Comments on: ECO•LABORATORY: Seattle’s Exemplary Eco Community

By: Robert Burns Birthplace Museum by Simpson & Brown Now Open | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:45:13 +0000

[...] efficient heating and cooling. The ventilation system designed by Buro Happold makes use of “earth tubes” where were buried 2 meters into the ground. These tubes draw in fresh, cool air to provide [...]

By: archytextural

archytextural — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:01:02 +0000

Congratulations design team for the win! That has to feel pretty good.
However,I’m sorry but I don’t find this as visually pleasing as the article makes it out to be, and the renderings don’t give it any help until the last image, which actually feels fairly decent. My criticism is that I would have liked the designers to be less overt with their “green” features and intergrate them more successfully into the overall design of the building. There appears to be no over riding idea that brings the building together as a whole, leaving it feeling a little bit like a glazed sturctural system with sustainable features attached here and there. I don’t see capital “A” Architecture here. I see engineering and systems but no soul. While I understand this was for a Cascadia design competition, we’re still designers and shouldn’t use “carbon nuetral” as an excuse to build unpleasant buildings. Would any of you really choose to live/ work there for it’s aesthetics? I’m just asking if you think the Ipod would have been as successful if it had just been the raw electronics without the styling of the case? But, again congratulations on the win.

By: Kay

Kay — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:26:27 +0000

Looking forward to seeing this come to fruition. As a born and raised here, Seattlite, it is exciting to see green growing up around the city that is equitable for lower income people. More space for growing food and more green is a good thing especially in this day of pesticide laden choices. The building is looks like a beautiful design.