2012.10.10
Social housing living
In eco-friendly design apartment blocks, where the main players are public spaces and wood that looks “good”, just like on yachts.
The world is changing, thank goodness, and so are the habits and customs of how man sees it and lives in it. A rediscovery of the value of nature, respect for sources and the use of the full cycle as a development model, have produced and are still producing extraordinary results. This is the case of eco-friendly and full cycle architectonic experiences, where everything that is consumed is self-produced and what is thrown away becomes something else.
The city of San Francisco is investing heavily in this development model, becoming one of the world’s most cutting-edge hubs in sectors like bio-building, natural insulation and the use of energy from renewable sources like water, wind and sun; elements by no means in short supply in Frisco Bay.
Europe too is taking its first important steps towards emancipation from fossil fuels and eco-sustainable construction. In Copenhagen the world’s first “printed” home has recently been inaugurated. Thanks to an intelligent milling machine instead of the 3D printer, the architects designed the project on a computer and then “printed” the house on wood from certified forest and natural insulators, without using any bricks or other quarried materials. Even the use of steel was minimised and limited to photovoltaic and thermal solar installations that ensure heating and hot water supplies. An excellent example of sustainability resulting in low costs and exorbitant benefits.
Luckily these projects are numerous and widespread, most to be found in Northern Europe, in particular in Sweden and Denmark where Malmö and Copenhagen are battling it out to become the world’s “greenest” city.