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Vertical Forests: 2 Lush Urban Towers Support 16,000 Plants

25 May

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

green tower real life

Skeptics of improbably green skyscraper concepts might want to take a moment of silence to appreciate the successful construction of these two beautiful buildings now nearly completion.

green tower lush views

Designed by Stefano Boeri in Milan, Italy, the twin towers of the Bosco Verticale play host to nearly 1,000 trees, 5,000 shrubs and over 10,000 additional small plants.

green skyscraper tower design

The building was fully designed with its greenery in mind, including accommodations for irrigation, root systems, plant weights and wind loads within the city. This rich miniature ecosystem of plant life in turn helps filter the surrounding air, dampen urban noise and provide shade for residents. For its local environment, the building increases biodiversity and provides habitats for regional birds and insects.

green tower balcony trees

From the designers: “The creation of a number of vertical forests in the city will be able to create a network of environmental corridors which will give life to the main parks in the city, bringing the green space of avenues and gardens and connecting various spaces of spontaneous vegetation growth. [This project] helps to build a micro-climate and to filter dust particles which are present in the urban environment. The diversity of the plants helps to create humidity, and absorb CO2 and dust, produces oxygen, protects people and houses from the suns rays and from acoustic pollution.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

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Dense City: Photos Show Tightly-Packed Hong Kong Towers

30 Jul

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Photography & Video. ]

density in hong kong

Twice as dense as New York, and four times as crowded as London, Hong Kong is a fascinating mix of natural landscape edged by incredibly dense human construction.

dense urban city images

Michael Wolf, a German photographer, focuses on the latter, turning the vast structures of the city into strange stand-alone landscapes that show the enormity and relentless repetitiveness of this vertical urban environment.

dense city urban scaffolding

On the one hand, it is fascinating to see just how overwhelming the overarching rhythms of the buildings are when you take a broad view. At the same time, though, individuality begins to emerge as you zoom in and narrow the scope of your perspective.

dense dark city photos

In his book Architecture of Density Wolf explores the patterns and scales of his new home city, testing different angles and distances while remaining focused on the sometimes-bleak yet awe-inspiring man-made side of this incredibly packed island.

hong kong street level

As his main series of photographs show (versus the scout shots directly above), attempts to distinguish scales through details and color seem almost hopeless against the large-scale monotony of it all. To be fair to its inhabitants, however, those upper-level images tell only one half of the story – visiting Hong Kong has many more dimensions than can be seen looking only from on high.

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Photography & Video. ]

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Top of the World: Photos & Videos from Atop Tallest Towers

03 Jul

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Photography & Video. ]

tallest building top view

First he presented a photo-edited version (carefully stitched from dozens of photos) to show what the view would look like without the building he on top of which he took it. Still, impressive as that was, photographer Gerald Donovan‘s raw shot is all the more dizzying despite leaving the obstructions in the frame.

tallest building panoramic photograph

tallest structure top view

In the unedited version, the last bits of tower and few people right below give you a sense of the distance from Earth at which the shot was taken – 2,722 feet at the top of the Burj Khalifa.

It is in fact so tall you can see a sunset twice in the same day, per the video above. You can watch the sun set once from the ground, then take the elevator up, and witness it for a second time minutes later. Amazing. The second film above shows a 24 hour sequence of this incredible structure from below.

top of wtc photo

And if static images of the Burj in Dubai are not sufficient to get your heart racing, try watching the last video above showing the last piece being installed at the top of One World Trade Center in New York City (image and video via the Port Authority of NJ & NY).

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Photography & Video. ]

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Drowned Out: 9 Abandoned Lifeguard Huts & Towers

31 Mar

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

Battered by wind, waves and relentless weathering, these 9 abandoned lifeguard towers still stand watch though the watchers have long since left.

Genkai-jima, Japan

abandoned lifeguard tower genkaijima Japan (images via: Another Tokyo)

The island of Genkai-jima in southern Japan’s Hakata Bay has seen a lot of history, not least being two unsuccessful Mongol invasions almost 750 years ago. Situated off the Itoshima Peninsula on the bay’s western side, Genkai-jima offers an ideal lookout platform in general and, wonder of wonders, boasts a man-made lookout platform to boot.

Genkaijima Japan abandoned lifeguard lookout tower (image via: Catching Fish With Fish)

The abandoned lifeguard tower on Genkai-jima is rather luxurious as such constructions go, providing a windowed sheltering space beneath the topmost observation platform accessible via a poured concrete, railed staircase. An appreciable expense must have been expended to run an electrical power line to the hut, enabling the use of a powerful searchlight mounted on the roof. After all that, the tower was abandoned at some point and is inexorably deteriorating. Swim (or invade) at your own risk.

Koshkol, Kyrgyzstan

abandoned lifeguard station Koshkol Kyrgyzstan (image via: Wikipedia/Vmenkov)

Vladimir Menkov picked a picture-perfect day to document the current (well, 2007) state of the lifeguard station at the abandoned Lake Issyk Kul beach resort at Koshkol, Kyrgyzstan. Formerly patronized by vacationing Soviet-era poobahs, the resort and its facilities were caught between the fall of communism and the rise of Islamism.

Cape Town, South Africa

abandoned lifeguard hut Cape Town South Africa Innocent (images via: Sandra Maytham-Baily)

Sandra Maytham-Bailey used a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera and some very creative processing techniques to bring out the best of this abandoned beachfront lifeguard hut. Cape Town’s beaches are both spectacular and dangerous – if the powerful riptides don’t get you, the local Great White Sharks will. Why’s this “Innocent” lifeguard HQ boarded up and abandoned, then? Perhaps potential lifeguards figured the hazards weren’t worth the pay.

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Drowned Out 9 Abandoned Lifeguard Huts Towers

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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Twin Tree-Covered Towers: The World’s First Vertical Forests

26 Mar

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Offices & Commercial. ]

vertical towers construction progress

Concept designs from far-fetched futurists have toyed with the idea for years, but one firm has finally made the vision a reality: towers extensively populated with intensive (meaning: large and heavy) plant life. In short: trees!

vertical forest sky trees

Situated in Milan, Italy, many skeptics were sure these two towers were just another pie-in-the-sky plan for an impossible building. After all, the load-bearing requirements alone for over 10,000 trees and 5,000 shrubs are extreme. Stefano Boeri Architetti (photos by Marco Garofalo) is showing them otherwise.

vertical green skyscraper lighting

The added weight is not wasted, nor ornamental – the vegetation layers will reduce the need for temperature regulation within the building. They will also filter the congested air of the city and serve to help reduce the temperature (always higher in urban areas).

vertical forest tree diagrams

vertical forest buildings

The pre-grown plant life was carefully selected for the structure based on the regional climate, light and wind exposure, and is even now being hoisted into final positions. When complete, this will be, on some metrics, quite literally the greenest pair of buildings in the world.

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Offices & Commercial. ]

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Transportable Tourist Towers Provide Stackable Housing

22 Feb

[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

Transportable Tourist Tower 1

Prefabricated, portable and modular, the Transportable Tourist Tower (TTT) by Portuguese architect Jose Pequeno is an adaptable housing solution that can be installed on almost any site, vertically or horizontally, as a single unit or a larger stacked structure. Capable of being made from local, recyclable materials, this nearly self-contained unit is ideal for temporary installations and sensitive building sites.

Transportable Tourist Tower 2

The tower debuted at the 2010 Shanghai Expo and has since made its way around the world, installed in various locations as a tourist information center. It needs as little as 10 square meters for its installation, fitting into tight spaces. It can be transported on a truck, and lifted into place with a crane.

Transportable Tourist Tower 3

Transportable Tourist Tower 5

Vertically, the Transportable Tourist Tower can be placed alone or side-by-side. But what makes this unit even more versatile is its ability to be placed on its side. All of the components within the building are flexible and modular, making them easy to move, remove or replace as needed.

Transportable Tourist Tower 4

The three-story unit is packed with functionality despite its small size. It contains a living space, dining area, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, study and rooftop deck. It’s easy to imagine this tower in use at large events such as the Olympics, where compact housing is only needed for a short period of time.

[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

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Super Skyscrapers! 20 Concept Towers That Reach Sky High

02 Nov

[ By Marc in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

Architects are all dreamers. While their special projects and grand ideas often aren’t considered practical enough to be created, looking at their concepts is a great way to see the potential that architecture holds in the future, as creativity and beauty is increasingly rewarded.

(Images via skyscrapernews, eikonographia, igreenspot)

The top left skyscraper is a dream of architects Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill, planned to be created in Dubai. The architecture firm TVS Associates came up with an even crazier concept for four towers, also planned for Dubai. Guess where that last building is being planned for? Yep, Dubai! Oppenheim came up with this gorgeously flowing Marina and Beach Tower.

(Images via webecoist, ibuildthetower, eamusing)

Designer Michael Jantzen loves to design towers with a fun, open aesthetic and a functional purpose (in this case, generating wind power while providing a beautiful view). The Watts towers are a famous one man project built in an abandoned lot by Sam Rodia, showing that some of these concepts can be built, even if it’s on a small scale. The final image is the back of a solar tower being built for the 2016 Olympic games being put on in Rio. The back has a gorgeous waterfall, and the front, featured below is equally stunning.

(Images via architecturepeanuts, adistinctiveworld, metaefficient, impactlab, inhabitat)

The Atrium City Towers, created by Adrian Smith, are a concept design for a series of connected towers to be constructed in Dubai. The front of Rio’s 2016 Olympic Games torch is a gorgeous structure, which will get a lot of use even after the games. These waterfront structures are planned for a Malaysian waterfront, and were designed by Studio Nicoletti Associati. Created for an Olympics, the “falling towers” building in Beijing, China (concept shown) are now a reality in the city. The Almaty Twin Towers are going to be built in Kazakhstan. They were designed by Norman Foster.

(Images via yankodesign, urbika, e-architect)

Zaha Hadid designed the “dancing towers” which reject the typical idea that towers have to be perfectly vertical. The Dubai Towers (now a canceled project) were also more fluid than most, adding a literal twist to the typical tower. The Nomas towers in Bahrain are an interesting concept and almost look like smoke stacks more than mixed use buildlings.

(Images via ecofriend, ctbuh, skyscraperpage, luxurylaunches)

The Fog Tower was designed by Alberto Fernandez and Susana Ortega and would stand at the edge of the Atamaca desert, absorbing moisture and creating a beautiful haze. the Singapore Towers are a wild twist on the typical tower, with several sections hanging off of a central core, and creating an incredibly unique look. This 101 story tower was designed for Dubai (where else?) and while it would stand out remarkably in most other cities, it says something about Dubai’s architecture that this one seems almost mundane. The Z10 Towers, designed by Dinesh Doshi, are mixed use and remarkable for their appearance, and the fact that they are surrounded by water.

(Images via greendiary, skyscrapercity)

The Moda-Gakuen Spiral Towers were designed for Nagoya City, Japan and have a stunning fluidity that is perfect for a structure on the edge of the water. Mumbai has this interesting design, an over 50 story building developed by Godrej Construction that is somewhat reminiscent of building blocks.

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360Photography

Posts Tagged ‘Towers’

Vertical Forests: 2 Lush Urban Towers Support 16,000 Plants

Dense City: Photos Show Tightly-Packed Hong Kong Towers

Top of the World: Photos & Videos from Atop Tallest Towers