First things first, I love the idea of this. Just in general I think it is very interesting to see what solutions companies are coming up with for natural insulation. One of the largest Toyota plants in Japan uses Ivy vines as pure insulation, along with a lot more energy efficient techniques.
The thing that caught my eye was the comment about how it is a waste of money. We are in this thought process that we are in a green revolution. We are all about saving the environment. Thomas Friedman, a sustainability advocate and author, wrote that it's not a revolution until people disagree, until it causes conflict. He claims that right now we are in a green party. It's all fun and games, but nothing is getting done.
I agree to this to an extent. We are by NO means sustainable right now. But this is a step. It's going to cost a lot of money. There is going to be hardship, but it is going to come to a time when we have to decide what is worth it. This is becoming more of a necessity and people must realize it will not come easy. We will not wake up tomorrow it be a country running on environmentally friends energy.
That being said, it is exciting seeing designers and architects thinking up ways and trying out methods and a highly urbanized country. Kudos.
When I started reading this article, the first thing that came to mind was: "Wow. Only Oregon."
I have never seen a plant structure cover the entire side of a skyscraper or even dream of doing such a thing. I have seen flowers maybe added to sections of buildings for viewers appeal, but not for sustainability purposes.
I also took the enviornmental sustainablilty class here at OSU with Curtis and he is exactly right when we he said we are not sustainable right now. I think that this idea is really interesting, but I don't know why I am not really as excited about it. To me I think it would cost a lot of money to maintain these plants that are hanging along the building even in years to come when they are full grown. Why not build something that would do the same thing with recycle materials, like steel or scrap metal? This idea might look more aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but do the pros out weigh the cons?
This is awesome, yet inpractical. I would love to see this happen, having greenery in a city reduces heat and in this case would produce sorts of produce. I personally like gardening, and the idea of eating food that you know wasn't grown in a plant with lots of hormone-injections.
Unfortunately, I don't think (as far as eating the vegetables that would be produced here) that I would be willing to eat anything that came out of a garden that is in the middle of downtown portland, where cars are driving by and emitting their fumes onto the plants. We're supposed to eat that? Not to mention all of the runoff from big buildings downtown. That's not something that I would want to eat.
Not only that, but the cost of harvesting these plants would outweigh the benefits.
Would this be cool? absolutely. Is it practical? not in my opinion.
I agree with Jess. I'm a huge fan of t his idea and the whole concept of it is great, but I'm not sure that this sort of building would function for anything other than aesthetics. Given that the article states that it would use 60% less energy than other similar buildings, but I think this could be accomplished with better insulation anyways. It would definitely be an attraction and something I would look up and go "oooo, aaaahhhh", but I don't think this is something feasible at all. It certainly does give off the illusion of being environmentally friendly pretty well though....
1. What design issues are you interested in? 2. What is your dream collaboration? 3. Compare your fashion style to your GD style. 4. What is your ideal work environment? 5. Response to Ira Glass on good taste. 6. Write a story
First things first, I love the idea of this. Just in general I think it is very interesting to see what solutions companies are coming up with for natural insulation. One of the largest Toyota plants in Japan uses Ivy vines as pure insulation, along with a lot more energy efficient techniques.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that caught my eye was the comment about how it is a waste of money. We are in this thought process that we are in a green revolution. We are all about saving the environment. Thomas Friedman, a sustainability advocate and author, wrote that it's not a revolution until people disagree, until it causes conflict. He claims that right now we are in a green party. It's all fun and games, but nothing is getting done.
I agree to this to an extent. We are by NO means sustainable right now. But this is a step. It's going to cost a lot of money. There is going to be hardship, but it is going to come to a time when we have to decide what is worth it. This is becoming more of a necessity and people must realize it will not come easy. We will not wake up tomorrow it be a country running on environmentally friends energy.
That being said, it is exciting seeing designers and architects thinking up ways and trying out methods and a highly urbanized country. Kudos.
When I started reading this article, the first thing that came to mind was: "Wow. Only Oregon."
ReplyDeleteI have never seen a plant structure cover the entire side of a skyscraper or even dream of doing such a thing. I have seen flowers maybe added to sections of buildings for viewers appeal, but not for sustainability purposes.
I also took the enviornmental sustainablilty class here at OSU with Curtis and he is exactly right when we he said we are not sustainable right now. I think that this idea is really interesting, but I don't know why I am not really as excited about it. To me I think it would cost a lot of money to maintain these plants that are hanging along the building even in years to come when they are full grown. Why not build something that would do the same thing with recycle materials, like steel or scrap metal? This idea might look more aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but do the pros out weigh the cons?
This is awesome, yet inpractical. I would love to see this happen, having greenery in a city reduces heat and in this case would produce sorts of produce. I personally like gardening, and the idea of eating food that you know wasn't grown in a plant with lots of hormone-injections.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I don't think (as far as eating the vegetables that would be produced here) that I would be willing to eat anything that came out of a garden that is in the middle of downtown portland, where cars are driving by and emitting their fumes onto the plants. We're supposed to eat that? Not to mention all of the runoff from big buildings downtown. That's not something that I would want to eat.
Not only that, but the cost of harvesting these plants would outweigh the benefits.
Would this be cool? absolutely. Is it practical? not in my opinion.
I agree with Jess. I'm a huge fan of t his idea and the whole concept of it is great, but I'm not sure that this sort of building would function for anything other than aesthetics. Given that the article states that it would use 60% less energy than other similar buildings, but I think this could be accomplished with better insulation anyways. It would definitely be an attraction and something I would look up and go "oooo, aaaahhhh", but I don't think this is something feasible at all. It certainly does give off the illusion of being environmentally friendly pretty well though....
ReplyDelete