Eco Boulevard de Vallecas: The Air Tree

(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.

(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.

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.”

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.

(reload page to replay animation)

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

Via Plataforma Arquitectura and

Gizmodo

svgallery=SVGallery_MadridAirTree

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 at 4:57 am and is filed under Environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

←

→

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

January 17, 2008 at 2:50 pm

[...] greenlineblog.com/ ?íst dál ? Vložit [...]

Inhabitat » Air Trees in Madrid produce H2O and Energy says:

January 24, 2008 at 4:31 pm

[...] 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 [...]

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

January 25, 2008 at 1:52 am

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

lil bunny foofoo says:

January 25, 2008 at 7:20 pm

“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.

» ‘Air Tree’ Structures in Madrid produce Oxygen and Energy - Green Home Network says:

January 26, 2008 at 6:14 pm

[...] 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 26, 2008 at 6:24 pm

[...] “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 26, 2008 at 6:30 pm

[...] 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 [...]

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

January 26, 2008 at 7:04 pm

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

Don Hennick says:

February 6, 2008 at 7:22 am

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”

Jack says:

February 11, 2008 at 5:02 pm

Jack…

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

jonasrisen says:

February 18, 2008 at 9:23 pm

Jack,

What is a vlog?

Jonas

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

February 28, 2008 at 3:55 pm

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