CNN
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Paris-based architect Vincent Callebaut wants his buildings to be more than your average tower block. His vision is ambitious: create an energy-saving, carbon-absorbing civilization to fight global warming.
“I want to give hope for a better tomorrow,” he says.
One of his eco-friendly ideas is taking root right now in Taipei, Taiwan’s capital city. When Tao Zhu Yin Yuan – meaning “The Retreat of Tao Zhu” – is completed later this year, the residential complex will be covered in 23,000 trees and shrubs.
While Callebaut likens the building to an urban forest, its appearance is actually modeled after a strand of DNA – a double helix twisting 90-degrees from base to top.
If all goes to plan, Callebaut says the plants will absorb 130 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions each year – the equivalent of around 27 cars.
Taiwan as a whole produced more than 250 million tons of CO2 in 2014, according to the International Energy Agency. Callebaut admits it is a small step, but insists it’s “a big leap [against] global warming.”
“The tower presents a pioneer concept of sustainable residential eco-construction that aims at limiting the ecological footprint of its inhabitants,” Callebaut explains.
The 21-story apartment complex builds in ways for residents to reduce their energy consumption. The design utilizes natural lighting and ventilation. It also includes rainwater recycling and rooftop solar panels.
Callebaut has been behind several notable eco-concepts over the years, from a floating garden designed to clean European rivers to underwater skyscrapers created from ocean garbage. He has planned a 132-story urban farm for New York City, and an ambitious project to transform Paris from the City of Light into a green smart city by 2050.
“Outlandish and futuristic as [they] may seem,” Callebaut says, “the core of all my designs is an attempt to address the real threat that cities pose for humankind and our ecological balance.”
The self-described “archibiotect” discusses his work with CNN Style below.
CNN: What inspired the design of Tao Zhu Yin Yuan?
Vincent Callebaut: The project is a perfect fusion of Western and Oriental technology and culture. The tower is directly inspired by the double-helix structure of DNA, the source of life and the symbol of harmony, and reflects upon the idea of ultimate balance.
Zaha Hadid Architects
London-based Zaha Hadid Architects brings a sculptural touch to the design of the Napoli-Afragola High Speed Train Station.
Zaha Hadid Architects
The Napoli-Afragola High Speed Train Station is finally seeing light at the end of a very long tunnel. When finished, the high-speed line will connect Naples and Rome.
Zaha Hadid Architects
Aiming to be more than just a train station, the design incorporates public spaces, promenades, soothing interiors and lots of natural light. First unveiled in 2003, the train station will have taken nearly 15 years to complete due to several delays.
TDIC, Ateliers Jean Nouvel
Originally slated to finish in 2012, the opening of the highly anticipated Louvre Abu Dhabi has been pushed back to 2017. Designed by award-winning architect Ateliers Jean Nouvel with a budget of 2.4 billion AED ($653.4 million), the UAE branch of the famous Parisian museum features soft curves and a fresh white facade.
TDIC, Ateliers Jean Nouvel
Ateliers Jean Nouvel took inspiration from the area's geography and history. For example, a perforated metal dome covers the museum, spilling soft, calming light into the corridors.
Bjarke Ingels Group
Another architectural marvel from Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the LEGO House team set out to design a building based on the possibilities of the beloved building blocks. The one-of-a-kind building used extra-large LEGO-inspired bricks for the foundation, and created interlocking levels in a modular design.
Bjarke Ingels Group
When finished, the LEGO House aims to be an experiential community center where visitors can enjoy a cafe, family-friendly playgrounds, a public square, and of course, a LEGO store.
Heatherwick Studio
The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) is one of the most ambitious museum projects of 2017. Transforming the historic Grain Silo Complex on the waterfront in Cape Town, MOCAA will stretch across 100,000 square feet, making it one of the largest ever museums to open in Africa.
Heatherwick Studio
The Zeitz MOCAA facade comes to life at the hands of London-based Heatherwick Studio. The architects salvaged several historic elements from the building -- including a web of enormous concrete tubes -- that can be seen from the large atrium space.
courtesy mad architects
Like an ancient Chinese painting, MAD Architects' Huangshan Mountain Village rises above Taiping Lake. Except the village houses look more like space capsules, and the mountains are made of metal.
MAD Architects
The ambitious project aims to mimic the local topography of the iconic mountainous region and bring Huangshan into the fold of contemporary society.
courtesy mad architects
Emulating the area's undulating hills and tiered tea plantations, the low-rise buildings reach 200 feet and will be used for a mix of public and private purposes, including event spaces, a hotel, and housing.
Rasmus Hjortshøj - COAST
Another project in Denmark, COBE architecture firm is taking warehouse architecture to the next level in 2017. The Danish firm has set out to reimagine The Silo -- a historic grain storage container -- and completely transform the surrounding industrial neighborhood.
Rasmus Hjortshøj - COAST
Complete with apartments, exhibition spaces and a panoramic top-floor restaurant, The Silo aims to be the heart of a new lifestyle destination in Copenhagen. Designed to keep the heritage alive, the interiors stick to a raw, industrial vibe -- think lots of cement, salvaged pillars and high ceilings.
Büro Ole Scheeren
The Forbidden City is about to get a new neighbor. Sitting next to the old-world architecture of central Beijing, the 68,027-square-foot Guardian Art Center plans to unveil a completely new look thanks to international architecture firm Büro Ole Scheeren.
Büro Ole Scheeren
As the oldest auction house in China, the Guardian Art Center plans to enhance its surroundings with an old-meets-new approach. The result? A series of pixel-inspired, over-sized glass bricks that complement the color and texture of Beijing's historic alleyways and courtyards.
Büro Ole Scheeren
But the Guardian Art Center won't just be about art -- the "hybrid art space" also incorporates several restaurants, a 120-room hotel and educational facilities.
Studio KO, Fondation Pierre Bergé -- Yves Saint Laurent
Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech will be one of two museums to be dedicated to the work of Yves Saint Laurent this year -- with the other opening in Paris. The Marrakech gallery will celebrate the designer's love affair with Morocco, where he had a second home.
Studio KO, Fondation Pierre Bergé -- Yves Saint Laurent
Designed by French architecture firm Studio KO, the museum takes inspiration from YSL's clean designs, and the curves of a woman's silhouette. See the resemblance in the façade's rounded edges -- all set in a brickwork lattice, not unlike threads of fabric.
Bjarke Ingels Group
Bjarke Ingels Group is always up to something interesting, and 2017 will be another big year for the group. The architects plan to debut the Blåvand Bunker Museum in Varde, Denmark. The name is fitting, seeing as the building is literally integrated into the side of a German military embankment and surrounded by rolling hills.
Bjarke Ingels Group
To keep the 26,909-square-foot structure from feeling too somber, the group built an open-air courtyard that, when viewed from above, looks like an open heart.
Renzo Piano Building Workshop - © Centro Botín, ph. Enrico Cano
A new project by Renzo Piano Building Workshop in collaboration with Madrid-based Luis Vidal + Architects, Centro Botín is a space for culture, art, education and leisure. Formerly a parking lot, the building aims to re-connect the public with the water and transform the industrial docklands. Fittingly, the center will be built half on land, half suspended over the water.
MET Studio Design
Jakarta is set to get its first museum of international contemporary art this year. Designed by London-based firm Met Studio Design, Museum MACAN -- aka Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara -- will open with an 800-work collection, featuring works from Indonesia, the United States, Western Europe and Asia.
FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images
Israeli architectural firm Haim Dotan has never been one to shy away from a challenge, and the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon Glass Bridge is in a league of its own. Inspired by the movie "Avatar" and its fictional world, the suspended bridge is composed of glass panels and can hold up to 800 visitors at a time. The bridge opened for a short stint in August 2016, but closed when it was
"overwhelmed by the number of visitors." When it reopens in 2017, the structure will be the longest glass pedestrian bridge in the world, stretching 1,250 feet and hovering nearly 1,000 feet above Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon Tourism Management Co., Ltd
Haim Dotan's $3.4 million glass bridge is a staggering structure by any measure. But it's not meant to steal the show. It was designed to be an invisible "white bridge disappearing into the clouds," according to a statement.
James Ewing
The 11-story residential building was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid.
Hayes Davidson
Look for gracefully sculptured corners, terraces, outdoor gardens, and wrap-around windows. The building's penthouse apartment expects to fetch a cool $50 million.
Hayes Davidson
The newly opened Whitney Museum is nearby, as well as the upcoming Culture Shed public space at Hudson Yards.
There are a number of notable vertical gardens in Asia, such as Seoul’s “Green Wall” and “Skygarden.” Is this a bigger trend?
In 2050, we will be 9 million human beings on our blue planet, and 80% of the world population will live in megacities. It’s time to take action against climate change, to invent new eco-responsible lifestyles and to incorporate nature into our cities.
It’s not a trend. It’s a necessity!
You call yourself an “archibiotect.” What does that mean to you?
Archibiotect is the new transdisciplinary approach invented by myself in 2008.
(Archibiotect is a word combining the prefixes of the words architecture + biotechnologies + technologies of information and communication.)
Whereas the primary reason of architecture has been to protect man against nature, the contemporary city strives to reconcile human beings and their natural ecosystems. The garden is no more placed side-by-side to the building; it is the building! The architecture becomes cultivable, edible and sustainable.
Vincent Callebaut
Tao Zhu Yin Yuan, begins to take shape in Taipei
What do you hope people learn from your concepts?
To think “outside of the box,” to shake up the old structures. To make society evolve is the most difficult thing to do in this world…but it is possible step by step.
I hope people learn that it is possible to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The planet is in a state of decline and there haven’t been enough proactive initiatives taken in saving Mother Earth.
Responses have been edited for length and clarity.