Green Designs - First Vertical Skyscaper.

 

Several years ago a Swedish-American company called Plantagon unveiled plans for a series of massive skyscraper  houses that stood to transform urban farming in large cities. While the spiraling vertical farms seemed too good to be true at the time, Plantagon just broke ground on its very first vertical farm this week in Linkoping, Sweden! The “Plantscraper” will grow and supply fresh vegetables while creating solutions to some of the most vexing city pollution issues.

 

 

Plantagon seems to have traded in its initial geodesic dome design for a sheer tower that both contains and showcases the plants growing inside. This prototype building will be called the International Centre of Excellence for Urban Agriculture, and it will be a place for scientists to test new technologies aimed at improving urban farming.
Inside the massive glass walls, vegetables will be grown in pots and then transitioned to trays positioned around a giant central helix. The plants grow as the trays slowly migrate down the central core and are ready to be harvested once they reach the bottom. Plant residue and manure will be collected along the way and transformed into biogas to run the heating and cooling systems of the greenhouse. Scientists want the vertical farm to not only grow food but also help in developing sustainable solutions for energy, heat, waste, and water issues of daily city life.


 

Eco Offices ~ Sign of the Times

When an old technology office needed a makeover from its minimalist soviet modernism decor, they decided to go big -- and green! The wonder workers at TSEH Architectural Group in Kyiv, Ukraine have recently revitalized a hard, cold industrial office space into a luscious indoor garden. With green walls, trees, even grassy knolls to sit upon, employees can stop and smell the flowers without even leaving the building.

Upon entering the technology office space, guests are greeted with two vertical green columns at the reception area. The indoor greenery does not stop there, as a grassy wall fence leads back to the open offices. An amazing lawn-like cube is cut out of the center of the the main office, while trees and plants sprout out of the concrete floor throughout the rooms and hallways. Even a grassy hill sits under the stairs of one area, making for the most relaxing conference room ever! And what is any green office without a terrace? Employees can sit outside on breaks and take in the panoramic treetop views on their metal landing surrounded with shrubbery.
While greenery certainly brightens up a room, it is nothing without the right environment. The new office layout is open and light, with only glass partitions separating each room. Floor to ceiling windows create a fresh and bright space for air to flow freely and plants to thrive.

This eco-takeover incorporates a ton of green and grassy features, but it also preserves most of the original outlines of the industrial loft. The design was not to destroy the past of the space, but to build upon it, to give it a bright and fresh future. Many parts of the ceiling remain unfinished, exposing wires and pipes, while the original concrete walls and floors remain intact. This is definitely an office we’d love to work in!


 

The Dhankhar Initiative

Let's introduce you to Dhankhar, the once stunningly beautiful capital of Spiti, perched at a 1000-feet and overlooking the confluence of the Spiti & Pin rivers. Dhankhar is an important Buddhism monastic centres in Himachal Pradesh and a prime tourist destination. However, Dhankhar monastery in its state of disrepair has been listed among the World’s Hundred Most Endangered Sites. The Dhankhar Initiative is an attempt at restoration, Ecotourism & livelihood generation for the Dhankhar community. ~

The Garden of cosmic speculation. Scotland.

One of the best landscaped gardens in the world.