SHELTERING CITIES
|
I saw this on bldg.blog the other day and thought it was an awesome concept. Growing up in Houston, Texas, I always had a fascination of an infrastructure system put into place to help shade the city from massive excess of heat that it obtains during the brutal summer months. I always imagined the city getting four helicopters to hover above the city high up in the sky with a large tarp giving everyone shade and lowering the rising temperatures. Of course as I grew older I began to consider the costs of four helicopters just hanging out in the sky, the boredom of its crew, and the environmental impact of unnaturally cooling a large mass of earth on a normal basis. Still… when its late August and your covered in sweat from collecting the daily mail, one can dream. I hope this idea for the Qatar World Cup in 2022 becomes a reality.
On a smaller scale, I have never before seen a building that self shades as well as this office building in Seattle by Olson Kundig Architects. I have yet to witness this in person, but imagine that it is quite effective at taking some of the heat off of this office block. ref: http://www.olsonkundigarchitects.com/Projects/1003/Art-Stable  |
