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Old Posted Jan 7, 2010, 8:08 AM
zilfondel zilfondel is offline
Submarine de Nucléar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Missouri
Posts: 4,477
Quote:
Originally Posted by scottb View Post
It's real. They are climbing vines attached to cables - every couple floors there is a "shelf" extending from the face of the building with planters and connections for the cables.

There are other renderings, but to my knowledge this is the only design direction currently being pursued. I hope to be able to post the other views of the building soon. (they show the north & east elevations)

BTW - the green screen is not likely to be as thick as shown in this view. The design is still conceptual, and this rendering is meant to show the greenery at its fullest extent (with some artistic license). Most of the year the growth will be much less full, and in the winter will be practically non-existent so as to let as much daylight into the building as possible. And the green screen is only on the west side - there is one "panel" on the south elevation at the SW corner (highly oblique in this view), but that's it.

The rooftop is a giant PV array angled down to the south for solar collection. The underside of the roof visible in this view is a "space frame" truss system supporting the PV's above. The other views will illustrate this condition much more clearly.
I think it's a great concept and I have high hopes for the actual built product. Unfortunately, the renderings are a bit... erm, low budget. But whatever works, I guess. Its a very technical approach to a problem of efficiency... It's pretty obvious that we have little idea of what it will actually look like when built (the experience of being under the screen on the street, for instance).

One thing's for sure - this building is going to grab a LOT of attention. This, plus the Oregon Sustainability Center, are going to garner a heck of a lot of press and photography.

Question: how big is the roof? And high much higher than the current roofline will it be? It looks like it will be adding a little bit of height to the current building.
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