Because there is no planet B

In mid 1800s highline was constructed in between the city of New York to operate the freight trains for industrial areas. It went well at the at that particular time and initially it wasn’t elevated line. Due to curtail the accident rates the line was elevated in 1933. However during 1960-80s the structure was obsolete and was planned to be demolished. A certain portion was

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demolished as well. However a campaign was started to preserve the structure and reuse it for another purpose. A bill was passed and the whole structure was converted into a public park. It runs through the middle of the city and provides recreational services to the general public as well as tackling the environmental issues. This is the most famous example to reuse the old industrial structures into a public benefit structures. In order to keep the essence of the past tracks are not removed but still exists in between. However pavements are also there to give passage ways and sitting places are added in. It can be regarded the best example of sustainable architectural designs.

Yasmin Lari is the famous architect of Pakistan working on different projects for the low income people and for the people living in disastrous areas. She has introduced natural and cheaper material for house construction which could stand against disasters especially floods and

earthquakes. Most of the areas in Interior Sindh province are cut off from vicinity during floods. Excess to such areas also becomes difficult. She has elevated those houses so that during floods residents could go upstairs and save their lives and belongings. She has used bamboos in those architectures however the traditional way of construction of those areas is also followed.

“40,000 zero-carbon shelters have been constructed. The result being that in the subsequent floods there was no loss of life, livestock or property in the areas in which Lari had worked.”

Mrs. Fan’s Plugin houses is another interesting project which represents truly the sustainability in architectures. In Beijing for someone who is in middle of his age it is almost impossible to buy a house on his own due to astronomical prices of real estate. However the affordability of the Plugin House is about thirty times less as compare to the cost of buying a

typical apartment. The Plugin House is the  custom designed for Mrs. Fan. If we talk about the design the living room ceiling extends upwards to provide a double height space with skylights on either side. The direction of sunlight is channeled in from above to flood the previously dark interior with light. The small bathroom also has a skylight however it also receives reflected sunlight from a blue

privacy screen. These plug-in houses are constructed on the principles of prefabrication. These are built somewhere else and then assembled on the desires space. Another advantage of this architecture is that it doesn’t block the light and air of its neighbors and give a cheaper healthy living style.

The upcycling project by Ecoalf-Madrid is another very interesting project to reduce unwanted non bio-degradable items from the ocean bed. According to their vision “Because there is no planet B” they are trying hard to control the release of CO2 and consumption of energy. They are collecting discarded fishing nets from the ocean and upcycling it into fibers

which could be used to weave clothing. They are also collecting other plastic materials and converting it into reusable material. The plastic issue is the most hot issue other than the increase in the biospheres’ temperature. According to their figures, “500 tons of marine waste has been collected since 2015”

However Ecoalf foundation is not interested in marine waste only. They are not only working on non bio-degradable material only. However they are recycling coffee grounds as well. Although it is biodegradable material yet it is a waste. The idea behind it is that nothing should go wasted.

Another beautiful thought by this foundation which I like most is,

“We are not only concerned about what planet we leave to future generations, but also about what generations we leave to the planet.”

Air Ink is an interesting project which was funded by the MIT Laboratory. They claim that they make ink from the air pollution and this ink can be used in intra-disciplinary practices. Carbon is gathered from the chimneys and then processed. Air pollution is no doubt a very serious issue. It is effecting our ecosystem and environment harshly. However my point of

view is that the carbon in air is effecting and not the solid carbon which has become solid. This project could be more beneficial if it could develop a  way to gather carbon from the air. Furthermore from a longer period of time people are using smoke of chimneys as a black pigment. So there is nothing new if we are supposed to use the solid carbon.

Another interesting project that I really like is the Australian project “Project Graham”. Graham is an imaginary character which is designed to cope the car crash resulting from over speeding. Normal human body can withstand  only a certain amount of trauma. But what if the intensity of trauma is much greater?

According to that research project even the speed of 30km/hr could be dangerous if a pedestrian is involved. Even side-on collision could be fatal. The basic objective of this project was to research what ways could reduce the effect in case of collision and how can we make it sure that we and in a safe zone. The searches and experimentation suggested the following kind of anatomy to survive the traumatic effect. So if human body had such kind of extra fats around neck and face and this kind of double supported ribs then ofcourse it can survive in a crash. But we all know that human body can’t be transformed in that way. So the only option we have is to drive carefully and don’t cross the speed limits mentioned by the authorities.