourists. The project is being developed by Provast and was designed by MVRDV.
Read the full article by Bridgette Meinhold.
Tags: new systems/services, Rotterdam, Urban Design and Built Form
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Fighting Food Deserts: Integrated Farms and Housing, South Bronx NY
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on January 15th, 2010
Source: SustainWeb
The Blue Sea Development Corporation has a reputation for integrating emerging environmental technologies into high quality, affordable housing developments across New York City. Their new state of the art affordable housing complex planned for the South Bronx, NY, will feature a 10,000 square feet (930 sq meters) fully integrated rooftop farm, designed by BrightFarm Systems.
The greenhouse will use left-over heat from the residential portion of the building and water harvested from the greenhouse roof. The farm will be used to provide fresh, perishable vegetables to a local non-profit food cooperative. The rooftop farm will be able to supply enough produce to meet the annual fresh vegetable needs of up to 450 people. Like many inner city, low income communities, the South Bronx suffers from food deserts, where residents lack access to fresh vegetables at affordable prices.
The rooftop farm will make a significant contribution to food access and public health in the neighborhood.
Source: SustainWeb
Tags: food security, South Bronx, urban agriculture, Urban Design and Built Form
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Green Cities 2010: People, Places, Performance
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on November 25th, 2009
Source: Green Building Council Australia (GBCA)
Green Cities 2010 – People, Places, Performance – is now taking bookings.
“Join us in Melbourne from the 21-24 February 2010 at the largest and most influential green building conference in the Asia Pacific region. Bringing together green building innovators and leaders from around Australia and internationally we will explore new ideas and share practical knowledge in the expanding sustainable building industry. ”
- Hear from renowned global green building experts including: Malcolm Smith – Director of Integrated Urbanism, Arup UK; Jerry Yudelson – Principal, Yudelson Associates USA
- Learn about the latest industry developments, techniques and strategies
- Network with global and domestic sustainability leaders
- Visit some of Melbourne’s latest Green Star certified buildings including CH2, The Gauge and Goods Shed North
- Brush up on your professional development at a Master Class
Tags: conference, gbca, green cities, Urban Design and Built Form
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Victor Civita Plaza: living with a site’s history
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on October 9th, 2009
Source: MetropolisMag
Image: Victor Civita Plaza via treehugger
An urban park in São Paulo, Brazil, has taken a different approach to addressing site contamination. Victor Civita Plaza opened last year on the site of a former municipal incinerator. The facility had been used for hospital waste disposal, among other things, and the city authorities decreed that the contaminated site would need to be covered by about half-a metre of clean soil to protect the public. The cost of doing so would have stopped the project altogether, if not for the park’s designer, Anna Dietszch. Instead of covering the site with soil, she covered it with a floating timber deck which allowed the “landscaping” to be designed into the form.
Tags: healthy cities, innovation, Urban Design and Built Form
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Re-Imagining Urban Spaces: PARK(ing) Day 2009
Posted in Movements by Kate Archdeacon on September 23rd, 2009
Source: Inhabitat
Image: rebar
On September 18, in cities around the world, artists, activists and citizens temporarily transformed metered parking spaces into public parks and other social spaces, as part of an annual event called PARK(ing) Day.
Originally invented in 2005 by Rebar, a San Francisco art and design studio, PARK(ing) Day challenges people to rethink the way streets are used and reinforces the need for broad-based changes to urban infrastructure.
“In urban centers around the world, inexpensive curbside parking results in increased traffic, wasted fuel and more pollution,” says Rebar’s Matthew Passmore. “The strategies that generated these conditions are not sustainable, nor do they promote a healthy, vibrant urban human habitat.
PARK(ing) Day is about re-imagining the possibilities of the metropolitan landscape.”
Tags: behaviour change, community, green cities, local action, Urban Design and Built Form
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