Work Architecture to create modern look in Shenzhen, a soccer ball that generates energy is trialled in South Africa and robots to replace humans in Dubai.
CHINA
An international competition to redesign a one kilometre stretch of Shenzhen's Hua Qiang Bei Road has been won by Work Architecture Company, in collaboration with Zhubo Architecture Studio, Arup and Balmori Associates. It is hoped that the project will ease traffic in the area and create a series of contemporary public spaces for the city.
SOUTH AFRICA
A soccer ball that generates and stores energy while being kicked around was recently trialled in South Africa. It is hoped that the balls, which can store enough energy to illuminate a small LED light for three hours for each 15 minutes of play, will reduce the use of kerosene lamps, which are harmful to human health. The group that developed the SOccket ball is now trying to find a way to produce enough balls to give to developing nations.
DUBAI
Serbot, a Swiss window cleaning company, will soon be launching two robots that will be used to clean Dubai's skyscrapers. The machines, called Gekko and CleanAnt, can clean buildings 15 times faster than humans and without using detergent, making them more sustainable. Gecko can clean at speeds to up to 400 sqm an hour and attaches to buildings through vacuum suction whereas CleanAnt is design to clean buildings with odd shapes.
UNITED STATES
As part of a $133 million renovation, Portland's General Services Administration plans to grow "vegetated fins" that will climb more than 60m high on the western facade of the main federal building, creating a vertical garden that changes with the seasons. Architecture firm, Cutler Anderson, has led the design, which may also include grey-water recycling and rainwater harvesting.
UNITED KINGDOM
The British Pavilion at the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale will be curated by London's muf. The practice's design, named Two Traffic Way, seeks to 'make connections' and 'enable knowledge exchange between Venice and Britain', The Architects' Journal reports. This year's Biennale theme will be People in Architecture and it will be run between 29 August and 21 November.
