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zdroj: designboom

To combat the Sahara Desert’s ongoing growth, student Magnus Larsson has proposed a 6,000km wall that will be-wait for it-constructed by letting a bacterium have its way with the sand, forming sandstone.

The bacterium, bacillus pasteurii, turns sand into firm sandstone structures very quickly, and the proposed wall could house a sort of lengthy oasis of water and vegetation, to be used by refugees for housing. It’s trying to kill two enormous birds with an equally enormous stone: Combating desertification and providing mass amounts of housing for those who need it. The proposal won a prize for sustainable agriculture, but nothing this outrageous is without its problems.

This kind of bacterial change has been performed in very small environments, but has never been tried in as large a scale as the Sahara Desert. Besides the practicality of the project, there are also environmental concerns: This massive a change to the ecosystem could cause problems we can’t even foresee, from species extinctions to water shortages. Not to mention a problem that wasn’t brought up in the article: How do we get this thing to stop making sandstone? I’m pretty sure experiments with ice-nine didn’t turn out so hot.

text: gizmodo
obr: flickr

více na plataformaarquitectura

studie rodinného domu v Mongolském novoměstě Ordos.

více na archdaily

více na archdaily

Plasmastudio has recently won the competition to develop the building and landscape design for Horticultural Expo in Xi’an, China. The project comprises 15,000 exhibition hall building, a series of conservatories, a 37Ha park around an artificial lake as well as ancilliary buildings. The next stages of development will take place during the next months with the collaboration of Plasmastudio (buildings) and Groundlab (landscape urbanism).
Xi’an is a city based in thousands of years of ancient culture. As the home of the Terra Cotta Army and the beginning of the Silk Road, Xi’an has claimed its place in China’s eternal history. In this tradition, Flowing Gardens is a harmonic relationship between Xi’an’s wondrous past and its exciting future; horticulture and technology; landscape and architecture. Flowing Gardens enhances the inherent beauty of Xi’an by intensifying the characteristics of the existing fabric while creating a self-sustainable landscape for the future.

Flowing Gardens begins from a single line — an axis extends from the Gate to the Greenhouse, traveling through the East and West Hills and over the lake, while extending into many sinuous paths, creating a network of intermingling circulation, landscape and water. Much like the legendary Silk Road, Flowing Gardens is connectivity, circulation, rejuvenation, and elegance.

zdroj: aa landscape urbanism

A permanent park for post industrial meditation in Kuramata village, Japan. A cultivated junk yard as a mixture of a temple and machine. Big industrial park including indoor and outdoor spaces constructed of iron. The park is situated castle like looking over the Kuramata rice fields and Kamagawa river. Potemkin is blessed and spirituous connected to one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Kuramata, Japan. 

zdroj: blogspot

for their design of house in never, never land they made four major decisions; 

to minimize tree and shrub removal or pruning on the allotment, raise more than 80% of the building mass on piles to avoid any sort of disturbance on the ground  (paving, crops, watering or other input) which might eventually alter its properties, clustering all the waste filtering and treatment equipment and compensating for the amount of substrate affected by the foundation by including an equivalent mass of substrate in various parts of the skin around the buildings, mixed with a water-retaining gelatin to reproduce the moister of original soil in shallower conditions. the design work began with phase 0, consisting on the close scrutiny and mapping of every tree and shrub. the geometries of the project were  then adapted correspondingly and the construction was inscribed in the space 
available in between the threes, which thus flow through the building interiors.

zdroj: designboom

For Hargreaves Associates, the sweeping monumentality of agricultural landscapes finds expression through their signature style — the braided topography — by which all activities and spaces are organized. 

From their project statement:

We have approached the site by examining the site-specific qualities that make it a beloved destination today: expansive fields, sweeping views, spectacular sunsets, rolling hills, nestled lakes, extensive walking trails, equestrian trails and events, farm lands, hands-on learning about agriculture and nature, a country drive, and bottomland forests. There is much at Shelby Farms Park to be discovered. 

We have integrated those elements by creating a multi-layered design that intertwines the various existing areas of the park. A network of landscape and movement systems provides for recreation and access by foot, by bike, by horse, by shuttle…and by boat. A system of beautiful lakes that reflect the memorable Memphis sky allows a connection to the river — both real and metaphorical as well as a whole new movement system on the site.…

Whereas Field Operations makes use of the grid and compartmentalization, Hargreaves Associates prefers terraforming.

[youtube LAKBjUhyLNM nolink]

house C has been designed by hiroshi nakamura and NAP architects.
located in minamiboso, japan, the house is situated between mountains and the sea,
the roof is insulated on the outside by using soil as a protective layer and cladding,
where seeds of grass have been sown to prevent runoff. to prevent salt damage
of the outer walls the reinforced concrete structure of the house has been coated.

zdroj: designboom