This 1.4 million sf building for Masdar City in Abu Dhabi will the first mixed use building to create more energy than it uses. Which is certainly impressive. Another building, a Russian tower will be the tallest in Europe and will have natural ventilation.
Not sure where all the ultra green US buildings are. Are any being built? Huge buildings like these can certainly be used to create new green technologies that eventually will benefit all. But they are also really just for the ultra wealthy and no doubt will have Robocop security with hundreds of surveillance cameras, etc. No “affordable condos” will be available inside them either, I’m guessing. The areas around them will be empty, with no vibrant street life, perhaps just parks that might as well have signs that say Poor People Stay Out.
While the greentech in these building is certainly laudable and breathtaking indeed, I wonder about the model of having mega-buildings plopped in the middle of cities, eliminating all other buildings for blocks and blocks around. Parts of L.A. are like that, around the Disney Hall and MOCA. Spectacular buildings, but hardly any pedestrians on the streets.
These large structures in cities create what is sometimes called non-spaces. Spaces that have no specific purpose and where you don’t want to be or have any feeling of belonging. They empty the cities, everybody is either in the massive building or is seen as not welcome because they are on the outside. However ir seems to be the road we are being taken down whether we like it or not, the corporate world loves them, big money, big assets, no room for the little guy.