NASA’s Space Station On Earth
The new Silicon Valley installation is designed to test the terrestrial applications for the space agency’s technologies and create the most efficient building imaginable.
“How do you design a building like a tree?” It’s a question that William McDonough, an architect, designer, and one of the minds behind Cradle to Cradle certification, has been asking himself for years. The Sustainability Base, a just-opened building at the NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, is McDonough’s latest attempt at designing a living, breathing structure that participates in its surroundings.
Designed by William McDonough + Partners, the Sustainability Base is a LEED Platinum test bed for NASA technology (and other sustainable components) that come together to make a building that generates all of its power onsite, consists of materials that can be reused at the end of their life, and learns how to best accommodate inhabitants as the years go on. NASA writes of the base in a pamphlet: “Just as the lunar landing on Tranquility Base represented a giant leap during the space race, so Sustainability Base will stand as an icon symbolizing NASA’s dedication to solving the environmental challenges we face on Earth.”
via Fast Company – Ariel Schwartz ᔥ
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