January 15 2008

Eco Boulevard de Vallecas: The Air Tree

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(above) The Madrid 'Air Tree'

In 2004, the Madrid Municipal Housing Corporation's Residential Innovation Office (with support from the EU LIFE Program) sponsored the Eco Boulevard Competition to design an outdoor urban space in the Madrid suburb of Vallecas. The competition asked designers to imagine an outdoor space that "climatically transformed outdoor urban space." The designs should also "improve environmental comfort, promote social exchange and be more sustainable than conventional models of growth in the city. Interestingly, this particular portion of Vallecas did not and still does not exist entirely. It is part of a major planned urban development on the outskirts of Madrid. The actual Eco Boulevard site was a strip of land roughly 500 meters long by 50 meters wide.

The winning entry was submitted by Urban Ecosystems and is loosely titled 'The Air Tree.' Their proposal was to create three open air pavilions in the space which would each be programmed with a different activity chosen by the users themselves. The pavilions were designed to be a "prosthesis" around which social activities, biological growth, and architectural edifice could grow. The pavilions would begin their life as nodes for activity within the new urban centres. Then, over time, as the surrounding context developed and grew, the pavilions would loose their character as node and instead become voids within the urban fabric. The structures will eventually be deconstructed and recycled.

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(above) A diagram of development along the Eco Boulevard from year 0 to year 20

The pavilions or air trees themselves are designed to be lightweight, deconstructable, and self sufficient (to produce their own electrical energy). All three are designed using one rough kit of design elements that then are skinned to perform specific tasks depending on the activity taking place at that particular pavilion. Photovoltaic panels mounted to the top of each structure produce energy used to operate the air trees. Surplus electricity is sold back to the grid and the proceeds are used to help maintain the urban park.

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Each air tree was also designed to condition the surrounding environment. Because the designers realized that the air trees would stand solitary for many years until the surrounding trees and vegetation grew, the designers planned for the air trees house their own plantings. Urban Ecosystems therefore placed hundreds of small trees in soil on the perimeter of the air trees. They describe the system as:

"...Simple air conditioning systems installed in the air tree. They are evapotranspirators. This is a natural way to air condition a space, not a part of commercial strategy. Rather, it creates naturally conditioned spaces between 8-10°C cooler than the surrounding streets where the residents can take active part in the public domain."

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The project is currently under construction. All three pavilions have been built and work continues on the overall masterplan for the Eco Boulevard and the remainder of the Vallecas project.

Here (below) is an animated gif showing the general concepts for the project.

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(reload page to replay animation)

For more information please visit the original article (spanish translation).

Via Plataforma Arquitectura and

Gizmodo

svgallery=SVGallery_MadridAirTree

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18 Comments

January 17th, 2008 at 2:50 PM

Ekologické bydlení » Blog Archive » Madrid bude mít sv?j “ekobulvár”

[...] greenlineblog.com/     ?íst dál    ? Vlo?it [...]

January 24th, 2008 at 4:31 PM

Inhabitat » Air Trees in Madrid produce H2O and Energy

[...] that will ?climatically transform? its urban architecture. Designed by Urban Ecosystems, the ?Air Tree? pavilion is to be built from recycled materials and will be 100% energy self-sufficient. The [...]

January 25th, 2008 at 1:52 AM

Building Light » Blog Archive » Oxygen and Energy Producing “Air Tree”

[...] information can be found at Platforma Arquitectura, Inhabitat, Greenline, and [...]

January 25th, 2008 at 7:20 PM

lil bunny foofoo

"Then, over time, as the surrounding context developed and grew, the pavilions would loose their character as node and instead become voids within the urban fabric. " Beautiful site, interesting article, but please remember that "loose" is not the same as "lose". Fight the power, the power of poor spelling.

January 26th, 2008 at 6:14 PM

» ?Air Tree? Structures in Madrid produce Oxygen and Energy - Green Home Network

[...] inclination ?climatically modify? its urban architecture. Designed near Urban Ecosystems, the tune Tree pavilion is to be built from recycled materials and ordain be 100% forcefulness self-adequate. [...]

January 26th, 2008 at 6:24 PM

» ?Air Tree? Structures in Madrid produce Oxygen and Energy - Green Home Network

[...] ?climatically change? its urban architecture. Designed sooner than Urban Ecosystems, the superiority Tree pavilion is to be built from recycled materials and inclination be 100% spirit self-enough. Using [...]

January 26th, 2008 at 6:30 PM

» ?Air Tree? Structures in Madrid produce Oxygen and Energy - Green Home Network

[...] that will ?climatically transform? its urban architecture. Designed by Urban Ecosystems, the Air Tree pavilion is to be built from recycled materials and will be 100% energy self-sufficient. Using [...]

January 26th, 2008 at 7:04 PM

"Air Tree" - geração de oxigênio e energia « EcoTecnologia

[...] Via GreenLine Blog. [...]

February 6th, 2008 at 7:22 AM

Don Hennick

Lets give it a name I say Global Carbon March Inter our exhaust I don?t see any mention on your web site of Pyrolysis or Agrichar . Do you have projects in the planning stage on the carbon sequestration front? The more you learn about this ancient technique of soil restoration the more you'll see how elegant this solution can be for carbon sequestration, for us all. Imagine putting the carbon tax funds into the hands of millions of peasant farmers all around the world, building their soil and their net worth at the same time. Please search "AGRICHAR" ?BIOCHAR? or ?TERRA PRETA?

February 11th, 2008 at 5:02 PM

Jack

Jack... I love the info and have bookmarked your blog. Haver you thought of doing a vlog describing this stuff?...

February 18th, 2008 at 9:23 PM

jonasrisen

Jack, What is a vlog? Jonas

February 28th, 2008 at 3:55 PM

Why We Worry » Blog Archive » Wednesday Midweek Roundup Vol. III

[...] The field of sustainable architecture and design continues to impress an optimistic vision of the future on me. [...]

March 20th, 2008 at 8:37 AM

Mattyla

thats for sure, brother

April 22nd, 2008 at 2:44 PM

asw4202’s blog » Blog Archive » ?Air Tree? Structures in Madrid produce Oxygen and Energy

[...] that will ?climatically transform? its urban architecture. Designed by Urban Ecosystems, the Air Tree pavilion is to be built from recycled materials and will be 100% energy self-sufficient. Using [...]

June 19th, 2008 at 1:00 PM

Air Tree a Madrid frescura naturale nelle aree urbane | ambiente

[...] Air Tree su Green Line Blog [...]

June 23rd, 2008 at 9:51 PM

THE VIEWING EXPERIENCE ???? » Blog Archive » THE WORK OF MELODY WILLIS

[...] 2008 -the Air Tree pavilion is to be built from recycled materials and will be 100% energy self-sufficient. Using [...]

August 30th, 2008 at 3:18 PM

Mahmoud Kabalan

Its a nice construction project, but simply implanting trees would have been cheaper and faster

November 14th, 2008 at 8:18 PM

TONE

Welcome in the futur!!! It's simply fantastic, congratulations

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