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scinerds:

Living Wall

These vegetated surfaces don’t just look pretty. They have other benefits as well, including cooling city blocks, reducing loud noises, and improving a building’s energy efficiency.What’s more, a recent modeling study shows that green walls can potentially reduce large amounts of air pollution in what’s called a “street canyon,” or the corridor between tall buildings.

For the study, Thomas Pugh, a biogeochemist at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, and his colleagues created a computer model of a green wall with generic vegetation in a Western European city. Then they recorded chemical reactions based on a variety of factors, such as wind speed and building placement.

The simulation revealed a clear pattern: A green wall in a street canyon trapped or absorbed large amounts of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter—both pollutants harmful to people, said Pugh. Compared with reducing emissions from cars, little attention has been focused on how to trap or take up more of the pollutants, added Pugh, whose study was published last year in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

That’s why the green-wall study is “putting forward an alternative solution that might allow [governments] to improve air quality in these problem hot spots,” he said.Compared with reducing emissions from cars, little attention has been focused on how to trap or take up more of the pollutants, added Pugh, whose study was published last year in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

That’s why the green-wall study is “putting forward an alternative solution that might allow [governments] to improve air quality in these problem hot spots,” he said.

Full Gallery

fuckyeahawesomehouses:

Bali Tropical Villa

mer-de:

Sacred Bridge in Nikko, Japan

itshadrian:

I’ve died and gone to design heaven.

Architect Bart Prince dreamt up a fantastical house in Columbus, Ohio, distinguished by dynamic, flowing spaces. The owner describes the home as a place for big kids with, for instance, secret passageways hidden within the masonry walls. A 75-foot-long serpentine pool, lined with mirror-and-glass mosaics, winds its way along the lower level of the house. “The owner wanted a lap pool running through a tropical garden, with palm trees and bananas and views of the sky,” the architect says. “The living spaces are arranged around that.” 

Photo: Scott Frances

lostsplendor:

Madrid Nouveau via Organic Forms and Whiplash Curves)

thisveryspot:

| rue luther, nº28, brussels | gustave strauven | 1902 |

labour of love

rockngill:

Oh my goodness, so beautiful!

myidealhome:

• when dream meets reality (via Things I’d Tell My 17-Year-Old Self | The Lettered Cottage)