Skygardens as Living Machines

A look at how interiorscapes can be more than pretty

Katelyn Cooper

Skygardens and the Green Skyscraper

What’s the first thing people think when you say design a green building?

GREEN ROOF!

But in skyscrapers the roof is very little of the overall square footage.

Skyscrapers also put the people that occupy them very far away from the ground and natural landscape.

So the landscape must be brought up and into the skyscraper itself.

Benefits of Skygardens

•Add beauty to the interior space

•Provide calming environments for occupants

•Skygarden atriums can be used to circulate air w/ in the building

•Vegetative Cooling

•Absorb harmful toxins in the air

•Produce clean air and oxygen

•Plants can also be used to filter waste water and return it as clean as drinking water

Plants as Air Filters

Not only do plants take in excess carbon-dioxide and produce oxygen, they also remove harmful chemicals from the air such as:

•Formaldehyde

•Xylene

•Benzene

•Carbon Monoxide

•Nitrogen Dioxide

•Ammonia

•And more

Some Recommended Plants

Tropical Plants recommended by NASA for Indoor Air Pollution Abatement

Azalea Bamboo Palm Pothos

English Ivy Philodendron Corn Plant

Systems for Air Purification with Plants

NASA developed a method using activated carbon in planter boxes that works like this:

Water Recycling with Plants

Recycled Grey water can be used to water plants within the building. The plants themselves also purify the water further so that the excess water that is not absorbed by plants can be released into the environment free of harmful chemicals and excess nutrients.

Waste Water Purification with Plants

Dr. John Todd of the University of Vermont has designed and implemented several waste water treatment systems which use natural elements including, plants, snails, fish, and micro-organisms to clean and purify water. The company he co-founded, Living Technologies Inc. designs, builds, and implements these systems all over the world. These systems handle what is classified as black water and at the end of the process produce water as clean as Class 1 drinking water.

Waste Water Purification with Plants

The Living Technologies Inc. system is based on the same concept as natural estuaries. The “Living Machine” operating in Burlington Vermont is comprised of a series of tanks about 14 feet deep, each with a slightly different ecosystem. The black water that starts in the first tank is so noxious that plants can grow in it, so it is covered by a 18 inch thick layer of soil and grasses. When the water moves to the next tank it is clean enough to allow plants to grow. When the water makes its way through the system in one to three days it comes out so clean that it only have to be chlorinated to remove pathogens.

This system treats 80,000 gallons of South Burlington’s 200,000 gallon daily wastewater output.

Building Implications

The Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies

While not a skyscraper this building uses a water treatment system designed by Dr. John Todd that is similar to the one discussed earlier. In this case the “Living Machine” has been implicated on a much smaller scale. It is operated and maintained by students at Oberlin College. It is a teaching tool as well as an example to the community.

Foster & Partners: Commerzbank Headquarters

Skygardens are a major feature in this skyscraper. From every floor there is access either by view or physically to a skygarden. They are not utilized as air or water filters intensively, but they do provide a uplifting atmosphere.

Hamzah & Yeang: Elephant & Castle Eco-Tower

From the renderings of this project it looks like it is literally bursting with plant life, but the idea behind this design is a city in the sky, so the gardens are to make the tower feel more like a streetscape.

Hamzah & Yeang: Al Asima Shopping Village

Situated in the hot humid climate of Kuwait this tower integrates vegetation throughout to help cool and move the air.

Sources

http://www.vermontguides.com/1999/5-may/may3.htm

http://www.enviroeducation.com/interviews/john-todd/

http://www.mcdonoughpartners.com/projects_academic.shtm

Àlvarez Garreta, Ariadna. Skyscraper Architects. Barcelona: Atrium, 2004.

Höweler, Eric. Skyscraper. New York: Universe Pub., 2003.

Snyder, Stuart D. Environmental Interiorscapes :A Designer's Guide to Interior Plantscaping and Automated Irrigation Systems. New York: Whitney Library of Design, 1995.

Yeang, Ken. The Green Skyscraper :The Basis for Designing Sustainable Intensive Buildings. Munich; New York: Prestel, 1999.