The great river turbine is a conceptual design for a large (one hundred foot diameter) stainless steel water turbine developed to function as a tourist attraction and as a powerful electricity generator. The electricity is generated by the current of the river as it flows through the turbine rotating its twelve massive blades, which in turn activate a powerful generator. The stainless steel turbine is mounted on a specially designed, public access moored barge.

+ Michael Jantzen

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Post tags: "clean energy", "sustainable architecture", clean technology, great river turbine, green architecture, green design, hydroelectric power, michael jantzen, renewable energy, sustainable design, water wheel power

Read the rest of House Like a Museum by Edward Suzuki is a Stunning Green Oasis Flooded With Natural Light

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", bamboo, courtyard, Edward Suzuki, F Residence, green architecture, green design, house like a museum, Japan, Kamakura City, Tokyo

Read the rest of LYCS Architecture’s Hangzhou Spruce Art Center Sits Serenely On its Wooded Site

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", art museums, art venue, Chinese architecture, eco art center, green art center, LYCS Architecture, nature and architecture, Spruce art center, Sustainable Building

In 2008 Gensler broke ground on the sustainable Shanghai Tower in the Pudong district of Shanghai, China. The tower is currently in construction and it’s one of three supertall buildings in Pudong, including the Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai World Financial Center. The elegant structure spirals up to the sky, and once it is completed in 2014 it will become the second tallest tower in the world — only second to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The 632 meter tall structure is a testament to both modern architecture and the potential of engineering, and it also sets a precedent for sustainable super structures. The tower will take the form of nine cylindrical buildings stacked atop each other, enclosed by layers of glass, and hosting public space for visitors including atriums, gardens, cafes, restaurants, retail space, a hotel, and 360-degree views of the city. The building will also include a rainwater recycling system and a series of wind turbines able to generate up to 350,000 kWh of electricity per year. But most notably, the tower’s glass façade was designed specifically to reduce wind loads on the building by 24%, which means that fewer construction materials are needed (including 25% less structural steel). We recently spoke to Gensler‘s Chris Chan, Design Director and member of the tower’s design team, who gave us some insight on what it has taken to get the Shanghai Tower built, and how Building Information Modeling (BIM) has played a crucial role from concept to construction. Jump ahead for our fascinating interview with Chris!

This interview is brought to you by Autodesk – Removing the barriers to better business.

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", "sustainable skyscraper", asia's tallest sky scraper, asia's tallest tower, autodesk, autodesk revit, autodesk suite, BIM, BIM tools, building information modeling, CAD, CFM, chris chan, chris chan architect, chris chan design directory, chris chan gensler, computational fluid modeling, eco skyscraper, eco tower, Gensler, Gensler architects, gensler asia, green skyscraper, green tower, Revit, shanghai skyscraper, shanghai tower, skyscraper design, supertall skyscrapers, supertall towers, sustainable design, sustainable tower, tallest skyscraper after burj dubai, tower design, world's second tallest skyscraper, world's second tallest tower

Read the rest of Sugarhouse Studios Pop-Up Cinema & Workshop Encourages Community Interaction in London

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", 2012 London Olympics, adaptive reuse, Assemble, community building, community space, eco design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green renovation, London, london 2012 olympics, london legacy development corporation, London Olympics, pop up cafe, pop up cinema, pop up theatre, pop-up, Reclaimed Materials, Recycled Materials, sugarhouse studios, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, temporary cinema

Read the rest of Luxurious Floating Home Makes the Most of Its Small Footprint on Lake Union in Seattle

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", eco design, Floating Home, floating house, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green home, lake union, lake union floating home, low maintenance, passive solar design, Seattle, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, Vandeventer + Carlander Architects

Read the rest of Silvervillan is a Low-Impact & Low-Energy Home in Sweden

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", eco design, eco house, energy efficient house, green architecture, Green Building, green home, green house, low energy house, low-energy, passive house, silver villa, silvervillan, sjoberg & therme, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, Sweden

Read the rest of Edmonton Airport Unveils Massive Air-Cleaning Living Green Wall!

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Post tags: "green wall", "living wall", "sustainable architecture", airport, canada, clean air, eco design, Edmonton, edmonton airport, edmonton international airport, fresh air, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green over grey, green wall installation, indoor air quality, Landscape Architecture, living green wall, stantec, Stantec Architecture, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, vertical garden

Read the rest of Santa Eugenia Social Housing Aptly Deals With an Unfortunate Solar Orientation

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", add+, affordable housing, bailo rull, bailo rull add, brise soleil, Daylighting, eco design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, low income housing, santa eugenia de berga, santa eugenia de berga social housing, social housing, solar brise soleil, Sustainable Building, sustainable design

Read the rest of Beautiful Norwegian Foliage-Covered Green Roofs

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", Eco Architecture, eco design, foliage architecture, foliage covered roof, grass roof, green architecture, green design, green roof, living roof, Norway Architecture, norwegian home, roof garden, roof trees, sod roof, trees on roof

Read the rest of Wellington’s Meridian Building is a Flagship Green Commercial Project

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", 5 greenstar, eco design, green architecture, Green Building, green commercial building, green design, green flagship project, greenstar rating, meridian building, New Zealand, peddle thorp architects, studio pacific architecture, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, Wellington

Read the rest of OMA’s Folded CCTV Tower in Beijing is Now Complete

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", Beijing, cctv, cctv headquarters, china, china central television, china central tv, eco design, eco skyscraper, eco tower, energy efficient building, energy efficient tower, folded skyscraper, green architecture sustainable building, Green Building, green design, oma, rem koolhaas, skyscraper, sustainable design

Read the rest of INTERVIEW: LIKEArchitects on the Challenges and Rewards of Sustainable “Performance Architecture”

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", Diogo Aguiar, Frozen Trees, green architecture, Green Building, green design, house in iuanda, house in luanda, LIKE Architects, LIKEarchitects, party animal, performance architecture, Sustainability, sustainable design, temporary bar, Teresa Otto

Read the rest of Probiomed is a High-Tech & Eco Friendly Medical Research Center in Mexico

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", biomedical facility, Daylighting, eco design, eco laboratory, green architecture, Green Building, green design, grupo de diseno urbano, medical facility, mexico, probiomed, rainwater collection, rainwater harvesting, research facility, Sustainable Building, sustainable design

Read the rest of Rossignol’s Mountain-Inspired Headquarters Minimizes its Environmental Impact

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", eco design, eco headquarters, green architecture, Green Building, green design, headquarters, herault arnod architectes, nature inspired design, rossignol, rossignol global headquarters, Sustainable Building, sustainable design

Read the rest of HASSELL Transforms a Brisbane Bread Factory into a Hip Architecture Studio

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While we weren’t thrilled to hear that the 2012 London Olympics would be using PVC to build many of their temporary structures, the good news is that the materials will be recycled for another big sporting event afterwards. Over 142,000 sq. m. of PVC fabric was incorporated into the construction of the park and external Olympic venues, including Zaha Hadid’s Aquatics Centre, Hopkins Architects’ Velodrome, the Populous-designed Olympics Stadium and the Royal Artillery Barracks, but there is hope on the horizon because the developers of the Olympics have promised to do their part by recycling the vinyl after the games in new structures for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", 2012 London Olympics, 2012 olympics, eco design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, London Olympics, olympic venues, olympics, polyvinyl chloride, PVC, recycled vinyl, Serge Ferrari, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, venues, vinyl, vinyl architecture, vinyl recycling

Read the rest of Pb Elemental’s Beachaus I is a Smart LEED Platinum Prefab in British Columbia

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", b.c., bc, beach house, beachaus i, beachhaus i, british columbia, eco design, elemental design, elemental studio, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green home, inhaus, inhaus development, Method Homes, pb elemental, Prefab, prefab home, prefab house, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, white rock

Read the rest of Anish Kapoor’s Recycled Steel ArcelorMittal Orbit Tower Now Complete in London

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", 2012 London Olympics, 2012 olympics, Anish Kapoor, arcelormittal, arcelormittal orbit, cecil balmond, eco design, eco sculpture, eco tower, eco-art, green architecture, green art, Green Building, green design, London, London Olympics, observation tower, Recycled Materials, recycled sculpture, recycled steel, recycled tower, sculpture, steel, steel sculpture, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, tower

Read the rest of Mandala Round Prefab is BC’s First Energy Star Qualified Home

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", bc, british columbia, eco design, eco home, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green home, mandala homes, mandala prefab, Prefab, prefab home, round house, round prefab, sustainable design