Great Spaces

An arcology is an architectural typology consisting of mostly fictional or theoretical mega buildings that combine residential units with various civic & commerical ones all the while minimizing their impact on the environment.  The word itself is a mashup of “architecture” and “ecology.”  NOAH is just such a project. (The NOAH arcology, get it?) E. Kevin Schopfer proposed it to the City of New Orleans in 2009. It was expected to house 20,000 residences, 1,000,000 sf of commercial space, a school, a hospital and 3 casinos.  It includes numerous sustainable elements such as wind and water turbines, solar panels, fresh water recovery, grey water treatment, passive glazing and sky garden heating and cooling vents, its open triangulated form would theoretically make it hurricane-proof, and did we mention that it floats?  This enormously ambitious project has (surprise) not been developed, but we think the proposal was pretty phenomenal. 

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