Veg.itecture #37

About time to purge the bursting folders of Vegetated Architecture projects that have been zooming through the blogosphere lately. As well a few resources, include this [cringe] DIY Guide to Green and Living Roofs as well as good overview post on the 'Arbortectural' via Design Under Sky. Overall, a wide range of types and scales - along with an interesting article via World Landscape Architect - and China Daily - on the goal in Shanghai of adding 100,000 sq/m of green roof annually (and recently hitting 95k sq. m recently)... that's a lot for those of you keeping track at home (over 1 million square feet).

On to the projects, starting at Arch Daily, Joanopolis House by Una Arquitetos offers some very thick building planes which hold a variety of vegetation, as seen in the images below:




:: images via Arch Daily

I especially like this retained earth/infinity pool detail along one side:


:: image via Arch Daily

Via Dwell, a lovely green roof in Vista Hermosa, the new urban park in LA:


:: image via Dwell

Back to the Olympics and Beijing a little, via Inhabitat some respite from the Bird's Nest - the (coincidence?) LEED Gold Olympic Village with a variety of green rooftops... strange no one talked about the 'green-ness' of the village... in all of the coverage (or at least the 20 hours or so I watched) or even a damn street tree anywhere in Beijing for that matter. This is cool, it would've been nice to actually see it...


:: image via Inhabitat

Not quite the rave reviews for the Chelsea Barracks... maybe it's the color of the rendering?


:: image via BDonline

A smaller scale project in Costa Rica by B-Green, with a modest green roof (the little tufted gables are a nice touch):


:: image via WAN

A less green (for now) modern version atop a new Seattle house (via Jetson Green), Alley House by developer Cascade Built... that makes me, sigh, wonder why that much money and attention on a house doesn't warrant an extra couple hundred dollars worth of sedum...


:: image via Jetson Green

And a little tuft of greenery atop a less- modest structure, Doon Street Tower by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands.

:: image via WAN

And for those of you eagerly awaiting like myself, I did get my hot little hands on the new Patrick Blanc book - 'The Vertical Garden' coming out soon from WW Norton (who were nice enough to send me a review copy). Look for a review sooner, (depending on my desire to haul it around on vacation- it's large) or not... But trust me, you will NOT be disappointed. If you have an inkling of desire to learn about this concept, you will want to own this book - so pre-order it now.