DailyLand: Parc Nus de la Trinitat

Parc Nus de la Trinitat, Barcelona, 1993 by Joan Roig & Enric Batlle found via VULGARE. "...is in north east Barcelona, inside a circular motorway junction. The scale of the six hectare park is definad by a framework of trees forming a spactially effective filter between the motorways and the park. A circular gallery divides the park into an inner and an outer area."




:: images via VULGARE

The park's location is definitely difficult, with multiple lanes of converging traffic. The use of buffering bands of vegetation, water, and berming creates separation from the immediate context, to the point where you can't see any of the trafficways from the park interior (or maybe some fine compositional cropping from the photographers)...






:: images via VULGARE

Obviously connectivity is the key to making this a successful space... as well as the size, to allow for spaces to be separated from the traffic lanes to a degree where they can stand on their own, with adjacent buffering. See the map view of the project below - via the original case study from the University of Virginia School of Architecture, which shows the open space in context with the rest of the urban form.


:: map image via Urban Arch Virginia

DailyLand: Promenade Samuel-de Champlain

The Promenade Samuel-de Champlain in Quebec, Canada by Consortium Daoust Lestage + Williams Asselin Ackaoui + Option aménagement provides open space along the St. Lawrence river. From Arch Daily: "...the project delicately weaves a sequence of diverse experiences and atmospheres, navigating from the boundless visual expanse of the river and the scale of the territory, to the tactile sensory experiences of the human scale. The first concern in this project was to inhibit the motorway system which crossed the ground over its length; the second, was to try to make comfortable this immense space by looking after the concepts of scales and balance, but also while giving a special attention to use local materials and vegetation on the site."


:: image via Arch Daily

The project offers a range of experiences from the soft to the more urban, including hardscape, boardwalk promenade, and undulating lawn.








:: images via Arch Daily

Some interesting patterns emerge with some of the aerial plan shots, showing the juxtaposition of disparate materials within the palette (click images to enlarge).


:: images via Arch Daily

DailyLand: “Pinar de Perruquet” Park

“Pinar de Perruquet” Park is a project in La Pineda (Vila-Seca), Spain by ARTEKS Arquitectura, featuring some undulating edges remind one of the work of Roberto Burle-Marx.








:: images © Pedro Pegenaute - via Arch Daily

An interesting feature of the park is the architectural canopy, which offers a veg.itectural analog of the surrounding wind tipped pines - which move slightly in the breeze as well. Check out the extensive photo gallery and project description via Arch Daily.




:: images © Pedro Pegenaute - via Arch Daily

DailyLand: Roberto Burle Marx

The New York Times featured a great retrospective of the work of Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx. Check out the article and slideshow. Many in the realms of landscape architecture have been influenced by the bold geometry of his designs, as well as the urban integration of landscape into the consciousness of urban dwellers. "...But the thing about him that really stands out is that he regarded landscape design as an equal partner with architecture, not as a backdrop or decoration, and elevated it to that level.”






:: images via NY Times

VIA: Urban Greenery

The blog/tumblr Urban Greenery offers a constant and seemingly endless stream of vegetated architecture in action, call it daily green, thus the theme of this installation of VIA focuses around a bevy of posts from this source (with a few others thrown in for measure).

One of the most stunning is from Core77, combining mass transit and greenery - via UG: ""Växtväggen (Swedish for “Plantwall”) is a self-supporting system composed of a reinforced, multi-layered, synthetic and absorbent felt-surface on which plants are applied into small pockets. Michael says: ‘Just like any garden, the vertical garden is a place of life and change. I try to achieve it by finding the essence of every plant - it could be a special color of its leafs, its texture, the way it growths etc - and give each species an environment where this may be at display.'"

:: image via Urban Greenery

There's a wealth of other vertical greenery on the site, including some visuals cribbed from an old post via PingMag... including these elevators from Patrick Blanc.


:: Green Elevator in Bangkok - image via Urban Greenery


:: Green Elevator - image via Urban Greenery

And this recent post, showing that rainwater harvesting systems don't need to be ugly and utilitarian. "“CISTA is a rain water harvesting system designed for urban environments. It provides storage for rain water within a vertical planted frame, allowing us to conserve water and increase green space.”


:: image via Urban Greenery

And some ephemera...


:: Secret Garden in NYC - image via Urban Greenery


:: Roof Garden, Chongqing, China - image via Urban Greenery


:: Roof Garden, Boston - image via Urban Greenery


:: Roof Garden, Toronto - image via Urban Greenery

And a project that has made the rounds in the past few days... SYNTHe, by Alexis Rochas. One of those wow projects that doesn't really ellicit much critical dialogue - it's a pretty stunning, beautiful and horribly inefficient way to grow veggies... pretty apt for LA :)


:: image via Urban Greenery


:: additional image via Inhabitat

More VIA and VIVA on the way as the coffers are full... stay tuned.

The Moss Room

Check out the yummy new project shown off in the latest issue of Metropolis. Back to the California Academy of Sciences building, the Moss Room by Lundberg Design is the subterranean restaurant that fittingly sheathed in a mossy covered green wall. There seems to be a lag between the print and online versions over at Metropolis - so all I could dig up were some semi-lucious photos.

I know its a restaurant and I could talk about the ambieance and food and such - but who cares. That wall is killer - with the soft, low-profile texture and literal moistness oozing from it. Damn, is the whole building green? More of the great mag photos to come when the article appears online. For now, some teasers.


:: image via Yelp

Although you can still see the edges of the panels in this system (which should fill in with some time) - it is still pretty stunning and makes for an amazing entry sequence down into the restaurant.




:: images via Eater SF


:: image via SF Gate

Chilean Facades: Consorcio + Concepción

A stunning new example of VIA (i think?) via Urban Greenery presents the The Consorcio Building in Santiago - with an amazing green wall system on significant portions of the facade - which recalls Ken Yeang's Bioclimatic structures in this tropical climate.




:: images via Urban Greenery

Located in Santiago, Chile - the green walls act as a vital environmental mitigation strategy: "The Consorcio Building in Santiago is one of the most sustainable office buildings, with up to 48% less energy usage thanks to its green wall, which turns red in autumn." An illustration of the shading microclimatic functions.




:: images via Urban Greenery

This interesting photo of the interstitial space between the facade and the outer vegetated screen - providing a cooling gap that allows for sun to be reflected, as well as for warm air to escape through the vertical channels instead of heating up the building.


:: image via Urban Greenery

Platforma Arquitectura offers some more imagery of the project - including the views from inside looking out (and follow the link for many more).






:: image via Platforma Arquitectura

I'm actually not sure what this image is trying to tell us for sure... i get the solar diagram, but the figure pushing on the facade is somewhat of a mystery.


:: image via Platforma Arquitectura

And there must be something good going on in Chile , as this project by Enrique Browne Arquitectos, which has been around for a while, has recently re-emerged on both Arch Daily and Inhabitat: "The office itself is composed of three elements. A vertical green wall constructed from locally-sourced wood shields the structure from the sun to the North, East, and west, and acts as a “double green skin” that insulates the interior. The structure’s south wall features a high-performance facade constructed from locally-sourced corrugated metal that helps to insulate the interior and render it highly energy efficient."


:: image via Inhabitat

We used this image a few years ago as a precendent image for a project in Seattle (when I was at my former employer) and it's good to see it again - as it is a stunning example of using a double facade system for cooling in hot climates. Some more pics and an illustration give a little more info to the story, including a glimpse at the plant list, which includes bougainvillea, jasmine, and plumbago.






:: image via Inhabitat

Veg.itecture: VIVA la Revolution

As promised, the counterpoint to the recent posts related to Veg.itecture in Action (VIA) are the more conceptual illustrative examples in the Veg.itecture in Visual Assessment (VIVA) posts - which offer a more sparsely informative overview of the visions of vegetated architecture and the many graphic forms that it takes. The dichotomy between vision and action will provide some interesting fodder for discussion - giving a more well-rounded overview of the phenomenon.

A project that has made all the rounds of the architecture blogs is the photoshop-genic projects that gets people talking - this project from Kjellgren Kaminsky for a large apartment project in New Heden. The projects iconic flowing hills are "...Envisioned as a “green lung” for Gothenburg, Sweden, the development will introduce a beautiful expanse of fresh green space to an area currently consumed by parking lots and football fields."






:: images via Inhabitat

Just as dynamic (or at least derived from dynamic processed), the envisioned Volcano Stadium in Guadalajara, Mexico by Jean-Marie Massaud seems to rise from the earth. Superbowl anyone?


:: image via SpaceInvading

A sinuous green parking lot, via Urban Greenery, of the such as the Green Corridor Indian Road Green Space in Windsor, Canada.


:: image via Urban Greenery

And the Community Enhancements and Green Facades... making roads and parking just a bit more pleasurable.


:: image via Urban Greenery

Staying on the topic of roadways for a bit - this intriguing project from Israel called Highway Habitat - which features multi-layered habitat for people and perhaps other things...?






:: images via World Architecture Community

A bit smaller scale, one of the Ordos 100 houses by RSVP has sinuous forms that wrap from ground to rooftop... as well as pockets of interior vegetation.






:: images via WAN

Another by SPRB arquitectos for the Bicentennial of the Independence Plaza, Mexico City, Mexico - comes via WAN. The inclusion of a rectangular green wall that will surround the and create: "...a great ritual space around the Concepción Chapel, symbolically dedicated to the Mexican Independence and Revolution, rectangular and long, isolated from the chaotic movement of the city by a “green wall”.






:: images via WAN

And finally, the silliness, via Jetson Green for an innovative new house that reminds me somewhat of a coconut with a parasol: "This conceptual proposal for a residence with combination solar panel and wind turbine offers the best of both worlds, with a dose of stage-like performance. Shaped to look like a rock, the dwelling stores water in its outer shell as an insulator to conserve energy. Furthermore, the transforming device embodies a playful spirit with its daisy-like shape that seems more like a toy rather than a high tech piece of equipment." Renderings and such from: Andreas Angelidakis.






:: images via Jetson Green