Our friends over at the always innovative 3XN firm have won the commission for a new mixed use building at the entrance to Vällingby Parkstad in Stockholm Sweden. The concave side of the tower is reminiscent of the Aqua Tower in Chicago with its undulating balconies but the rest of the building strikes out its own form.

The building’s curved design embraces the area, while the lively shaped balconies open the structure up towards the surroundings, seemingly drawing the park upwards into the air. The dense structure at the ground level adds activity at eye level, with further visual stimulation continuing upwards as seen in the active roof tops and flowering balconies.

The area’s traditional ABC-structures are functional and angular – a clear demarcation from the green park next to it. In contrast to this, the new building softly rises from the ground in a human movement. The North facing façade is smooth and plain, the South and West facing sides are curved in an embracing gesture. The design is also functional as its shape minimizes shadow effects on the surrounding areas.

The wave-like variation between floors comes from a repetition of four different shapes in the building.  This diversity adds dynamism and liveliness to the building, one which is further complemented by the individual touches that the tenants will bring through their furnishing and flower boxes of the balconies.

FACTS

Address: Vällingby Parkstad, Stockholm, Sweden

Client: Svea Fastigheter

Size: 13,000 m2 (14 floors)

1. prize in invited competition 2010

Construction is planned to begin 2011.

3XN

The Turcot Yards in the City of Montreal is the type of property that could be considered a city builder’s dream. Conveniently located near a number of major transportations routes, minutes from downtown,  near the new super hospital, it has it’s own wooded slope and a canal runs along side. The City of Montreal and the MTQ (Ministère des Transports du Québec) have been arguing over what to do with this space ever since its fate came into question with the reconstruction of the crumbling Turcot Exchange.  I worked on a proposal as part of a design studio to weave this space back into the city, and it follows: If you are looking for the City of Montreal’s proposal it can be found here.

The vision for the site is a development focused on healthy living and delivering better access to health facilities utilizing the McGill University Health Center as a pole in thein the development of the Turcot Quartier Eco Santé. With the construction of sucah a large development there is ample potential to make the site a center for innovation and creativity within the city of Montreal. Our emphasis on eco-city design creates an opportunity to put Montreal back on the map as a center for innovation. Our Project Coincides with the growing movement in eco-city design and we envision an opportunity to create a healthy human environment that can develop in stages depending on the needs of the residents and users themselves.

Stemming from this vision for Turcot Quartier Eco Santé, our objectives -  are to identify the site within Montreal while creating cohesion with the surrounding neighbourhoods. As the MUHC (McGill University Health Center) will cater to the entire island there is a great opportunity to conne ct both the local and regional through safe, effective and efficient transit corridors. It must also conform to the long term, sustainability – oriented vision adopted by the City of Montreal both in its Master Plan and Transport Plan, and to teh environmental vision the MTQ has set out in its own policy.

Turcot Quartier Eco Santé will not be developed like the traditional Montreal Suburb, rather it will demonstrate eco-city and sustainable development standards. The goal is to promote a development that effects how people travel in Montreal but also the way in which the urban fabric can be used. A vital goal is to incorporate various mixed use as well as mixed density and varying socio economic levels. Social and affordable housing will be combined with other types of housing, without allowing for differentiation based on design. The term Santé reflects our goal of creating a healthy human environment which promotes ecological ways of living and our goal to establish many specialized clinics in the new Quartier Santé neighbourhood in order to facilitate access to specialists and doctors working from the Mega Hospital and the local area.

In any large development there are both positive and negative aspects which may limit or enhance the development, however if we utilize all these in an equal manner just like a battery charge then the growth of the project can allow for a consistent distribution of pedestrian, transit and vehicular flows. This concept has the potential to charge the development by connecting our main concepts for green space and recreational space and thread them throughout the project in order to emphasize the potential healthy character of the site itself.

The average income in the areas surround the site are fairly typical for the Island of Montreal, excluding the highest distribution in Westmount. This allows us to stage development to attract a fair distribution of income groups while incorporating affordable and mixed housing and ideally attract those that would normally choose to reside in the suburbs. In and around the site there is a high distribution of both English and French schools, demonstrating a need to incorporate relatively few new educational facilities within the development. Access to educational facilities is however a key element in attracting families to Turcot Quartier Eco Santé and as such we envision the need for one French high school, one French elementary school and one English Elementary school. The service sheds are dependant on the proposed LRT (Light Rail Transit) station, and are measured to accomodate a 500m walking distance. The center of the sheds shall accommodate major services such as medium to large grocery stores, specialized commercial services, specialized health services, recreational services, and educational institutions.

Given a maximum estimated population for the given region of 22,000 people based on a 2.5km² area, we determined the mix of housing shown in the pie chart. Given the chosen five categories, we determined 15% social housing, 30% affordable housing, 35% middle income 10% middle high income, and 10% high income. These categories and percentages are based on socio-economic that we observed in the surrounding boroughs in Montreal, and are most logical in obtaining the largest possible population density.  A key component of the socio-economic plan is to incorporate adequate affordabel and social housing as it is currently in-high demand within the city of Montreal. Typically it is difficult to merge these housing types cohesively into the urban fabric as there is a stigma attached to housing provided for lower income residents. Mixed income areas can be considered more appealing by offering employment opportunities at a local level. For instance a portion of the residential units located above big-box stores could be affordable housign for those who are employed within those stores. Maintenance of green roofs and community gardens could also be done by those living in social housing, in order to provide gainful employment opportunities and encourage a sense of community.

Before the arrival of European settlement in Montreal, the area now known as Turcot was formerly a marshy lake know as lac St-Pierre or Lac aux Loutres (Otter Lake), which flowed into the former St-Pierre River. In 1832 the river began to be covered by engineers and it was eventually incorporated into the cities expanding wastewater and sewer system, while the shallow marshy Lac St-Pierre was drained and filled in during the construction of the Lachine canal. In the late 1800′s, the grand trunk railway established a rail yard in the area naming it the Turcot Yards. In 1923, the grand trunk railway corporation ceased to exist, and the Canadian National Railway took control of the Turcot yards and the adjacent rail lines. In the 1960′s construction began on the Turcot interchange, which was inaugurated on April 25th, 1967, in time for Montreal’s World Expo. The interchange was meant to ease traffic and connect Autoroutes 10, 15, 20 and 720. CN used the Turcot yards site until it was abandoned in 2002, and since then there have been various attempts to make better use of the vast empty land that the Turcot has become.

As the site has been a rail yard for nearly a century, and more recently has been used as a site for emergency snow dumping, there is high presence of lead and other toxins in the soil. As such it is necessary to attempt to decontaminate the soil before initiating development. A potential solution for this could be the use of Humic acids; they offer a cost effective, organic and simple way of remediating degraded and contaminated soils. Humic acids are nontoxic and biodegrade slowly. They have low oxygen demand and have excellent fixation and adsorption properties for xenobiotics in soil (Sita France, 2006).

A key factor in attracting suburbanites to move to an urban setting  and Turcot Quartier Eco Santé is not only the overall marketing of the project but also by way of providing more facilities that accommodate families. There must be an attempt to lure back residents who have fled the city in the past, but not at the expense of those who today call the district home (Gibson, 2002, p.262). If new housing opportunities are provided where in a private backyard that is commonly barely used is no longer considered more appealing than public green space consistent design elements could prove more aesthetically appealing. Private green spaces will also be provided both in the higher density areas through our regulations requiring active green roofs and our opening up of a number of the town home lots in the main residential zone for private purchase shall allow for this. The urge to attract suburbanites coincides with the socio-economic diversity, as it requires a sincere commitment to grapple with realities of class privilege in the contemporary urban landscape. As the Turcot site is practically a blank slate it proves easier to enhance this opportunity and not only attract the common demographic of the area, but also those from outside the area. As such the goal of attracting new residents must be coupled with an equally ambitious goal of expanding access to low-income and affordable housing. (Gibson, 2002, p.274). A component of this stems from attracting not only singles and couples, but families as well. Providing safe facilities to accommodate families in open space so that they feel comfortable using the ample public green space and parks.

Turcot Quartier Eco Santé will consist three main neighbourhoods, incorporating various areas with varying levels of activity depending on the location and time of the day, each generating different intensities of both pedestrian and vehicular traffic. The site will contain Light Rail Transit, pedestrian and bike zones that promote movement from the main station located on Rue Cavendish, to public parks, local playgrounds, and sporting areas. The variety of transportation options will benefit movement in multiple directions throughout the area, while the Lachine Canal, and the escarpment provide natural barriers and give the neighbourhood a feeling of containment. The Turcot Village square, located adjacent to the proposed marina, will contain the highest level of intensity as it will be the place where all types of traffic converge within the site. The intensity level will decrease when moving progressively further from this main node, however the intensity will again increase at the main public areas of parks and playgrounds, which will be located adjacent to our Light Rail Transit nodes.

The Turcot Yards transportation infrastructure is of both local and regional importance. At present a number of important regional transit links run through the site, the intersection of provincial highways 20, 15 and 720 are located in the north-east corner of the site. Highway twenty, known as Auto-route du Souvenir as well as highway 720 known as the Ville-Marie Expressway currently pass directly through the centre of the project site and all these attract approximately 150,000 vehicles daily. The Turcot Yards also has a long history of rail infrastructure, and the main CN freight line from the west, along with the main Via Rail commuter line also pass directly through the centre of the site parallel to the Auto-route du Souvenir.

The redevelopment of the Turcot Yards will respect the integral part of the regional transportation network that these pieces play in the greater Montreal region, and the province of Quebec as a whole. However contrary to other proposals for the highway the Turcot Yards development project recommends that highway capacity be capped at status quo preferring instead to focus expansion on the rail infrastructure and other mass transit links. The intersection of highways 15, 20 and 720 is an elevated structure that currently sits above a large area of land, while the elevated nature of the interchange permits other uses underneath the structure’s elevation has an impact on the maintenance and lifespan of the highway, the Turcot development project will attempt to reduce the impact of this interchange by reducing the size and amount of space that it takes up. The new interchange will be designed to have multiple levels for ease of transit for through traffic and interchange to the other routes.

Panel Gallery

In order to maximize the Turcot Yards site the regional transportation infrastructure will be relocated to near the base of the falaise St. Jacques following the current route of Rue Pullman, and then buried. The highway covers a total of 110, 440 sqm , half of this comes from the expansion of the escarpment (55, 220 sqm) which allows the steep incline to become useful. The other half, will become part of the boulevard. If the highway was left at grade when expanding the escarpment it would limit accessibility and a total of 110, 440 sqm would be lost, 55,220 sqm of which would not be developable since the road and buildings would be pushed further south. When trenching or creating tunnels for highways it is critical to provide adequate ventilation, as such we wish to use as much natural ventilation as possible and incorporate other systems if necessary. The basic design for the trenched part of the highway (Panel 4) will use fan and air movement to correspond to the flow of traffic and the number of fans used will be dependant on the specific tunnel length. The extension of Boulevard Cavendish will provide an essential connection between the South West,NDG and Lasalle.

A key component in the Ecological emphasis of Turcot Quartier Eco Santé is incorporating green building strategies to promote long lasting development potential. They provide an outstanding number of public benefits in areas such as air quality improvement, reduction in greenhouse gases, storm water quality and quantity improvements as well as long term economic benefits for building owners. Opportunities are not only available for vertical architecture, neighbourhood gardens, and composting centers but also through sustainable development technologies such as permeable paving, as well as storm water management and alternative energy generation.

Sources:
Photo Sources: Jenna Dutton, 2010
GIS Maps : Mike Rocco
3D Images: Peter Mouhteros
Sketches: Daniel Barham
School Maps: Google Maps

Gibson, T. (2005) Selling city living: Urban branding campaign, class power and the civic good. In International Journal of Cultural Studies 2005; 8; 259.

Kives, B. (2010) Take one downtown, fill it with people. In Winnipeg Free Press Online Edition, February 8, 2010.

Sita France (2006) Global Skills for the Environment: Site and Soil Remediation. Retrieved from www.sita.fr on March 18, 2010.

From military application to building design competition, one of the latest innovations in presenting geographic and building data are 3D plans created by Zebra Imaging. A constant issue when it comes to presenting design idea`s is how to have others see them the way you do. How do you have an average person conceptualize how the design is supposed to look embedded within the city. Well there is help using new technology from Zebra Imaging.

Zebra’s holographic images are unlike anything you have ever seen. The image literally “floats” in the air. You will be tempted to reach into the image with the expectation that you will touch the object being presented. You can move around the image to view it from a wide variety of angles with no special glasses or other viewing aids. S

Photographer Jonathan Haeber has a great blog over at: Bearings that chronicals abandonments and other historic forgotten properties.

One of the entries that he accessed is the Jackling house a historic mansion in Woodside, California, designed and built for copper mining magnate Daniel Cowan Jackling and his family by the noted California architect George Washington Smith in 1925. Johnathan was able to access the Jacking House which is currently owned by apple big boss Steve Jobs. He takes a  series of rare, photos of the slowly decaying mansion, which has now been abandoned for over a decade.  Jobs has been trying to get permission to knock the building down so that he can put up his own ihouse (or something like that) while local preservationists have been trying to preserve the structure.  The battle is ongoing. But for now take a look at some of the great photos!

To see more prictures of the structure take a look at Jonathan`s blog.

A copy of the Montreal 2025 part of the city of Montreal’s counter proposal to Transport Quebec’s $1.5-billion Turcot redevelopment project.
Présentation médias_2010-04-21

Panel Gallery

A look at ways that people are suggesting that we make our cities better.

Brookings

April 14, 2010 —

Host: Why the focus on metros?

Bruce Katz: Metropolitan areas in the United States and here in Europe really concentrate all the assets that drive prosperity and will drive economic recovery. So the top 100 metropolitan areas in the United States — these are the big cities and the suburbs that surround them — sit on only 12 percent of the land mass, they house two-thirds of the population, they generate about three-quarters of the gross domestic product.

But when it comes to the assets that drive prosperity, they’re about 94 percent of venture capital in the United States, they’ve got all the talented workers, those with graduate degrees, the engineers, the scientists. They’re our freight hubs, rail and air, and they have that quality of place that really attracts, particularly, the younger generation. So they pack a really powerful punch. But the United States tends to think of itself as a network of small towns. It really doesn’t think of itself as a powerful metro nation. So to a large extent the country nor the states, because we are a union of states still in many respects, don’t really leverage the assets in these places. Take me to the article

Project for Public Spaces

Transformative Times: Earth Day 1970, Placemaking, and Sustainability Today

40 years ago this week, I coordinated the first Earth Day celebration in New York City. The city had never seen anything like it.

We were laying the groundwork for a new way of looking at the world—expanding the public’s thinking beyond the limited vision that characterized fields like industry, economics, science and politics to embrace a much larger view of the whole planet.

Earth Day transformed New York—literally. To draw attention to protecting the environment in cities, we turned Fifth Avenue into a “place” by eliminating traffic from 59^th Street to Union Square.  People poured out of offices and apartments to walk down the middle of the most important street in New York on a beautiful spring day. (This was five years before I founded Project for Public Spaces, but you can see the idea was already germinating.)

It was a lot of fun for everyone, but also a potent symbol that this new movement could bring great, positive changes to our lives.  And ideas born on the first Earth Day are beginning to come to fruition today, with the closing of portions of Broadway and the New York City Summer Streets Program which PPS helped bring about.

Union Square Park was the site of the main Earth Day celebration with an enormous stage set up for speakers, prayers and music. Booths promoting ecological awareness spread throughout the park. Bliss and the promise of a better world were in the air, along with whiffs of pot in a few isolated corners.

Welcome to Alpha Dome City ‘알파ㆍ돔 시티(αㆍdom city)’! It is a mixed use commercial and residential project that at first glance looks like one massive building. Alpha Dome City a project with an opening 5 trillion won (4.5 million US/CAD) price tag is under construction in Kyung ki do – sung nam si bun dang gu pankyo dong,  near the intersection of the Pankyo Expressway and the Seoul Outer Ring Highway. The project is by commission of the Pangyo Mutal Fund Administration in partnership with Lotte Engineering and Construction Consortium who will be the project manager for the Alpha Dome. Korean news puts the total number of companies involved in the consortium at 16. The project will have a mixed media centre (read movie theatre) department stores, (no doubt Lotte Department Store will make an appearance) discount stores, a hotel, galleries and other facilities, along with approximately 946 residential units. The project team indicates that the development will take lessons from Germany’s Sony Centre, and Le Defence, France.

The Korean National Housing Corporation will have a number of units in the development, indicating that the project will have a number of low cost rental units and housing for sale pursuant to the Korean National Housing Corporation’s manadate to  provide affordable housing to low-income households and also to stabilize residential property prices through the large-size housing supply.

알파 돔

In korean news a member of the project team explains the significance of the name: Alpha (α) as the first letter of the Greek alphabet ‘to No. 1′, ‘first’, ‘the light of the strong astronomical constellation of stars’,’ The most important part ‘, is central to the vision for the site. S

The Most striking aspect of Alpha Dome City ‘알파ㆍ돔 시티(αㆍdom city)’ is, well the Dome. The project is a number of commercial and residential blocks spread over a couple city blocks, with the dome as a pedestrian accessible linking structure. The dome with plans for cultural exhibition facilities in this ‘sky gallery’. The Dome itself with have multiple cuts through the roof structure to allow light to penetrate into street scape within. Inside the development preference will be given to bicycle and pedestrain traffic as the part of the new naturalism movement in Korea.  Special thanks to Chung Eun Young for research assistance.

On Sunday March 8th 2010 Jeremy Dean made New york City history by taking his converted Hummer entitled Futurama out for a spin. Entering Central park in New York at 69th St. and Central Park West (at the old Tavern on the Green location) Dean had his hand crafted vehicle pulled by two white horse aptly named Duke and Diesel.

Dean has taken a gas guzzling 8 mile-per-gallon HUMMER H2, a symbol of extravagance, and converted it into a working horse drawn cart. Dean has pimped it out with silver chrome, working LED lights and a booming audio and video system. He calls this piece the CEO Stagecoach.

Location View: Jeremy Dean, CEO Stagecoach, Central Park, New York, NY. 2010
videographer Gareth Paul Cox, editor Diego del Sol
video courtesy of {CTS} creative thriftshop, New York.

to view more on this project please visit: http://www.creativethriftshop.com

What if we lived in a green future? Cities that didn’t just have green space, but cities that were green space. Trees and plants make up the structure of the city instead of concrete and plastics.

Luc Schuiten thinks up cities using Archiborescence – the designs are cities that are grown and tended. Prairie parks, houses that hide under leaves, and skyscraper trees.

The Vegetal City is conceived as a progression in time and space, through Luc Schuiten’s eye. It takes us on the path of this thoughts about Mother Nature’s presence as a model of a new way of building named by him “archiborescence”.

For three decades, this eco-visionary has been imagining and realizing homes, urban landscapes, cities… inspired by all he has been able to observe in natural environments.

The website opens the door to a harmonious future, possible through the modifications of our behaviours in our living environments. Nature is no longer considered as an inexhaustible manna from heaven but rather as an ally, likely to cooperate in edification of a long lasting society.

3d virtual reconstruction of the roman insula in the roman city of Conimbriga (Portugal). Más información: http://italicaromana.blogspot.com

Fenwick tower is getting an overhaul, the structure has been a part of the Halifax skyline since 1971 when the vision was to live in airy luxury, but the developer ran into financial difficulties.  A tower inspired by Le Corbusier that became the punching bag for the argument against development and intensification in downtown Halifax.

The website of its new owner Templeton Properties tells the tale:

Fenwick Tower is like no other building in Halifax.  The history of the building has become so rich that the building itself is talked about like an old friend. Fenwick Tower is an icon in the true sense of the word. Like many icons, the lines between truth and fiction have blurred to create a legendary story that is bigger than life and becomes a proud part of your living experience.

A web cam, a Wikipedia page, and being the subject of many news stories, Fenwick is a modern piece of Halifax’s history and culture.

From when the doors opened in 1971, the legend of Fenwick began.  Originally designed as a luxury apartment building, the developer faced financial problems halfway into the project and was forced to sell.

Dalhousie University purchased the incomplete building, finished the development, and offered Fenwick Place apartments to mature and married students, a better alternative to dorm-living. For 38 years Fenwick served as home to thousands of students, many who have moved on to become the leaders in our community.

n 2009 Templeton Properties purchased Fenwick Place and, following the community’s lead, officially re-named it Fenwick Tower.  Finally, Fenwick Tower has come full circle and will be open to the public as it was originally intended.

The developer used dotmocracy which bills itself as a large group decision making  process, and it looks like it turned out some pretty great ideas.

Dotmocracy is an established facilitation method for collecting and prioritizing ideas among a large number of people.

It is an equal opportunity & participatory group decision-making process.

Participants write down ideas and apply dots under each idea to show which ones they prefer. The final result is a graph-like visual representation of the group’s collective preferences.

We’re pleased to share our vision for Fenwick Tower, and exciting plans for the future redevelopment of this landmark structure in the heart of Halifax.

Since its opening in 1971, Fenwick Tower has gained an iconic status as the tallest building within Atlantic Canada. With this redevelopment initiative we will transition both the existing tower and adjacent lands to align with the future development standards of the Halifax Regional Municipality. The Result being a revitalised urban community.

The design of the new tower adds a glass shell to the existing tower and fills in the property at street level with an addition that reshapes the building address Fenwick Street instead of standing back from it the way that it does now. There will be two additional 10 and 8 story buildings added so to give the building a less sudden effect on the skyline and intensify the property. Another major design element is the new pedestrian corridor that meanders around the bases of the three buildings creating a meandering walkway that encourages you to explore. Restaurants, shops and public art. The vision is for a network of local businesses and to connect the neighbourhoods that encircle the property.

This spring ‘Aqua’ an 82 story mixed-use residential tower in the Lakeshore East development in downtown Chicago will open for business. The tower can be found on the 200 block of North Columbus drive in an area that is pretty dense with other skyscrapers.

The building itself is a relatively simple glass box structure that isn’t much to shout about, however the building is wrapped with a series of balconies that flow in and out of the tower similar to waves and the striated limestone outcroppings that are often found in the topography of the Great Lakes region. The Architect Jeanne Gang, cited the the limestone as an inspiration for the balconies.

In some case the balconies stretch out as far as 12 feet from the building itself to allow residents to capture views of the city around and below them. While designed to look good and differentiate the building from the other glass boxes the balconies were refined to maximize solar shading.

The building also has a number of other efficient features that include rainwater collection systems and energy efficient lighting. The tower base also has a green roof.

In an increasingly dense city like Chicago, views from a new tower must be negotiated between existing buildings. Aqua tower considers criteria such as views, solar shading and function to derive a vertical system of contours that gives the structure its sculptural form. Its vertical topography is defined by its outdoor terraces that gradually change in plan over the length of the tower. These terraces offer a strong connection to the outdoors and allow inhabitants to occupy the building facade and city simultaneously. S

The roof terraces added an extra element of complication to construction. As each wave is different, so too is each floor plate in the tower. (what you didn’t think that they just stuck them on did you?) This made the construction process more complicated then your standard glass box. The building has also had some other economic complications, originally Strategic Hotels & Resorts was to have been a major tenant with a plan to purchase 15 floors in the building to expand the neighbouring Fairmont Hotel across the street, but the good ol recession put a stop to that and the company cancelled its contact in 2008. Sales of the residential properties have good good however and on the Aqua website there are only about 23 residential units up for sale. S

Architect: STUDIO GANG ARCHITECTS
Architect of Record: Loewenberg & Associates
Owner: Magellan Development
Program: Hotel and Residential High-rise with retail and commercial spaces
Size: 1.9 m SF including parking, 823 feet high

The City of New Songdo or Songdo New City as it is known in Korea is the country’s bid to take city building into the future. City officials say that it will be a “compact, smart and green city,” at a press conference covered by The Korean Herald. Songdo is being built on reclaimed land in the western port city of Incheon, which is currently known more for the international airport, (which incidentally is rated one of the best in the world to fly through, and I can attest to from experience) S. New Songdo wants to change that and become known as a compact sustainable city that provides all necessary services in close proximity.

To achieve this goal the city will have facilities for business, health care, education, leisure, shopping and high tech industries all within a five kilometre radius. In the central city, residents will use bicycles or public transportation rather than cars to get around according to city officials, of course the six lane roads that form the block structure of the city and my experience with living in ‘green Ulsan’ (and its massive petrochemical complex) makes me wonder just how likely this assertion will be.

“(In the compact city,) all functions are located within the city center, unlike conventional cities which have a business complex in the center and the residential area in the suburbs,” Incheon Mayor Ahn Sang-soo said.

New Songdo residents may work in the 68-floor Northeast Asia Trade Tower that should be completed this year, or the 151-floor Incheon Tower set to to be completed in 2014. The city has a Central Park, which is Korea’s first park to have a seawater filled canal. Student in the city will go to “Songdo Global Campus,” which will host foreign universities like North Carolina State University and the State University of New York.

Incheon University Campus Proposal

The city is being wired by Cisco and will set up to allow residents to communicate through a variety of wired and wireless portals and devices based on ubiquitous computing technologies.

“The ‘smart’ city means a city equipped with ‘ubiquitous’ infrastructure that manages and control the city’s functions automatically at an optimal time. This enables the cost-effective management of the city,” Ahn said.

To learn more about New Songdo check out the article in The Korean Herald, or if you are interested in taking a look at the housing and office space options in New Songdo Check out our article on The Prau, or on The # First World. You can also take a look at what they are doing with container architecture.

A 100 million square foot new city on 1,500 acres. S

Looking like something out of Star Trek or some other futuristic vision the Homerizon stands 80 feet high, is off the grid and has solar panals, windmills, radiant floors, wind turbines and a cool aerodynamic shape that helps it to capture the breeze. The Homerizon is the brainchild of inventor Jean-Pierre Désmarais who sees it as a way that is easier then you think to get off the grid.  Of course at the moment that ease comes with a price tag of $3.5 to $5 million but lets not worry about that. The Homerzion.