PRECAST CONCRETE JEFFREY ALEX | TREVOR GOTFREDSON
WARM AIR RELEASE
RUNOFF COLLECTION AND TREATMENT
LIGHT FILTRATION
SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL
AIL FILTRATION AND COOLING
By the end of the century, 84% of the world’s population will be living in urban areas. However, urbanization has suppressed certain ecological systems, resulting in unbalanced urban ecologies. As cities grow, the increased use of building materials will continue, and its adverse effects on the natural environment is inevitable. An integration of ecological systems with an urban fabric will mitigate the externalities of harmful materials in growing urban areas. Concrete, the single most widely used material in the world, also has the highest carbon footprint. Its high embodied energy can be partially offset by re-introducing landscape to the environment. The efficiency of precast creates opportunity to return the ecological servants to the urban environment. Landscape must be designed as an inherent relationship to structure. The symbiotic relationship is a rebalancing of the urban equilibrium. Ailanthus altissima, a species proven to thrive in urban environments, has the potential play a vital role in the social, ecologic, and economic condition of a city. Although its invasive habit creates a stigma, its distinctive properties allow for it to benefit from a relationship with precast concrete. Uniting these two traditionally disparate elements creates an environment that is better than either element could create independently.
POLISHED EFFLUENT RELEASE