Top 10: Most Sustainable Buildings
To reach the Paris Agreement’s goal of net zero emissions by 2050 to prevent catastrophic climate change, we must adapt the ways we live and work.
Every organisation and individual uses buildings to work and relax, but they can have a negative impact on the environment.
Across the globe, innovations in building technologies are making a difference to how companies and people can exist in harmony with nature.
We’ve ranked 10 of the most sustainable buildings in the world.
10. Taipei 101
Location: Taipei, Taiwan
Owned by: Taipei Financial Centre Corporation
Floor count: 101
Construction completed: 2003
Taipei 101 was the world’s first skyscraper to exceed the height of half a kilometre, and remains the eleventh tallest building in the world.
The building won a Platinum LEED certification for energy efficiency and environmental design.
Designed to be energy efficient, recycled water is used for 20-30% of the building’s needs which can decrease the diversion of freshwater from sensitive ecosystems.
The building also has double-pane windows that block external heat by 50%, reducing power consumption for air conditioning and temperature control in the hot environment.
9. Shanghai Tower
Location: Shanghai, China
Owned by: Yeti Construction and Development
Floor count: 133
Construction completed: 2014
Shanghai Tower is one of only four completed ‘megatall’ skyscrapers, standing at 632 metres tall and home to offices for companies including JPMorgan, Alibaba and Allianz.
Designed by Gensler, it has a tiered design that provides high energy efficiency and nine separate zones for office and retail use.
The building’s ‘outer skin’ allows natural light to enter whilst cutting down on air conditioning needs to reduce energy consumption. It also reduces wind load on the building allowing the construction to use 25% less structural steel than a conventional design of a similar height.
8. Torre Reforma
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Owned by: Fondo Hexa
Floor count: 57
Construction completed: 2016
The Torre Reforma resembles the form of an open book encased by a glass facade with a panoramic view of Chapultepec Park.
Holes in the glass facade provide natural ventilation, increasing the efficiency of air conditioning systems and requiring less energy use. Due to the country’s hot climate, almost all buildings require careful temperature control.
Pavements around the building were expanded to give priority to pedestrians over vehicles and make the building more accessible. Avoiding commutes to the building by car can reduce carbon emissions.
7. Pasona Urban Farm
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Owned by: Pasona Group
Floor count: 9
Construction completed: 2010
The Pasona Urban Farm came from the renovation of a previous building. It added a double-skinned green facade, a rooftop garden and urban farming facilities to the building.
The office space boasts over 200 species of plants including fruits, rice and vegetables that are harvested and served at the cafeterias in the building. This reduces the amount of food that has to be transported into the city.
The building was designed to bring together the concepts of agriculture, health and eco-friendly to realise symbiosis with nature and recycling of resources.
6. City Hall
Location: London, England
Owned by: Greater London Authority
Construction completed: 2012
Previously known as The Crystal, London’s city hall was originally built and opened by Siemens to showcase a permanent exhibition for sustainable architecture.
It was the first building in the world to reach the highest sustainable award level with an ‘Outstanding’ BREEAM rating alongside a LEED Platinum sustainable construction award.
The building is equipped with ground source heat pumps, solar photovoltaic and thermal panels, a 60,000 litre rainwater tank and carpets made from recycled fishing nets.
Its building management system has more than 2,500 KNX connected devices to increase efficiency through automation.
5. Bank of America Tower
Location: New York, US
Owned by: Bank of America
Floor count: 55
Construction completed: 2009
Designed by Cookfox and Adamson Associates, the Bank of America Tower is the eight tallest building in New York City standing at 370 metres tall.
The building contains 2.1 million square feet of office space and was the first commercial skyscraper in the US to attain a LEED Platinum certification.
The building’s energy efficiency features increased construction costs by 6.5% but are projected to save US$3m per year in energy costs and increase productivity by US$7m annually.
4. Bullitt Centre
Location: Seattle, US
Owned by: Bullitt Foundation
Floor count: 6
Construction completed: 2012
Opened on Earth Day 2013, the Bullitt Centre is designed to be the greenest commercial building in the world.
In its first 10 years, the building has generated 30% more energy than it used from the solar panels on its roof, making it one of the largest net positive energy buildings in the world.
The building has no parking spaces, opting for bike racks instead, and has 26 geothermal wells that extend 120 metres into the ground to help stabilise its temperature.
3. Bosco Verticale
Location: Milan, Italy
Floor count: 11
Construction completed: 2012
Bosco Verticale means vertical forest, and these buildings certainly live up to the name. Designer Stefano Boeri describes them as: “a house for trees inhabited by humans”.
These two residential skyscrapers reach 116 metres and 84 metres tall and contain an 11 storey office building.
The skyscrapers contain over 90 plant species including tall shrubs and trees that are distributed on the facades.
The 20,000 trees and plants in the buildings convert approximately 20,000kg of carbon each year. This vegetation is equivalent to that found in one hectare of forest.
The plants are irrigated using a centralised maintenance drip irrigation system that uses reclaimed graywater produced by the building.
The buildings use heat pump technology to reduce heating and cooling costs and emissions.
2. One Central Park
Location: Sydney, Australia
Owned by: Frasers Property
Floor count: 34 and 12
Construction completed: 2013
One Central Park is a mixed use dual high rise building developed by Frasers Property and Sekisui House as part of the Central Park urban renewal project in Sydney.
The base of the towers contains a six level retail shopping centre with over 40 retailers and a 13 screen cinema.
The building received a 5 Green Star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia.
One Central Park’s vertical hanging gardens stretch more than 50 metres high, making it the world’s tallest vertical garden. It contains over 35,000 plants across 23 green walls.
The property has a cantilever heliostat to reflect sunlight to the gardens and atriums below using a series of motorised mirrors.
Its recycled water network houses the world’s largest membrane bioreactor water facility, designed to service 4,000 residents and more than 15,000 visitors and workers daily.
The water network uses a variety of sources including rainwater, storm water, groundwater and sewage.
1. The Edge
Location: Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Owned by: Edge
Floor count: 14
Construction completed: 2014
The Edge is home to a number of companies including offices for Deloitte, Salesforce and Henkel.
Rated as the most sustainable office building in the world, it received the highest ever BREEAM score for an office building of 98.36% in 2014
It uses solar panels and below ground thermal energy storage to produce more electricity than it consumes.
Rainwater collected from the building’s roof is used to flush its toilets and water its gardens.
Ceilings in The Edge contain around 28,000 sensors that provide real-time data on CO2 levels, humidity, motion, temperature and light.
The building’s ethernet powered lighting system is 80% more efficient than conventional lighting and can be controlled by a smartphone app.
The smartphone app also makes it possible for coffee machines to recognise individuals and dispense their favourite coffee, and can change the temperature and environment of each room based on the person’s preferences.
The Edge is heated and cooled by an aquifer thermal energy storage system that uses hot and cold water in wells to control temperature.
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