Eupraxsophy

The World’s First Vertical Forest is Nearing Completion in Milan, Italy

Architect Stefano Boeri designed Bosco Verticale, a vertical forest which will plant 900 trees on the balconies of 2 towers. This vegetation produces the same ecological footprint as 10,000 square meters of forest. And anyway, this way is much more fashion-forward.

Aside from looking ridiculously gorgeous, the vertical forest has abundant positive eco-effects as well. The plants will produce humidity and oxygen while protecting from radiation and pollution through absorbing carbon dioxide. The towers will use Aeolian and photovoltaic energy systems to increase the buildings’ self-sufficiency.

They will also attract birds and insects, creating a miniature ecosystem. The skyscraper forest was called “the most exciting new tower in the world” by the Financial Times and serves as an inspiration to other industrial spaces wishing to buffer their pollution output. 

Source: HuffPo.

House of the Bulgarian Communist Party (Dimitar Kilkoff, Getty Images). Courtesy of Buzzfeed.

Namba Mall (Green Mall) in Osaka, Japan. Find more fascinating structures here. 

f-l-e-u-r-d-e-l-y-s:

Wat Rong Khun is a contemporary unconventional Buddhist and Hindu temple in Chiang Rai, Thailand.

(via inclaravoce)

so-aware:

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Architecture Humanitarian Emergencies 02

by Jorge Lobos

A few months ago Architecture Humanitarian Emergencies 02 caused a stir across the web. The Leading Architecture websites posted images of the book – leaving many readers to questioning how they could purchase a copy. Unfortunately, when contacted, the publisher reported that the book is not for sale, and only a few copies were printed for internal use.

With such useful information, it is simply a tragedy that people were unable to read all the content. Luckily for our readers, So|Aware was able to reach out and get direct access to all 122 full-color pages. Enjoy!

Description:

Every year humanitarian emergencies endanger more than 200 million people on Earth. This book explains how simple and low cost solutions, in accordance with cultural norms of each country’s project, can help to mitigate global disasters. The goal of the publication is to support the rights of every inhabitant on the planet using accumulated architectural knowledge for the good humankind.

The solutions are there. What we need is political and public will. 

kaylaalewiss:

Bridges usually go right over water – they don’t even touch the surface. Surprisingly, if you submerge the vast majority of the structure under water, allowing pedestrians to effectively travel between the waves, it makes the whole experience of using a bridge much more exciting. Moses may have thought of it but it’s taken about 3,000 years for us to catch up, all thanks to Dutch architects Ro & Ad.

Whoa

Human ingenuity never ceases to amaze. 

(Source: razorshapes, via irishsaints)

pamandjapan:

秋野不矩美術館 (Akino Fuku Art Museum)

The Akino Fuku Bijutsukan in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka is a museum housed in an interesting building made mostly from local cedar and other products. It features a permanent collection of many pieces by the late artist Akino Fuku.

The Japanese have always had a knack for both function and aesthetics. This is beautiful.

(via one-man-rhino-pack)

From Juxtapoz Magazine:

Leave it to Iceland to have serene beauty such as this. The design firm, Choi + Shine Architects, came up with this, The Land of Giants an attempt to transform “mundane electrical pylons into statues on the Icelandic landscape by making only small alterations to existing pylon design.” These designs were submitted as a competition entry in “March of 2008 to Landsnet, Iceland national power transmission company who was working in collaboration with the Association of Icelandic Architects.” 

At the time, Choi + Shine wrote, “Like the statues of Easter Island, it is envisioned that these one hundred and fifty foot tall, modern caryatids will take on a quiet authority, belonging to their landscape yet serving the people, silently transporting electricity across all terrain, day and night, sunshine or snow.”

From the selection committee itself, “The competition’s goal was to obtain new ideas in types and appearances for 220kV high-voltage towers and lines. The competition emphasized that specific consideration be given to the visual impact of the towers (or lines) and that careful consideration be given to the appearance of towers near urban areas and unsettled regions.

“The competitors were free to choose whether all the towers would have a new look, particular towers and selected environments would have a new look, or whether the appearance of known types of towers would be altered. In addition, it was left up to the competitors whether the design would blend into the landscape in rural and urban areas, or the tower/towers would stand out as objects.

“The main goal of the competition was that a new type of tower/towers would emerge, altering the overall appearance of line routes and that towers could be developed further with respect to environmental impact, the electromagnetic field lifetime and cost.”

The capacity for human ingenuity is remarkable. Even the more utilitarian and mundane things can be redesigned to be beautiful - yet still just as function. I’d love to see this trend catch on elsewhere in the world. 

Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque in Brunei. 

carnedeminhaperna:

Fascist Headquarters

Mussolini sure had unique taste. Despite being mostly buffoonish during the course of World War II, the Italian despot maintained a pretty good facade.

(via sovietsky)

fyeaheasterneurope:

Happy birthday to everyone’s favorite Ottoman architect, Mimar Sinan! He was born on this day in 1489. His origin is a little murky - he was born in a Christian family in Anatolia, but was recruited to be a Janissary and converted to Islam.  He began his career as a military engineer, but eventually worked his way up to chief royal architect. The lands of the former Ottoman Empire are filled with structures he designed, and his influence spread even further than that - one of his apprentices was a main architect of the Taj Mahal. 

Top picture is of the structure widely considered to be his masterpiece, Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, Turkey. All of the bottom pictures are from the Suleiman Mosque in Istanbul, probably his most famous work.

If you’ve been following this blog for awhile, you have seen some of his work already.

All pictures from here.

Beautiful. 

(via historyishuman)

pinkfrequency:

Floating Castle (Ukraine)

This would be great for a zombie apocalypse. Someone in Ukraine is ready. 

(via sovietsky)

Church and mosque, side-by-side in Beirut, Lebanon, where my family is from.