The executive director of the spaceport Steve Landeene said “Its real and you are definitely not talking about drawn things on paper anymore.” The spaceport is envisioned to work as an airport with different routes where aerospace companies will lease building and hanger space. Spaceport America is not just about space tourism, additionally, it will also include other business ventures like communication projects and medical research. According to the state officials, the site will facilitate around 500 construction jobs and will spark the economic development, tourism and education for generations. The runway of the project is estimated to finish next summer and the hanger and terminal should be prepared for tenants during the end of 2010.

Designer : URS/Foster + Partners

[Press Release]

DRAGONFLY, A METABOLIC FARM FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE

2009 : 800 MILLION OF URBAN FARMERS FOR RESPONSIBLE ECO-CITIES

The world of fast-food and frozen food is over! The urban keen interest of the beginning of our Century turns toward the garden flat bringing back the countryside in our overcrowded cities fighting from now on for a community urban agriculture able to contribute to the durability of the city and to rethink the food production.

On the roofs, terraces, balconies, in the hollow of the non-built public spaces, in the interior yards and the suspended greenhouses, the eco-warrior aspires to escape from its competitive and consumeristic universe imposed by the laws of the market. He desires to cultivate its immediate landscape so as to better take root in the ground by creating his own ecologic and alimentary biodiversity. The consumer becomes from then on producer and the garden inhabitant !

From the Parisian « worker gardens » to the « community gardens » of New York going though Muscovite « vegetable squares », eight hundred million of urban farmers, i.e. more than one human being out of ten, consume nowadays chlorophyllous products from these cosmopolitan kitchen gardens. These new gardens, aware of the emergency to reduce our fuel consumption and the necessity to modify our behaviour facing the climatic changes, decrease thus their environmental impact and build eco-responsible cities on a community way.

2025 : 5.5 BILLION OF CITY SLICKERS FACING THE FOOD CHALLENGE OF THE 21ST CENTURY

According to the PNUD (Programme of the United Nations for the Development), the worldwide urban population will go from 3.1 billion of inhabitants in 2009 up to 5.5 billion of inhabitants within 2025. Looking for a positive energetic assessment, the contemporary city aims within fifteen years at producing cleanly and intensively more energy than it consumes so as to pack this urban exodus! It develops therefore the urban agriculture to become food self-sufficient by recycling at the same time its liquid waste by phyto-purification, its solid waste in fertilizers by composting and by producing energy by biomass, photovoltaic cells and other renewable energies (thermic solar, photovoltaic solar, wind, tide-turbine energies…).

In order to avoid the asphixiation of the planet and the feeding of its 9 billion of inhabitants within 2050, it deals thus with reinventing the traditional energetic pattern between the city and the countryside between western countries, emerging countries and developing countries. This sums up as following: on the one hand import of natural and food resources, and on the other hand export of waste and pollution. The ecologic city aims at reintegrating the farming function on the urban scale by emphasizing the role of the urban agriculture in the use and the reuse of natural resources and biodegradable waste so as to close the loop of ecologic flows.

The urban agriculture can feed the city without any pesticide or chemical fungicide (whose toxicity is proved on the human being : cancer, sterility…), and make it less food dependant of its backcountry or other regions of the world. Organising the distribution of fresh products in short circuits, that means linked directly with the consumer, the urban agriculture complete thus the traditional agriculture. In addition to the nutritive quality of the produced and consumed food, the urban agriculture is also a growth lever of the urban unemployment market and the local economy. It is used directly as a social link in the conciliation of the primary needs of the newcomers with the challenge of their integration in the life of the city, fighting thus against poverty and exclusion. On the sanitary level, this farm approach presents also an interesting potential for the decontamination of polluted grounds and undergrounds as well as for he purification of the polluted atmosphere in CO2.

Due to the fuel crisis and climatical change, the rural agriculture of the western countries must answer to the worldwide food crisis of the developing countries and mainly Africa. Its role is from now on to produce (with an increase estimated of 60% within 2050) all the foodstuffs transportable by boat such as cereals or corn. This is based on the evolution of the science and the most advanced biotechnologies. In addition to this nutritious role, the rural agriculture is newly challenged to recycle its own culture rebus for the green chemistry in order to produce the bio fuel called “second generation fuel” using the energy of non-consumable materials from the plants, that means fibres such as celluloses.

DRAGONFLY, A NOURISHING VERTICALY CULTIVATED CENTRAL PARK

The architecture has to be in the service of this new agriculture and to design this new social desire in this context of ecologic mutation and food autonomy! The Dragonfly project suggests therefore building a prototype of urban farm offering around a mixed programme of housing, offices and laboratories in ecological engineering, farming spaces which are vertically laid out in several floors and partly cultivated by its own inhabitants. This vertical farm sets up all the sustainable applications in organic agriculture based on the intensive production varied according to the rhythm of the seasons. This nourishing agriculture is furthermore in favour of the reuse of biodegradable waste and the keeping of energy and renewable resources for a planning of ecosystemic densification.

Floor by floor, the tower superposes not only stock farming ensuring the production of meat, milk, poultry and eggs but also farming grounds, true biological reactors continuously regenerated with organic humus. It diversifies the cultivated varieties to avoid the washing of stratums of soft substratum. Thus, the cultures succeed one another vertically according to their agronomical ability to provide some elements of the ground between the essences that are sowed and harvested. The tower, true living organism, becomes thus metabolic and self-sufficient in water, energy, and bio-fertilizing. Nothing is lost; everything is recyclable to a continuous auto-feeding!

A BIONIC AND ENERGETICALLY SELF-SUFFICIENT ARCHITECTURE
The architecture of Dragonfly prototype suggests reinventing the vertical building (that outlined the urbanistic booming of New York City since the 19th Century) as structurally and functionally as ecologically and energetically.

To ensure the social diversity and a permanent life cycle (24h/24) in the tower, the mixed programmation is mainly laid out around two poles of housing and work places. Around housings, offices and research laboratories as well as the most private to the most public agricultural and leisure spaces are designed in gardens, kitchen gardens, orchards, meadows, rice fields, farms and suspended fields. The distribution of flows is made around a true safe spine spreading in loop the numerous elevators, the goods elevators and stair wells serving all the levels by separating simultaneously the inputs and the outputs recycled from plants, animals and human beings.

Architecturally, the functional organisation is represented by two oblong towers symetrically arranged in pair around a huge climatic greenhouse that links them and deploys itself between two crystalline wings. These very light wings in glass and steel retake the loads of the building and are directly inspired from the structure of the dragonfly wings coming from the family of “Odonata Anisoptera” whose transparent membrane is very finely nervured. Two inhabited rings buttress around these wings. Their organically chiselled exo-structure accommodates the inter-climatic spaces that receive the agrarian cultures. They buttress.

The whole set forms «double layer» architecture in bee nest mesh that exploits the solar passive energy at its maximum level, by accumulating the warm air in the winter in the thickness of the exo-structure, and by cooling the atmosphere by natural ventilation and by evapo-perpiration of the plants in the summer. Protecting thus the cultures from climatic changes in New York (from -25.5°C in the winter to +41°C in the summer), these plug spaces are useful to reflect on the agriculture not anymore in terms of surface area but really in terms of volume. Actually, whereas grounds nourish orchards, each wall and each ceiling are metamorphosed into three-dimensional kitchen gardens. The interior frontages of the housing and offices throw towards the skyline of New York the cantilever of their hydrophonic balconies with hexagonal section thanks to what it multiplies the culture layers by floors. The vegetation abounds, the earth is swarming of insects and animals are freely brought up in holding tanks by urban consumers with low income. The architecture becomes eatable!

Designer : Vincent Callebaut Architect

[Press Release]
The future headquarters of Antwerp Port Authority will be designed by the London firm of Zaha Hadid Architects. The choice of architect was made at the Port Authority board meeting on 13 January. The new Port House will occupy the site of the technical services building on quay 63.

The Port Authority aims to make its operations more efficient by centralising the administrative and technical services which are now divided between the Port House and quay 63. The new headquarters will also solve the pressing shortage of workspace in the present Port House on the Entrepot quay. Some 500 people will be able to move into the new building when it is completed in 2013.

In addition to offering better accommodation, the future Port House will contribute to further development and upgrading of the part of the city known as Het Eilandje. The brief for the new building specified that it had to symbolise the Port of Antwerp as a world port and economic driver of Flanders and the Antwerp area. It also had to be built according to the principles of sustainability.

In selecting the architect it was decided to use the Open Call for Tender procedure of the Flemish Government Architect’s team. The procedure was launched in December 2007, and nearly 100 architectural firms responded. A shortlist of five firms was chosen:

• Consortium of TV A2O Architecten / Atelier Kempe Thill / Marcq & Roba / BEG from Hassel, Belgium
• Vier Arquitectos from La Coruña, Spain
• Xaveer De Geyter Architects from Brussels
• Zaha Hadid Architects from London
• Rapp + Rapp from Rotterdam

The jury/board of directors finally opted for the proposal by Zaha Hadid Architects, because:

• The design preserves as much as possible of the dignity of the present building as a monument, adding a new object to the site;
• The board and its advisors had confidence in a team such as Zaha Hadid Architects being able to further develop the project so as to achieve a high quality end result that can act as a “shop window” for the Port Authority.

The estimated construction cost is 31.5 million euros excluding VAT and architect’s fees. This includes all the work for an office building with around 12,000 m² of floorspace for around 500 people, together with underground parking for 300 or so cars.

The new building fits in with the Port Authority’s future-oriented investment policy. At the same board meeting it was also decided to purchase four tugs as part of a renewal series of nine. And of course there will be further investments in infrastructure for expansion and renovation of the port. The various Flemish port authorities are currently holding discussions with the Flemish Government about financing for basic port infrastructure.
The new Port House forms part of a programme of improvements to the Port Authority’s own buildings. In addition to various renovation and new construction work that has already been carried out, a public call for tender has been issued for the new VTS (Vehicle Traffic Service) building beside the Zandvliet lock.

Design proposal

The design team from Zaha Hadid Architects proposed a very dynamic architecture that strikes up a dialogue with the Oosterweel road link, with the Lange Wapper bridge forming a backdrop to the New Port House. With its unique design, its facade architecture and its height of 46 metres, the new Port Authority will be an iconic building, visible from many different directions.

The concept is a free interpretation of a beam-shaped volume raised above the existing fire brigade building and supported on three sculptured concrete pillars housing the stairs and lifts. Two of the pillars are situated on the covered inner courtyard of the firehouse, while the third is located beside an external support point and consists of a panoramic lift shaft.
The new volume is oriented North-South parallel to the Kattendijk dock. The head of the building on the South side is a frame that looks towards the city and clearly marks the start of the port area.
The outside walls are made up of glass triangles, some transparent and some reflecting. These do not all lie in the same plane but are rotated slightly with respect to one another, creating an attractive reflecting play of incoming light in a reference to Antwerp’s diamond industry.

The present firehouse will be kept free of building all around, so that the four outside walls will be fully respected. As for the arrangement of the inside spaces, consultations will be held with Flanders Real Estate Heritage and the Monuments department of the City of Antwerp to determine whether open-plan offices (as laid down in the schedule of requirements) are possible, either partly of throughout.

The inner courtyard will be roofed over at the height of the second story so as to create an air-conditioned inside space. This central entrance hall will be considered as a semi-public space, with various enquiry desks (Personnel department, Harbourmaster’s Office, Planning Permission & Environment Permit office and Port Dues payment desk) integrated in the inside wall portals.

A sculptural, sloping roof unites an underground lobby with the covered inner court. Access to the underground car park is an important aspect of the overall concept, with the loading & unloading bays and the refuse handling facilities also located here. The car park has space for 300 or so cars and consists of a single underground level. The design of the square can be arranged so that daylight is allowed to enter. The above-ground layout forms part of a design project that is being carried out in consultation with the city departments responsible, with the main imperative being to “preserve the visual quality of the outside spaces in the Het Eilandje area.”

The open plan offices are indeed very open, so that office staff will have a great impression of space with a view along the various outside walls. The concept for the open plan office also allows for small areas in which to hold meetings, along with separate study offices.

Designer : Zaha Hadid Architects via Bustler

[Press Release]
ONDELIOS: AN ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY LONG-HAUL JOURNEY

The Paris Motor Show sees the wraps come off Renault’s top-of-the-range concept car Ondelios designed for lovers of long-haul travel who set store by comfort and refinement. Ondelios epitomizes Renault’s vision of the high-end crossover, combining a comfortable ride with respect for the environment. Clear illustrations of that vision are the vehicle’s ethereal design, its interior layout, and an original hybrid powertrain.

A sleek design that answers the call of the open road
The 4.8-metre-long, 1.6-metre high Ondelios has drawn inspiration from the world of aviation design to deliver high drag efficiency and a Cd of just 0.29. This long-distance voyager boasts sleek, smooth, amazingly fluid lines that make it appear as though it glides over the ground. It embodies Renault’s vision of high-end car. “Ondelios is inspired by motion rather than speed and is a whole new response to the call of the open road,” enthuses Patrick Le Quément, Renault’s Design Director.

The aluminium-finish grille is flanked by headlamp units that also suggest flowing motion, while its high-performance LED headlights are both longer lasting and more efficient. Another feature of Ondelios’ aerodynamic styling is the boomerang-shaped tail lights. They are built into the bodywork and ringed with air extractors to control the flow of air from the wheel arches. The glazed roof further emphasises the vehicle’s airy look and feel, bathing the interior in natural light. The steeply raked windscreen, which extends well down the bonnet, further accentuates this ethereal feel.

“We think of it as made from a single material, where the body and glazed areas merge into one. Ondelios is a glimpse of what the automobile might be in the medium term future,” adds Patrick Le Quément. The butterfly-type side doors, which also feature an extensive glazed area, add a further touch of elegance to the car’s overall styling. They swing out and upwards as the sills slide down to facilitate ingress.

The dark blue anthracite of the bodywork blends perfectly with the tinted glazed area, making the car look as if it were all of a piece and a single colour. The tailgate’s upper section rounds off the sleek, aerodynamic lines with a profiled glareshield that slides inwards to air and cool the cabin.

Ondelios sits on seven-spoke, 23-inch aluminium alloy wheels which contribute to its profiled styling. The propeller-like hubs draw airflow from the sides of the car to prevent turbulence. They operate in conjunction with the rim-side brake discs to ensure they suck in air effectively.

The sleek sidewalls of the large diameter 255/40 Michelin Pilot Sport tyres deliver outstanding drag performance. Their tread pattern is designed to minimise deformation of the contact patch while on the move to help curb rolling resistance. The tread has efficient, active flow channels which, together with the wide circumferential
groove that helps clear water, strengthen the image of a high-end, high-tech tyre.

Business-class comfort for a long-haul journey
The elegance of the Ondelios interior is in harmony with the call of the open road suggested by its exterior. To begin with, its layout is designed to profit from all the available space. There are three rows of seats that offer individual seating for six. With their cantilever mounts they give the impression of floating, while their kinematics are redolent of airplane seats. The electrically adjustable backs fold into comfortable, business-class positions, while occupants can deploy and retract their footrests at will. Although their slim lines speak of lightness, they are
designed, like giant leaves, to hug their occupants who can curl up in them to enjoy the comfort and support they afford. The height of the seats is carefully designed to ensure occupants are perfectly at ease when they talk to each other.

Unlike conventional door opening systems, the doors are hinged to the roof, which makes getting into the car extremely easy. The second row of seats slide forward and folds down to facilitate access to the third row.

In addition to seating comfort, the cabin exudes a highly refined ambience. The materials used are drawn from contemporary interior design and give the impression of sitting in a lounge on wheels. They blend soft, supple textures like light grey leather and fabric, as seen on the dashboard, seats and door panels. The colour of the seatbacks blends gradually from ochre to purple, further enhancing the sense of security and comfort.

Interior features and fittings are both modern and intuitive. The ergonomically designed controls, in keeping with Renault’s touch design approach, afford users efficient, comfortable ease of use.

The ample, flowing yet sober design of the broad dashboard echoes the car’s aerodynamic exterior. It is further highlighted by a roomy, suspended stowage compartment which is protected by a lit shell, while all the dashboard’s functional components are particularly user-friendly:
- active display skins show driver aid and ride information;
- a monitor at the base of the windscreen displays the different menus and pictures from the
door mirror cameras;
- three large strip displays provide driving-related information, revs and how the hybridized
drivetrain is operating;
- a digital speedometer.

The technologies with which Ondelios is equipped enhance the collective and individual well-being of all occupants. All the passengers, including those in the back row, have their own Samsung interactive portable multimedia devices which they can use for sharing data or multiplayer gaming. Speakers are also incorporated into the headrests and a multizone HVAC system enables each passenger to set the temperature to his or her own liking.

The smart technologies that have gone into designing Ondelios help drivers to settle in at the wheel, include a Samsung cell phone which also acts as a hands-free door lock recognizes the driver and loads all his or her personal settings, e.g. seat-adjustment settings and favourite music. The vehicle adds a final, friendly touch in the form of the back-lit logo which lights up to show that it has recognized the driver.

An environmentally friendly voyager
To complement the extensive work that has gone into Ondelios’s aerodynamics, some of the car’s structural parts are made from natural flax fibre for greater recyclability. In keeping with the commitment to make the car as light as possible, its body is made from carbon and the glazed areas from polycarbonate.

Ondelios is powered by a hybrid powerplant which combines a more powerful 205hp (150kW) version of the 2.0 dCi engine, with two 20kW electric motors at the front and rear. They operate in mild hybrid mode, giving the engine extra boost as required. They use a brake and boost system, recovering energy during braking then delivering it to the engine to boost acceleration. The front motor also uses fuel-saving stop-start technology.

The electric motor mounted on the rear axle drives the rear wheels when the ESP sensors detect a loss of traction, thus giving Ondelios the capability of a 4WD vehicle. The car is equipped with a lithium-ion battery that can deliver power of up to 4kW/h. With torque of 450Nm between 1,700 and 3800rpm, the diesel engine provides comfort and flexibility at all engine speeds for long-distance driving pleasure. The 2.0 dCi unit takes Ondelios from a standing start to 100kph in just 7.8 seconds. Driving through a seven-speed, double-clutch gearbox, it affords outstanding driving pleasure, while keeping fuel consumption at a frugal 4.5 litres/100km and CO2 emissions at a lowly 120g/km – very impressive for a top-of-the-range vehicle. Similarly, the body, chassis design and hybrid powertrain contribute decisively to protecting the environment.

Ondelios is a long-distance travel-loving aerodynamic crossover born for the open road. It is proof that caring for occupants and the environment is entirely compatible. Ondelios is a concept car that illustrates Renault’s vision of the high-end car of the near future.

Weights, dimensions, capacities
Length (mm) 4,805
Width (mm) 1,998
Height (mm) 1,605
Height with doors open (mm) 2,230
Wheel base (mm) 2,895
Front track (mm) 1,690
Rear track (mm) 1,720
Unladen weight (kg) 1,452
Boot (dm3) 530

Technical data
Internal combustion engine 2.0 dCi
Power in hp (kW) 205 (150)
Maximum torque (Nm) 450, from 1,700 to 3,800rpm
Electric motors Two 20kW electric motors: one at the front and one at the rear
Power supply 4kWh lithium-ion battery.
Size: 40dm3.
Weight: 50kg

Acceleration from 0 to 100kph (s) 7.8
CO2 emissions, combined cycle fuel consumption 120g/km, 4.5 litres/100 km
Transmission Double-clutch seven-speed automatic transmission
Internal combustion engine drive and electric motor drive
Tyres 255/40 ZR23

Wheels
Diameter: 23″.
Width: 9″

Partners
G Studio Bodywork
Michelin Tyres
Samsung Telephone for communication with vehicle
Mgs par Matérialise Sintered parts

Daniele loves the sense of touch of these materials, the possibility to flex it and to use it to break the concept of planar surface (especially when we think about wood or a mirror we think about a rigid plane). The structure of TETRA is realized in rotational molding process, 100% LDPP. TETRA is easy to re-cycle, you have less than the 0.5% of the product in different materials. The film on the TOP is 100% ecologically friendly, easily removed and to be re-used. Obviously, TETRA is still looking out for a producer.

Designer : Daniele Gualeni

From the website:
Introducing a new dimension to sport flying.

A new, light sport aircraft manufacturer, ICON Aircraft, started with the vision that planes should be designed with the consumer in mind first. Founded out of Stanford Graduate School of Business by Kirk Hawkins, an accomplished engineer and former U.S. Air Force F-16 pilot, ICON Aircraft conducted years of thorough research to develop an industrial design that has evolved to become ICON’s first model, the ICON A5.

A long-time powersports enthusiast, Hawkins’ dream for the potential of sport flying became possible when he first heard of the FAA’s rule changes for light sport aircraft in 2004. As he witnessed what the Yamaha Waverunner did for personal watercraft in 1980’s, Hawkins believed a consumer-oriented sport plane could do the same for recreational flying.

Early on, Hawkins began assembling investors and world-class design and engineering talent to bring the vision to reality. ICON Aircraft eventually set up its headquarters and development facility in Southern California, a region known for having the world’s largest concentration of aerospace resources as well as the world’s leading automobile design and development resources.

Advising along the way have been top academic professionals, business leaders in aviation and powersports, and directors of award-winning product design firms like IDEO and BMW DesignWorks USA.

Leading the charge to bring the design into production is an engineering and fabrication team that previously worked on such notable projects as the Virgin Global Flyer and X-Prize winning SpaceShipOne, among many other significant aircraft and aerospace projects at Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites in nearby Mojave, Calif.

Specs and features:
ICON A5 — Amphibian Special-Light Sport Aircraft (S-LSA)
*BASE PRICE (A5 Amphibian): $139,000 USD

SPECIFICATIONS

- Seats: 2
- Maximum Weight: 1430 lbs
- Useful Load: 430 lbs (minimum)
- Baggage: 60 lbs (maximum)
- Fuel (Auto Gas or Av Gas): 20 gal
- Maximum Speed (Vh): 105 kts (120 mph)
- Range: 300 nm
- Takeoff & Landing Distance: 750 ft
- Engine (Rotax 912 ULS): 100 hp

Performance specifications are estimates only.
Final performance specifications will be verified during flight-testing.

DIMENSIONS

- Interior Cockpit Width: 46 in
- Wing Span: 34 ft
- Aircraft Length: 22 ft
- Trailered Width: 8.5 ft
- Trailered Length: 28 ft

DESIGN FEATURES

- Folding wings (manual or automatic)
- Retractable Landing Gear (on ICON A5 Amphibian)
- Seawings, platforms for easy access and docking
- Custom aircraft towing trailer (optional)
- Headlights and flood lights

PERFORMANCE FEATURES

- High-performance composite airframe
- Amphibious design (flies off land or water)
- Custom, patent-pending, high-performance airfoil
- Rear mounted, 100-hp Rotax 912 ULS Engine
- Runs on auto gasoline or aviation gasoline

COCKPIT FEATURES

- Intuitive, sportscar-like cockpit
- Comfortable, side-by-side seating
- GPS moving map
- iPod in-flight music port
- High-visibility canopy
- Flight with removable side windows
- Multiple storage compartments
- Glass cockpit for night VFR (optional)

SAFETY FEATURES

- Predictable, docile flying characteristics
- Complete Airplane Parachute, CAP (optional)
- Patent-pending PropellerGuardâ„¢
- Wing Angle of Attack Indicator (AoA)
Seaplane only version, the ICON S5, is an available model, and will not include the Retractable Landing Gear. Options and price will vary on the ICON S5.

Designer : ICON

Designer : Lacoste via TrendHunter

Designer : Rong Yong