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| Skygarden, Seoul Photo: mvrdv.com Architects at Rotterdam company MVRDV are transforming an abandoned highway in the middle of the city into the Skygarden, an arboretum of trees, shrubs and flowers. Over on Garden 5, visitors can enjoy a picnic on an all-natural lawn the size of three football pitches, out of sight of the shoppers in the multiplex below. Replacing impermeable surfaces with green spaces such as these helps cities cope with excess water. |
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| Rubens living wall, Victoria, London Photo: The Rubens at the Palace Hotel Designed to reduce urban flooding, the living wall on the side of The Rubens at the Palace hotel contains more than 10,000 herbaceous plants and is over 68ft high. Gary Grant’s design captures rainwater in storage tanks on the roof then slowly feeds it into the wall. As well as reducing the volume of rainwater reaching the streets, the wall attracts wildlife and reduces air and noise pollution. |
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| Masdar City, United Arab Emirates Photo: Bloomberg/Getty Images Masdar City was built to demonstrate that cities can be sustainable, even in the harshest climates. The replacement of taps with sensors, for example, has apparently cut water use by 54%. However, as former chief planner of Vancouver, Brent Toderian, points out about the city: “New technology can be advantageous but it doesn’t replace compact, walkable, complete communities and a good relationship between housing and employment”. Ultimately, you can build a sustainable city but without a community it’s never going to thrive. |
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| O-S House, Racine, Wisconsin Photo: John J Macaulay/Johnsen Schmaling Architects Not only big buildings with big budgets that can set an example. Two thirds of the rainwater this family home receives is fed into a groundwater percolation area; the rest is stored in large rain barrels and used for small maintenance projects and to water the vegetable garden. The driveway, entry path and terrace are permeable to avoid putting strain on the city’s sewer system, which in the past has been forced to send untreated water and sewage into Lake Michigan during heavy storms. |
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| The Bullitt Center, Seattle, Washington Photo: View Pictures/Alamy Beneath The Bullitt Center’s solar panels, a parapet roof captures rainwater which is then transported to the basement via a network of filters, producing potable water. Meanwhile, greywater from sinks and showers is collected and filtered through a man-made wetland before going back into the soil to maintain the local aquifer. Perhaps the most notable feature of these commercial office buildings, however, is the compost toilets, which use only two tablespoons of water per use. |
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| The SAHMRI building, Adelaide Photo: John Quixley/Alamy The “ disco bling” aesthetic of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute might be the most noticeable thing about this building, but it’s what’s inside that counts. As well as its energy-efficient design, the institute’s cooling towers and toilets use harvested rainwater and reused processed water instead of potable water. An intelligent, integrated building system provides real-time data on energy and water consumption. |
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| Bioswales, New York Photo: Richard Levine/Alamy Yellow taxis and Broadway are synonymous with New York but did you know that bioswales are too? Like their siblings, greenstreets and rain gardens, these attractive urban features act like drains, enabling rainwater to be absorbed by soil as it runs down street gradients. Any water that is not used by the trees and plants can be slowly released into the surrounding soil, reducing the risk of flooding. |
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| Starbucks Coffee shop, Chicago, Illinois Photo: Alamy Water-efficient architecture is one thing, but if huge amounts of water are required to build the designs then there’s still a lot of work to be done. Welcome to upcycling, where materials are salvaged and repurposed. This Chicago coffee shop, for example, is built out of recycled shipping containers. |
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| The Edge, Amsterdam Photo: Ronald Tilleman This year BREEAM named The Edge as the most sustainable building in the world after giving it an assessment score of 98.36%. As well as its passive temperature control, beautiful energy efficient design and energy-generating technology, the office building captures rainwater and stores it underground for use in flushing toilets and to water plants in the surrounding gardens. |
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