In the year 2050, Paris could be a paradise of plant-embedded smart architecture—provided Vincent Callebaut Architectures have their way. On the heels of Paris's Climate Energy Plan to reduce 75% of greenhouse gas emissions in the next 35 years, the architecture firm collaborated with engineers at Setec Bâtiment to design eight prototypes for towers that could bring greenery back into the city and provide sources of renewable energy.
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The research was conducted for Paris City Hall, and imagines a healthy, sustainable future for the most populous city of France. "Paris has always been rebuilt on itself," the firm states in their proposal. In the renderings, eco-friendly high-rises sprout up all over Paris: smog-eating buildings on the Rue de Rivoli; the abandoned Petite Ceinture of Paris railway line turned into an ecological corridor; the Montparnasse Tower with suspended gardens of green algae bioreactors; bamboo exoskeleton structures that envelop Massena's edifices; cheap honeycomb-shaped apartment complexes; vertical farms in Aubervilliers; mangrove tree-shaped train stations; and green bridges at the river gates.Together, these BEPOS-certified buildings could put up a good fight against increasing urban heat-island effects (the phenomenon where metropolitan areas grow warmer than their surroundings as a result of human habitation). From coiled hives to plant facades, here are the eight innovative structure prototypes from Vincent Callebaut Architecture's Paris Smart City 2050:
Using piezoelectricity to power the Gare du Nord station platforms, like the swamp trees of their namesake, the Mangrove Towers will take root in their surroundings.
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