[ . Sustainable design. . ]

It's really amazing at how much the human race is trying to get back to the roots of nature and incorporate it into modern design and technology. It's been evident for some time with small things popping up every now and then, such a velcro, invented in 1941, and self-healing plastic in 2001, but very recently there's been a surge in biomimicry and sustainable design. Architecture is one of the most dominant areas that this is affected with. There are several buildings, both large and small, that have begun to incorporate sustainable design as a means to improve efficiency and leave a smaller footprint on the world around them. One such building would be the Phare Tower, due to be completed by the Morphosis Design firm in 2012 near Paris, France, pictured below. The entire building has nothing but smooth lines and a very unusual design, altogether. It is 68 stories of double-skinned, clear-glazed facade to not only improve efficiency, but also provide more natural light to cut down on energy costs. Beneath, the building possesses a wind generator farm, which then goes to provide what energy is needed for the building, instead of drawing on the local power grid. All in all, it is an unusual design, but it makes sense. The more efficiency achieved with modern architecture means we need to draw less and less on power grids and artificially generated energy. That can only mean for the better for this planet, itself.



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