This house is located on the Peninsula de Osa (Costa Rica), a place where the 5% of the world biodiversity is embodied. Probably is the best location for the new ISEAMI Institute headquarters, a center devoted to the investigation of sustainability, ecology and art.

The closest town from the Institute, Puerto Jimenez, is located at 30 km, what means that the house doesn’t have neither electricity supply nor water. These severe conditions obligate the Institute to invest on a 100% self-sufficient house. So, Casa Iseami runs totally off-grid thanks to an on-site hydropower system, with 2 low impact hydroelectric generators than generate a total of 800 kWh a year, and a photovoltaic roof with a production capability of 10.800 kWh a year.

The new headquarters was designed by Robles Arquitectos, Costa Rican-based architects, who followed their own design process named SDRA (Dynamic system Robles Arquitectos) which, during the investigation stage, evaluates 10 important elements as: site, climate, energy, water, materials, environment, atmosphere, cost, innovation, and the use of passive strategies and implemented processes. In order to reduce the negative impact of the house a design plan and a management plan, in which the elements mentioned above were analyzed, were developed.

The house is potentially recyclable. Recycled plastic, glass and mainly the steel (structure and panels) were chosen in order the house to be 100% recyclable at the end of its lifecycle. The construction system was based on a prefab method planned in order to get the construction time and low environmental on the site.

A new way of living is intended in this house. For this purpose the distribution has been thought in order to integrate the interior and the exterior of the house, creating possibilities to enjoy nature on its original state as much as the occupants desires it.

Via: Contemporist | Inhabitat

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A technology that has been around for many years already is only starting to flourish nowadays. Lush plant-covered walls are being grown with more frequency each day.

These vertical gardens started off as a resource for people without gardens to bring a little bit of green into their lives, without having to give up living space if there was not much of it to go around. Hanging plants on walls was a pretty common thing to do some years ago. but it is safe to say that this trend has now evolved considerably.

Nowadays technologies allow whole gardens to be placed on walls, it’s no longer individual lone plants. Entire walls are being covered up in plants, of all kinds, shapes and sizes. People have even started growing edible plants and vegetables in their living rooms.

Take for example the Pizzeria Mozza on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. GreenScaped Buildings installed a lush and massive wall — now about 120 square feet on the east facing wall — that protrudes roughly 15 inches from the surface. It grows lettuce, peppermint, celery, parsley, sage, and other edible plants. Not only is this wall practically a vertical urban garden, green wall is sustained by 100% recycled polypropylene plastic modules, a Uni-Strut frame, and Netafim in-line drip irrigation.

These edible living walls offer a creative and fascinating option for those who may have always wanted to grow their own vegetables but never had the sufficient space available. The Pizzeria Mozza is just one example of the many people that have decided to go for this new green trend.

Not only does this system work effectively it is also very pleasing to look at. Every day new technologies offer us alternatives to bring nature closer to us an make it available for us to enjoy in our daily life, no matter where we may live or how much space we dispose of.

via: Jetson Green

Among the different ways to store energy, pumped hydro probably it is not the most known, but it is real and in use around the world. Basically pumped hydro works as a good complement of wind and solar energy, allowing to store the energy generated and accumulated thanks to these sources.

Pumped storage hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric power generation used by some power plants for load balancing, and is the largest-capacity form of grid energy storage now available.The method stores energy in the form of water, pumped from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation, when there is available energy from the sun or wind that is not being used. When the power is needed later, you just need to let water fall down the slow-grade waterfalls and use it as hydro energy to fill the grid.

Taking advantage of this method the Danish architectural firm Gottlieb Paludan has the idea to use this kind of storage of green power to turn the world’s most island-ridden areas unused water-surrounded land into Green Power Islands. How? According to the firm each island would enclose a lagoon-like reservoir, which would be emptied using pumps driven by wind and solar power produced while demand is low. As consumption rises, seawater is allowed back into the reservoir, driving turbines that would generate new power. In this way it would be possible, according to them, to regenerate up to 75% of the energy that went into the process of pumping it empty.

The firm has outlined a few areas around the world that would be great for Green Power Islands: their native Denmark, the Florida Keys, Jiangsu in China, Manama in Baharain and Tamil Nadu in India. All of these locals have an abundance of uninhabited islands and either an abundance of sun or wind.

Via: Inhabitat

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The new building will be a modern and more sustainable upgrade to the historic St. Lawrence neighborhood that respectfully integrates with the older buildings. The design is a four-storey structure that allows market shoppers to view life and activities on Front Street, Jarvis Street and on Market Lane Park from within its glass atrium, effectively creating an open indoor market that resembles a fresh, outdoor setting.

According to Treehugger, this modern and futuristic building will be an improvement over “a one story concrete shed of a market that was a perfect embodiment of Toronto at the time: cheap, expedient and ugly.”

The building represents the farmer’s market of the future, since it is to be a mixed used building, so being multi-purpose. It will be built according to Toronto Green Standard, including natural day lighting and ventilation as well as an energy-efficient HVAC system. In order to reduce significantly the energy demands of this large market a geothermal heating and cooling system will be incorporated. The roof, which includes skylights for daylight, will be also covered in vegetation to help reduce solar heat gain and collect rainwater.

Via: Inhabitat | TreeHugger | Matter Network

What can you expect from an island where there is no nature, no fresh water, no energy infrastructure, no roads and no sewers? The answer is ambitious: one man made ecosystem that will transform the island into a self-sustaining city containing 10,000 people and with zero emissions.

Located within the crescent shaped bay of Baku, Zira Island is going to take in The Seven Peaks of Azerbaijan, a master plan for a Zero Energy resort and entertainment city within the Caspian Sea. The project is an original design made by the danish architect Bjarke Ingels, from the BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group). The island is designed to be a sustainable model for urban development and an iconographic skyline recognizable from the city’s coastline. In this sense, far from becoming a visual impact to the bakunians, the new architectural landscape has derived from its natural landscape, and it’s intended to replicate, through artificial constructions, the seven most significant mountains of the country.

The mountains are conceived not only as metaphors but also engineered as entire eco-systems, a model for future sustainable urban development. The energy needed to operate the 1 million square city will be supplied entirely through renewable sources as offshore wind turbines, solar heat panels, photovoltaic cells and ocean wave energy. The development aims to be entirely independent of external resources. Fresh water will be provided through a desalination plant, and waste water and storm water will be collected and led to a waste water treatment plant, where it will be cleaned, processed and recycled for irrigation.

“Only the best ideas survive”, mentions the author when is asked for the design, making reference to the underpinning idea of the project: Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection applied to urbanism.

More info, click here.

With the world population steadily becoming more concentrated in urban areas, environmental sustainability depends largely on how we plan and construct cities. Green architecture is one important facet of this process. In the U.S., buildings account for about half of all energy consumption and GHG emissions. Constructing energy efficient and more eco-friendly residential, commercial and industrial buildings is crucial to the future of our planet.

Many of the most creative and inspiring architectural designs of our day are incorporating green features. The Edgar Street Towers, from San Francisco-based IwamotoScott Architecture, is part of a study to redesign a 41-acre area in downtown Manhattan called Greenwich South. The building would straddle Edgar Street and spiral up, connecting above the street below. Some of the sustainable design features are the fiber-optic daylighting, environmentally-modeled skin, and bio-filtration terrarium flooring providing fresh air to the structure. Read more about the project  here, here, and here.

The Emilio Ambasz Prize for Green Architecture for International Buildings was recently awarded to the office building designed by Düsseldorf-based Ingenhoven Architects and built in 2008. The glass and steel structure houses the European Investment Bank headquarters in Luxembourg. The glass allows for natural lighting to enter the offices and operable windows permit employees to control temperature and ventilation. The need for heating and air conditioning is basically eliminated by a winter garden that serves as a thermal buffer. More coverage can be found here and here.

One of the most sustainable building methods is simply to reuse materials. In Malaysia, this idea is being put into practice by constructing homes using old shipping containers. Innovative technology and plain old recycling and reusing may help lead us to a greener future.

Should we focus our attention on renovating old buildings to be more sustainable, or is it better to build new greener  buildings? How do you see sustainable architecture playing a role in the future of cities?

Tags: Sustainable Architecture, New York, IwamotoScott Architecture, Ingenhoven Architects, Green Architecture, Architecture