permaculture

[Guilherme Neves Castagna <guilherme@permacultura.org.br>]

Oh, how nice to see this here!

   I'm the fellow behind this building hydraulic design

(see the "Hydraulic Installations" field over 
http://www.dezeen.com/2008/08/31/harmonia-57-by-triptyque/),

whereas another friend, Australian permaculturist Peter Webb has 
developed the green facades and landscaping, including the green roof. 
Apart from all the poetic stuff written on the article, we were largely 
motivated both by the occurance of severe stormwater floods right by the 
main street, as well as the longer dry seasons in the huge city of São 
Paulo. Its streets and avenues and impermeable pavement offer 
sure-floods during the rainy season, and a harsh dry climate during dry 
season, for its over 17 million inhabitants.

   I used both drainage and rainwater for all non-potable uses in the 
building, and saving roughly 2 m3/day of chemically-treated "potable" 
water. It is quite common to see buildings discarding drainage water by 
the sidewalk all along the year in SP, so we perceived this as a unused 
resource and took advantage of its abundance, growing even more 
abundance. Permaculture offers a whole set of design principles for both 
urban and rural dwellers, and we act in the hope that it inspires ppl to 
build using integrated ecological designs, even more in big cities, 
where the need for such is imperative. Anyway, the whole water system is 
now working fine, being treated with no chlorine (main desinfection 
agent used all along Brazil), and plants are growing and alleviating the 
suffocating dryness of São Paulo (SP), reducing the need for 
energy-dependent air conditioning systems.

   By the way, does anyone know what is the US or other countries 
regulations as to the use of water drained in shallow water tables? I'd 
also luv to exchange info on the removal or conversion of Fe3+ (present 
in the drainage water) with an appropriate "living machine" or 
equivalent ecological system.

All luv,


--
Gui Castagna - Design Ecológico
fone/fax: +55 (12) 3832-1476
celular:  +55 (12) 9702-9203
Ubatuba/SP
Brasil

Web: www.livrariatapioca.net +
    www.permear.org.br
Skype: guilherme.castagna




Message: 2
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 06:17:29 -0400
From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@intrex.net>
Subject: [permaculture] Building with vertical garden - Boing Boing
To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <48C79EB9.2040106@intrex.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed


<http://www.boingboing.net/2008/09/09/building-with-vertic.html>
Boing Boing - A directory of wonderful things
Building with vertical garden
Posted by Cory Doctorow, September 9, 2008 9:35 PM | permalink
Love this Brazilian building with plants (not ivy! not climbers!) covering 
its walls:


    The project in Harmonia Street is located in a neighborhood in the west side of S?o Paulo, where artistic life and 
creativity penetrates easily, where galleries and walls are mixed up, functioning as a stage for new expression forms.

    The alley in front of the building is an example ? its graffiti present a concept of experimentation that flows out 
from the street into the construction.

    Like a living body, the building breathes, sweats and modifies itself, transcending its inertia. The walls are 
thick and covered externally by a vegetal layer that works like the skin of the structure. This dense wall is made of an 
organic concrete that has pores, where several plant species grow, giving the facades a unique look.

    In this great machine, where the rain and soil waters are drained, treated and reused, a complex ecosystem is 
formed within the local. This ecosystem is a multifunctional universe made of several interconnected machines. It?s a 
zone of multiplicity, where meanings and actions float between the unsaid, resulting in dynamic entities.

Harmonia 57 by Triptyque (via Cribcandy)
http://www.dezeen.com/2008/08/31/harmonia-57-by-triptyque/#more-17249