MVRDV has revealed a renovation scheme for the Tripolis office complex in Amsterdam, originally designed by Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck. Entitled Tripolis Park, the proposal that will accommodate the offices of Uber, will also enlarge part of the existing space, add an office block and a new park.
Rooftops covered with grass, vegetable gardens and lush foliage are now a common sight in many cities around the world. More and more private companies and city authorities are investing in green roofs, drawn to their wide-ranging benefits which include savings on energy costs, mitigating the risk from floods, creating habitats for urban wildlife, tackling air pollution and urban heat and even producing food.
Sea levels are rising around the world, but as they rise, Bangkok is sinking. The low-lying megacity, built on marshland, is also now so covered in concrete that during heavy rains—the type of storms that are becoming more common because of climate change—streets can quickly flood.
Queensland’s largest green wall has recently been unveiled as part of a $100 million-plus glass-fronted building at Brisbane’s Breakfast Creek Lifestyle Precinct.
Plants work their magic by transforming carbon dioxide (CO2) into oxygen via photosynthesis. Installing a Vertical Field living biofilter in your home or office can remove about 95 percent of the pollutants in a building, the company claims.
K11 Musea is a shopping centre on the Tsim Sha Tsui harbour-front in Hong Kong, designed by an architecture team led by Kohn Pedersen Fox.
The retail development is clad in Portuguese limestone, with 4,600 square metres of green walls and a green roof featuring urban farms.
Replacing black asphalt and shingles with plants can lower the surrounding air temperature, filter dirty storm water and reduce a building’s energy use.
A total of 983 jurisdictions stretching from Poland to the Philippines have now declared a climate emergency. However, a major question remains open in all cases: once declared, whose role it is to act?
