Urban Green Projects

This whole thing started when Urban Re:Vision teamed up with the City of Dallas to create a sustainable city block. The location was announced last December, and thereafter, teams from all across the world participated in a competition to design the greenest city block in the country. Now, three winners have been announced (see below), and of these three, one will be chosen for construction. Groundbreaking is set for Fall 2010.

We thought it'd be interesting to try to anticipate the ultimate winner with a short poll. Read below and vote for the best sustainable design:

Entangled Bank
by Little (Charlotte, NC)

Entangled Bank is a mixed-use plan with residential and retail aspects. It was designed to include a sky pasture to sustain livestock. The building has community garden areas and is powered by vertical axis wind turbines and photovoltaic panels. Glass ponds capture rainwater and provide irrigation for the extensive vertical farm and green roof system. Entangled Bank will have 500 residential units, an Organic Farming Institute, and a Slow Food Restaurant.

Greenways Xero Energy
by David Baker + Partners and Fletcher Studio (San Francisco, CA)

Greenways Xero Energy takes its shape from an abstract, beached naval ship in order to capture solar exposure and rainwater. The design features community gardens, vertical farming, solar thermal energy, and photovoltaics. Shading on the south side of the structure reduces cooling loads and geothermal tubes negotiate temperature swings. Dallasites may notice that this design, particularly with the red touches and box cutouts, plays off the design of One Arts Plaza and the Arts District, which anchors the northeast corner of Dallas CBD.

Forwarding Dallas
by Atelier Data and MOOV (Lisbon, Portugal)

Forwarding Dallas gets its inspiration from hills, possibly even the rolling landscape of Texas Hill Country, to create an undulated fabric of buildings with green roofs covered in native vegetation. The hills harvest natural elements, including the sun and wind, through solar thermal, photovoltaic’s, horizontal axis wind turbines, and passive solar louvers. Self-sustaining Forwarding Dallas will accommodate 854 residents and be prefabricated with local materials and straw bales.

Source: Jetson Green

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