A Building That Neutralizes

Surrounding
Air Pollution

This is Torre de Especialidadesis,

a hospital in Mexico City.

The 100-meter long curved screen on the building, is made

of Depolluting Quasicrystals.

The hospital chose the tiles, called Prosolve370e, for their ability to
clean the air and for their visually appealing forms.

The 3D architectural tiles are designed to reduce air pollution when

they're installed near busy traffic arteries or on building facades.

A superfine titanium dioxide (TiO2) coats the tiles, and when activated
by ambient daylight, they break down nitrous oxides and volatile organic
chemicals - byproducts of automobile emissions - effectively neutralizing
them.

TiO2 Self Cleaning

Technology

Uses sunlight to activate the titanium dioxide (TiO2)

nanoparticles, resulting in high oxidation power and
superhydrophilic effect.

Provides a self cleaning effect on building faade e.g

painted surface, glass windows and panels.

Self cleaning effect can last 5 years.

Allison Dring & Daniel

Schwaag; designers
and Architects Torre de
Especialidades and
developers of the
proSolve370e tile.

POLLUTION
before

after

THORNTON CREEK
WATER QUALITY
CHANNEL

rved out of an abandoned parking lot, the Thornton

eek Water Quality Channel treats urban storm water
noff from 680 acres within a necklace of channels,
ols, and terraces designed to mimic the performance
a natural creek. Its lush plantings, overlooks, and paths
ve added 2.7 acres of public open space to the
rthgate Urban Center and catalyzed surrounding
Designer: SvR Design Company
Location: NE Thornton Place Seattle, Washington
development. The facility is a model for how
ulti-functional landscapes can be integrated into the
nse urban fabric.

Increased open space within the Northgate Urban Center by about

50%.

Provides pedestrian links from adjacent commercial and residential

neighborhoods. Shortened walking access by 50%.
Reduced impervious surfaces by 78%.

Designed to remove an estimated 40-80% of total suspended solids

from 91% of the average volume of annual stormwater runoff from
the 680-acre drainage basin.

Created new habitat within this heavily paved commercial area.

Within one month after opening, native birds were observed at the
project. A variety of desirable native volunteer plants have migrated

London's Famous Gherkin Building

Arch. Norman Foster

Thermal/Heat Pollution Reduction

Under pressure from other more

sustainable buildings popping up
around the world, Londons Gherkin
Tower, designed byNorman Foster,has
recently begun testing an innovative
vegetated
facade
panel
which
promises to change the face of
building design forever. This new

The panel works by soaking

up moisture from the air and
funneling
it
through
its
specialized
membranes,
which are able to generate
enough
water
for
plant
growth. The plants, mostly a
mixture
of
lichens
and
grasses,
are
expected
to
grow out of the panel and
envelope
the
facade.
Needless to say, the benefits
of the panels are many:
shading, increased internal
daylighting,
thermal
insulation,
reduced
water
consumption,
energy
generation
for
the
entire
building,
recycling
of
materials,
reduction
of
toxicity
in
the
interior
spaces, acceptance of the
Kyoto treaty by the countries
which have yet
sign,Andrea
world
By:toMarie
peace, and a P.
rise
in
property
Alladin

Noise Pollution

An air gap around the

floating
floors
and
suspended ceilings also
improves
the
Sound
Reduction Index of the

An operable doublestructure.
glazed window natural
ventilation
while
preventing
direct
propagation of traffic
noise. The narrow path
between the double
window
panes

Kowloons
Kwai
Tsing
Theatre
illustrates
how
architectural design can be
used to protect quiet spaces
against airborne and structureborne noises from inside and
outside
the
theatre.
Its
location next to
the MTR
railway and heavy traffic is
particularly challenging given
the
requirements
of
the
theatres
multifunctional
spaces, which sometimes host
simultaneous events.

Desig

Generally,
brownfield
sites exist in a
city's
or town's industrial
section, on locations
with abandoned factories
or commercial buildings, or
other previously polluting operations.
Small brownfields also may be found
in many older residential neighborhoods. For
example, many dry cleaning establishments or gas
stations produced high levels of subsurface
contaminants during prior operations, and the land they
occupy might sit idle for decades as a brownfield.
Typical contaminants found on contaminated brownfield land
include hydrocarbon spillages, solvents, pesticides, heavy
metals such
as lead (e.g., paints), tributyltins, and asbestos. Old maps
may assist in identifying areas to be tested.

Inurban
planning,
abrownfield
site(or
simply abrownfield) islandpreviously used
forindustrialpurposes or some commercial
uses. The land may be contaminated by low
concentrations
ofhazardous
wasteorpollution, and has the potential to
be reused once it is cleaned up. Land that is
more severely contaminated and has high
concentrations of hazardous waste or
pollution, such as aSuperfundsite, does not

Zimmerman
Weintraub
Associates

Principal /
Project
manager

Knight Architects
Engineers Planners
Inc

Landscape Architect Lee Weintraub