Houston Green Future 2030

[lockmat]

Very interesting. Think this would change the skyline a bit?... I recommend looking at the largest version via flickr...some very cool concepts can be seen.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37682588@N02/3467997273/

Kirksey Architects was asked by the Houston Chronicle to provide a vision for buildings of the future. We chose year 2030 because that is the American Institute of Architects target for buildings to be carbon neutral.

The top of buildings will become prime real estate and will function in multiple ways:

•Kinetic “blades” sway back and forth with the wind and generate electricity.

•Large roof areas will become rainwater collectors, which provide insulation and a heat exchange device for air conditioning systems.

•Vegetative roofs will cool the microclimate, detain storm water, and provide community gardens

The existing building “skins” will be altered for maximum efficiency:

•A curtain of rain water filled rods will collect rainwater and provide a cool microclimate next to the building. As wind blows through the rods it cools the air and allows natural ventilation, a strategy once impractical for Houston.

•Existing office buildings will re-purposed to include residential and retail components, sometimes altering the shape of the building.

•Vegetative walls will clad sides of buildings which can become shade canopies over the street.

The city:

•Public transportation will be ubiquitous and services will be delivered via the tunnel system allowing the streets to become linear parks.

•Shade being a premium in Houston, vegetative and energy creating shade structures cover many of the linear parks.

Edited April 28, 2009 by lockmat

[crunchtastic]

I saw this in the paper last week. Pretty cool. The future needs more green. Like turning the Astrodome into a giant multi-tier grow house! With built- in water reclamation and self sustaining solar power. Sorry, I just had to get that in.

[Gary]

Like turning the Astrodome into a giant multi-tier grow house! With built- in water reclamation and self sustaining solar power. Sorry, I just had to get that in.

Actually, I think that's a pretty cool idea.

[lockmat]

Is the pointy glass on the wortham center? What does that achieve?

[wernicke]

Is the pointy glass on the wortham center? What does that achieve?

Those are "kinetic blades".

[TheNiche]

What happened to all of the air conditioning condenser units on the roofs of the buildings?

[Montrose1100]

I only like the bottom part of the picture. The white boxes around BOA would completely ruin the structure. Although I do enjoy the green on the roofs. But not the turbines on the roofs of JPMCT & WFT. And of course, The retail environment. Why can't we just turn our power plants into Clean Energy instead? I'd rather have a lit up skyline from renewable energy then this crap. I'd like to see Wind Turbines all along the coast. Solar Panels & garden roofs on our bigger, boxier venues. Solar Plants surrounding the city, trapping in sprawl. I like the parks covering the roads, but this isn't practical. So we become mole people and have to travel underground? I hope I won't be living in this vision of Houston.

[lockmat]

I really like what they describe here: vegetative and energy creating shade structures cover many of the linear parks

Although I'm not sure they'd fair to well during hurricane season.

[samagon]

I only like the bottom part of the picture. The white boxes around BOA would completely ruin the structure. Although I do enjoy the green on the roofs. But not the turbines on the roofs of JPMCT & WFT. And of course, The retail environment. Why can't we just turn our power plants into Clean Energy instead? I'd rather have a lit up skyline from renewable energy then this crap. I'd like to see Wind Turbines all along the coast. Solar Panels & garden roofs on our bigger, boxier venues. Solar Plants surrounding the city, trapping in sprawl. I like the parks covering the roads, but this isn't practical. So we become mole people and have to travel underground? I hope I won't be living in this vision of Houston.

From the look of it, I don't think the roads exist any longer, being replaced by greenspace.

I guess they think that heat/humidity/rain won't be an issue in the future, or maybe we'll have a tunnel system that ties everything together, or a subway?

[Subdude]

I would think it would be difficult to retrofit a lot of buildings this way because they weren't designed to handle the load of, say, turf on the roof. That said, it's good to see people thinking about it and at least generating ideas.

The lighter colored glass on Pennzoil makes it look like a ghost of the existing Pennzoil building.

[infinite_jim]

The residential "build outs" are pretty funny, structurally speaking.

[bgiangmanman]

I dont agree with how they would cover the republic bank building or reskin the one shell plaza in fact the only thing i agree with is the green space and the wind mills all the other crap they did just ruins the buildings

[LTAWACS]

I have mixed feelings about this...

[kylejack]

Those bastards removed the red button behind Wortham!

From the look of it, I don't think the roads exist any longer, being replaced by greenspace.

I guess they think that heat/humidity/rain won't be an issue in the future, or maybe we'll have a tunnel system that ties everything together, or a subway?

Hm, I kind of like the idea of wiping out roads in downtown replacing with a robust transit system, expanded tunnel network open later hours. Could work with tons of parking on the outskirts. Though there's things like deliveries, I'm not sure what you'd do about that.

[Urbannizer]

Too Much Green.

[AtticaFlinch]

Too Much Green.

That's a unique critique. Is it the color or the plant life you don't like?

[SaintCyr]

That's a unique critique. Is it the color or the plant life you don't like?

Everyone likes the color... Green, like dollar bills... Must be those damned plants... One day, we'll show those plants... one day.

[Urbannizer]

That's a unique critique. Is it the color or the plant life you don't like?

I like green but I would'nt want to be in DT Houston seeing nothing but Green.

Edited December 16, 2009 by Urbannizer

[porTENT]

I'd imagine that by the time DT looks something like this, the patinas of present would be encapsulated by tomorrow's technology in terms of the material skin preserved by a revolutionary yet unfound coatings methodology. DT would retain it's current splashy palette although it would be subverted, by again, tomorrow's building strategies/MO as envisioned. These are nice exercises but where's the world's tallest supertall in the background vista?