They will be deciduous plants. They will have leaves during the late spring through early fall - to provide shade and help retain moisture and provide a cooling effect. Then they will loose their leaves to better shed water and let in more light during the overcast, rainy winter months. BNM
With pretty spring flowers that bring bees to sting people and birds to crap on people and leaves that fall, turn to mush in the rain for people to slip & fall on...
Fuckin' nature! Lets just kill all the birds and bees and cut down all the trees. Nature is just so goddamn dirty. The world would be a better place without it. BNM
That doesn't make any difference with the bird shit, spiders, etc. that will fester in that vegetation. Also, the curtain wall will still be damp.
Will it be any worse than what it is now with trees and pigeons nesting in and on every building? It seems like a lot of the waste/debris will get caught in the leaves during the spring/summer/early fall seasons where it will act as a natural fertilizer. Most of the rest will come down with the leaves when they are dropped in the fall and rinsed out by the rains. The more I think about it, having the waste getting caught in the vegetation is better than having it drop from the sky directly onto pedestrians, automobiles and sidewalks like it does now. I don't understand your concern with spiders. They won't be "festering". They actually catch and east insect pests. I'm also not sure why the curtain wall being damp is an issue. You actually want it to be damp during the warmer months to provide natural cooling. During the winter months, it will retain less water and what it does retain shouldn't be an issue. My lawn, trees, bushes and shrubs are damp all winter and it doesn't cause any problems. Of course, periodic clean-up below the curtain wall will be necessary, especially in the fall, but sweeping and raking of leaves are currently required anyway wherever there is natural vegatation. BNM
Our firm owns over 200 properties. As a rule, we don't let any kind of plant other than a hedge get within 5'-8' of the foundation and nothing comes close to the curtain wall. It's just asking for trouble. We'll see how it works out for this property.
Also keep in mind that this renovation is insanely expensive. The building a block East costed less and it was a ground-up project.
I would imagine ONE of the reasons for that 5" - 8' foot rule is plant roots damaging the building foundation and creating a safety hazard. You won't have that particular problem with the curtain wall (no below ground roots). I don't know, but I would HOPE they have tried some expirements on a smaller scale before they commit to attempting this on such a large scale. At the very least, it should be easily removable if it causes more problems than it's worth. BNM
It's also so nothing gets close to the curtainwall nor grows over the roof, affecting drainage. Specifically, you don't want to create an area with high humidity near the windows. Airflow is crucial. See, one would HOPE they've tried it and it works, but architects believe a big part of their job is to be innovative instead of designing what works. The question is why would we spend more money than needed? It's our tax dollars at work. Let a private company try it first.
In the artists rendering the curtain wall does not overlap the roof and there is a fairly wide gap between the curtain wall and the building exterior. It also looks like the curtain wall is built in sections - perhaps to help improve airflow. How do you know, or do you just assume, a private company has not already tried it? Perhaps the concept has already been attempted and "debugged" elsewhere. Regardless, I would like to see a real cost/benefit analysis. The article mentions the annual energy savings and the total cost of the project, but not specifically how much adding the curtain wall drives up the total cost and what additional maintanence costs will be involved. Basically, I want to know if the energy savings will be enough to cover the costs of implementation. BNM
Here's a thought. Plant grapes up the side of the building, have the window cleaners harvest them, make wine, and sell it to defray the cost of the project and associated lawsuites.
Yep. You're in favor of it; I'm not. I'm in commercial real estate, so I tend to look at buildings as assets. You're not, so you probably look at them simply in terms of urban art. We'll agree to disagree.
Where did I say I was in favor of it? I said it was a neat idea, but I'd like to see more details on the cost vs. benefit. BNM
You're defending the idea over any objection. You don't appear to have any experience in commercial real estate or architecture. To which other conclusion is a reasonable person supposed to arrive?
