This is really cool: a building that is not only environmentally friendy (low energy use, low impact building materials, passive heating and cooling, and so on), but also comes with its own hydroponic garden system.
What's neat is that this isn't vaporware--China is in the process of building a bunch of these. Here's how much green stuff the building will have:
Look hydroponicy stuff:
Some more:
And:
It's got all sorts of convection air current stuff:
And the apartments look nice too:
I wonder if it will have termite problems though....
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I wonder if it will have termite problems...
Only once.
More seriously, biodegradable means just that. Controlling when and how things biodegrade will always be a problem if you want to build green.
Very cool. This is a welcome contrast to the images of apartment buildings usually seen out of China's massive urbanization.
Are the gardens present for any reason other than to look pretty? And do they sell the fruit or just let the residents take them?
I don't know much about them echo-gnomics, but it seems difficult to imagine a place where land values are high enough to prompt construction of a twelve-story apartment building, yet it's cost-effective to give up 4-15 apartments worth of space in that building to raising fruit for sale. On the other hand if the point is just to allow tenants to walk into your "backyard" to pick fruit and make orange juice for breakfast or whatever, something normally limited to homeowners in California or something, that sounds like a really amazing bonus.
This is actually a variation on what is called 'vertical farming,' the only technology of which I am aware with the potential to free land from the plow and return it to forest and savanah. The logistical benefits of siting agricultural production in the heart of urban centers are also obvious.
BTW, the bottom picture shows three(!) sprouts and two adults. Times they are a changin', in China, that is.
Before I saw this was in China, I was wondering who, exactly, is responsible for the plants? It might be less of an issue there, but here - are you paying a premium rent in return for the landlord's promise to keep up the greenery? Or do you get a place to plant your own (and have a responsibility to plant and maintain it)?
What's the premium for having a plot of land on the roof?
And how good's the security in the building and roof (to prevent theft, vandalism, etc.)?
Buildings like this are always fascinating, but in addition to some of the questions other folks have raised, a very real concern in the arid western states is that such a building may actually be illegal. I didn't read all the links info, but generally such buildings a collecting & reusing rain water, gray waste water, and so on. In a lot of the west there are so many users with claim on that water that you are *required* to pass it on down through the system within a certain limited time period (like a day).
Not that such buildings aren't a good idea, but they can run head-on into some rather byzantine systems that have developed over the last 150 years.
An interesting (and local to me) development is Dockside Green in Victoria, BC.
Those sprouts are distinctly blonde. Sounds like business as usual in China.
Saw a lovely propag^h^h^h documentary piece recently on green building in the ROC. The US is falling behind many, many other nations on this.
Don't worry the other 450 tenants will be home shortly they are in that lone automobile that just pulled up alongside the building.
This is Great! With all the rough and tumble issues we have to deal with it is a breath of fresh air to see this progress and be able to get excited about seeing where it goes over time!
Dave Briggs :~)
You should see http://docksidegreen.com/
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This is Great! With all the rough and tumble issues we have to deal with it is a breath of fresh air to see this progress and be able to get excited about seeing where it goes over time!
Dave Briggs
very thanks for article
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