Architecture: Notable Seed stories from 2009

Stockholm, Azerbaijan, Norway – Planning for an uncertain future, architects provided us with magical, sustainable solutions in 2008.

One, Zira Island on the Caspian Sea, is an artificial architectural landscape proposal in which all buildings will be carbon neutral. Reflecting the sort of thinking we outlined in our Fifth Scenario trend report the project demonstrated a creative solution to the sort of low-tolerance guidelines on carbon-emissions we expect in the future. For more on this, see our report on “Prohibition Culture“/trends/view/928.

Addressing the need for denser single-family housing, a new scheme proposed a sustainable solution that leaves as much space for cultivation as possible. The Vertical Village, designed by Tham & Videgard Hansson Arkitekter, saw a proposal for neighbourhoods for small family units, to be built around communal and private garden spaces, with high hedges dividing each household’s individual plot.

In the Gudbrandsjuvet region of Norway, a new landscape hotel offered a dramatic outdoor backdrop for its residents by detaching each of its rooms and plotting them across a beautiful rugged environment of forest and mountains.