Sustainable architecture focuses on how energy generates from the building itself and to it. That is through making an effective structure and ideal insulation to give air, water, and other facilities.
Resulting in, the building won’t need external air conditioners or other facilities. Sustainable Architecture provides the environment with green buildings.
So let’s know more about the features of Green buildings:
- Relying on solar energy or other renewable sources of energy.
- It’s a recycled building that decreases the wastes.
- Lowering the cement usage that reflects on the earth.
- Focusing on energy conservation.
Besides, Green buildings not only enhance the earth by the eco-friendly alternative to conventional construction techniques but also added energy efficiency, innovative designs and superior style which led to many sustainable buildings becoming known for their impressive looks.
There’s no doubt that sustainable architecture is the way of the future and will become more common as the concern for the environment vegetates because of it:
- Is providing air, water, and other resources
- Saves human health and enhance productivity
- Cuts pollution and wasted materials
- Saves money on operational costs
Wherefore, The Bank of America is the greenest project of New York in 2008, so we can say that an environmentally friendly building. It’s at One Bryant Park in the Midtown area of Manhattan in New York City.
As the greenest high-rise building, it is expounding the case of the art in:
- Energy efficiency
- Internal air quality
- Sustainable materials
- Environmentally conscious construction, operations, and maintenance rules.
- It’s made of recycled and recyclable materials
- The building has 55 stories high and has 2,100,000 square feet (195,096 m2) of office space.
- The tower’s architectural spire is 255.5 ft. (77.9 m) tall and place
As a result of these, The Bank of America Tower is the first skyscraper designed to attain a Platinum LEED Certification. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40xPO7bYc7U
Moreover, here is a brief about technologies which were used in the Bank of America construction process:
- Floor-to-ceiling double glazing which:
- Reduces thermal loss
- Lowering energy consumption
- Increasing transparency
- Carbon dioxide sensors signal increased fresh air ventilation when higher levels of carbon dioxide are detected in the building.
- Reusing the rainwater by the feature of a greywater system especially with waterless urinals, which:
- Are estimated to save 8,000,000 US gal (30,000,000 l) of water per year.
- Reduce CO2 emissions by 144,000 lb. (65,000 kg) per year (as calculated with the Pacific Institute water-to-air model).
- It’s constructed using a concrete manufactured with slag, a byproduct of blast furnaces. The mixture used in the building concrete is 55% cement and 45% slag.
- Conditioned air for the residents provided by many air column units located in the lessee space that delivers 50 °F air into a raised access floor plenum.
This underfloor air system provides users with the ability to control their space temperature as well as improving ventilation effectiveness.
When building churn occurs, workstation moves can be performed more easily with lower cost and less product waste. The cooling system produces and stores ice during off-peak hours, and allows the ice to melt to help cool the building during peak load.
So we can conclude the uniqueness of Bank of America in many bullet points which present the building features:
- The tower provides part of the base-load energy need by a 4.6-megawatt cogeneration plant.
- Waterless urinals save 10.3 million gallons.
- The gray water system will capture, store, and re-use 100% of rainwater and recycle wastewater and planted roofs.
- Reducing the urban heat island effect.
- Reducing energy consumption by 50%. potable water consumption by 50%, and create net-zero carbon dioxide emissions.
Green Urbanism (GU) – International Conference
The 4th international conference on “Green Urbanism (GU)” is taking place in Rome, Italy, from 24 to 26 November 2020.
GU-2020 aims to bring together, scientists, urban planners, architects and other stakeholders from across the globe to discuss the latest research findings in all aspects of sustainability.
Moreover, GU international conference avails the opportunity for interested researchers, scholars, scientists, architects, and engineers from around the globe to submit their research papers and get them published in highly-ranked international journals by the esteemed publishers Springer and IEREK Press. Noting that submitted researches must be in the scope of at least one of the official conference topics and abiding the submission instructions.
Many critical topics will be discussed during the GU conference, such as:
- The Evolution of Green Urbanism
- Formulating the Principles of Green Urbanism
- Urban Design for Nature, Conservation of Natural Resources
- Passive Designs: Green Buildings for Sustainable Use
- Green Districts: Bike, Cycles, and Pedestrians’ Corridors
- Urban Growth of Developing Cities
- City Urban Form and Natural Resources
- Landscape, Gardens, Streetscapes, and Urban Biodiversity
- Urbanization of Rural Area: Energy, Water, and Food Security
- Urban Governance, Leadership, Best Practices, Research, and Awareness
- Green Infrastructure and Sustainable Environment
- Regeneration of the City Center and Urban Transit Hubs
- Waste Management, Pollution, and Health Risks
- Energy Efficiency in the Built Environment
- Effects of Sustainable Environments on Human Health
- Advancing Solutions towards Zero Waste Cities
- Transformation to Green Environment
For more information & registration, visit the conference’s official page: https://www.ierek.com/events/GU4th