Cactus Architecture!?
This is the future MMAA (Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture) in Qatar (one of the Arab emirates).
These pair of buildings designed by Bangkok based Aesthetics Architects each magnificently resemble a cactus plant - wow! What's even more cool is the fact that the solar shades on the exterior of the buildings can open and close according to the heat outside, thus greatly controlling the temperature inside and reducing costs of electricity! Nice!
According to this article on GreenPacks.org this wondrous piece of architecture stems from the growing popularity of Biomimicry or biomimetics, "the examination of nature, its models, systems, processes, and elements to emulate or take inspiration from in order to solve human problems." Apparently biomimicry is really catching on in the Architecture and Design industries, as it should! - sounds like one of the paths to saving this planet!! And hey, you learn something new every day!!
These pair of buildings designed by Bangkok based Aesthetics Architects each magnificently resemble a cactus plant - wow! What's even more cool is the fact that the solar shades on the exterior of the buildings can open and close according to the heat outside, thus greatly controlling the temperature inside and reducing costs of electricity! Nice!
According to this article on GreenPacks.org this wondrous piece of architecture stems from the growing popularity of Biomimicry or biomimetics, "the examination of nature, its models, systems, processes, and elements to emulate or take inspiration from in order to solve human problems." Apparently biomimicry is really catching on in the Architecture and Design industries, as it should! - sounds like one of the paths to saving this planet!! And hey, you learn something new every day!!
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And this building... well, this amazing structure is called The Urban Cactus Condo and it sits right along the harbor in Rotterdam, The Netherlands by UCX Architects Ben Huygen and Jasper Jaegers. This condo has nineteen floors containing 98 residential units, the staggered design of the floors allows for a two-level outdoor space for each unit and allows for enough sun for foliage to flourish. Beautiful!
There are quite a few magnificent buildings (architecture-wise) currently in the works, that I would like to share with you, particularly in Dubai (another member of the U.A.E - United Arab Emirates). However, since they have nothing to do with a cactus I will feature them in a separate post.
(all images via a Google image search and GreenPacks.org)