Bird Bus Stop
I forget if I’ve already blogged this, but it’s worth reblogging.
Sunken Alcove Garden, New Zealand
photo via besttravelphotos
These vegetated surfaces don’t just look pretty. They have other benefits as well, including cooling city blocks, reducing loud noises, and improving a building’s energy efficiency.What’s more, a recent modeling study shows that green walls can potentially reduce large amounts of air pollution in what’s called a “street canyon,” or the corridor between tall buildings.
For the study, Thomas Pugh, a biogeochemist at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, and his colleagues created a computer model of a green wall with generic vegetation in a Western European city. Then they recorded chemical reactions based on a variety of factors, such as wind speed and building placement.
The simulation revealed a clear pattern: A green wall in a street canyon trapped or absorbed large amounts of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter—both pollutants harmful to people, said Pugh. Compared with reducing emissions from cars, little attention has been focused on how to trap or take up more of the pollutants, added Pugh, whose study was published last year in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
That’s why the green-wall study is “putting forward an alternative solution that might allow [governments] to improve air quality in these problem hot spots,” he said.Compared with reducing emissions from cars, little attention has been focused on how to trap or take up more of the pollutants, added Pugh, whose study was published last year in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
That’s why the green-wall study is “putting forward an alternative solution that might allow [governments] to improve air quality in these problem hot spots,” he said.
FARM:shop was developed by Something & Son LLP, an eco-social design practice, with three ambitious goals – 1) To excite and inspire city dwellers to grow their own food, fabric and medicine and make an income doing this, 2) To create direct links between farms in the countryside with communities in cities, and 3) To grow food commercially via a network of FARM:’s across cities and retail this food at FARM:shop’s.
In July 2010 they began the transformation of a four story dilapidated shop into an urban farm and advocacy center, located in East London. Since launching in Spring 2011 they are now operating as a sustainable business growing fish, chickens and lots of salad, and running a cafe, workspace and events venue. Their process combines art, engineering and business know-how to find creative ways to improve the world around us.
Be sure to check out the behind the scenes video here.
Spotted via: TNYPXL
#vertical #green wall
I’ll take 3, please
Mathieu Lehanneur + JCDecaux
Escale Numérique, 2012
Digital service station at the Rond Point des Champs-Elysées providing wifi, complete with green roof, digital touchscreen and concrete swivel chairs.
(Source: tinaschoices)
Photograph by Wild Wonders of Europe - Litlanesfoss, Iceland.
