Inside Urban Green

Greenscaped Terminal 3 In New Delhi Soon To Open

via specials.rediff.com

Image: Interior view of Terminal 3.
Photograph, courtesy: Indira Gandhi International Airport

The total area involved is 5.2 million sq ft. Soft landscaping inside the terminal will feature 1,000 granite clad planters, 800 self-watering planters from Germany and 850 low-height modular fiberglass reinforced planters that will act like "green lungs" and give a tropical look and feel inside the terminal.

Did Lechuza score a big order in India? I could not find anything to verify it but that would be my best guess as to the German source of 800 "self-watering" planters. That is a nice sized order in a down economy, or in any economy for that matter. 

Read more about Terminal 3 at Delhi International Airport which will be the third largest airline terminal in the world after Dubai and Beijing.

via economictimes.indiatimes.com

NEW DELHI: If you drive to or from the soon-to-be-opened Terminal-3 (T-3) of the international airport here, you are bound to notice the sidewalks and causeways fast sprouting with exotic flowers, palms, manicured shrubs and lush lawns.

A Modern 21st Century Garden on the White House Roof

There is a better way than tearing up the White House lawn. 

                                                           The White House Museum

This is not a straw hat president. He’s a thoroughly modern man.

                                                    Jim Young/Reuters

And thoroughly modern Michelle is committed to raising awareness of eating nutritiously  

                                                                                          The White House Museum

Yes, that is President "Ike" Eisenhower sometime in the late 1950s.  

Fast forward to the 21st century and replace those old-fashioned planters with sub-irrigated grow boxes (EarthBoxes, for example). 

This picture could be President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, or Sasha and Malia Obama picking heirloom tomatoes up on the roof for a family cookout. No problem with security--or soil contamination--up here! 

Sub-irrigated grow boxes could be producing fresh and nutritious personal food for the first family and their friends with no need for shovels and tillable earth. They could even invite Rick Bayless, a  favorite Chicago chef, and his wife Deann to view the new White House vegetable farm. Bayless knows how to grow in EarthBoxes--he has them on his restaurant roof. 

Using 21st-century methods, the first family could demonstrate that we can all grow exceptional food anywhere there’s enough sunlight. We don't need to be farmers and gardeners unless we choose to be. 

What a forward-looking and uplifting message an Obama family photo like this would send to the country and the world. Did you know that the Growing Connection (a UN agency) funds the use of EarthBoxes in under-developed countries and even in some of our public schools? We could use more of them to our collective advantage in the neighborhoods of our largest cities, where fresh food can be hard to find. 

Victory Gardens were a great idea...in 1940. They are a revered part of American history, but they are just that...history. 

I didn't just read about Victory Gardens. I am a Victory Gardener with fond memories from a prior century. It's time, however, to move forward in the modern world. 

Lead the way, Mr. President.  

Rooftop Garden Hose Job

Design bloggers have been gushing over the Gehryesqe rooftop garden in Los Angeles called SYNTHe. The only thing gushing here is the hose held by the executive chef of the Blue Velvet restaurant which is located in the building. 

It may be an eye catching design, but this project made little functional sense when I first saw it. With the publication of this photo it makes even less sense, particularly in light of the drought in California. 

 

Corbu

Changing into Hang Ten T-shirts, blue jeans and Reeboks after wearing IBM blue suits, white shirts and 14-pound wing-tips for a long time was an interesting experience back in 1975. 

It was in Cal Poly Graduate School of Environmental Design that I discovered my interest in architecture. One of my first classes was the History of Environmental Design. Led by a very good professor, we traveled in time from the pyramids to modern architecture.

I well remember some of the buildings in this video about Le Corbusier. Note the use of plants in some of these buldings, many of them massive structures. 

There's a lot more here about Le Corbusier if you're interested in his work. 

Via: GrassRootsModern