The sustainable architecture design incorporates multiple ‘green’ elements as the need to protect our surroundings grows stronger day by day. Environmentally-friendly builds aren’t just confined to residential architecture design and commercial building projects however, as the Greenway Self-Park was designed by HOK International that located in Chicago, United States.

exterior architecture Greenway Self Park from the street

The 24-hour public green parking garage in the River North neighbourhood of the Windy City features wind turbines, rain water collection systems and electric car plug-in stations. A way-finding system has also been implemented at each elevator lobby to educate Chicagoans on how to live more sustainably and better protect the environment.

exterior architecture Greenway Self Park night building lighting

Standing at 11 stories high, the energy-efficient garage is currently pursuing LEED Certification from the US Green Building Council. Shimmering down the southwest corner of the garage is a 12-paired array of vertical turbines, clearly visible to the passer-by, to harvest the wind to power the exterior wall lighting of the facility. A reversible meter has also been installed to measure and return power to the city’s grid throughout the year.

exterior high building Greenway Self Park

Todd Halamka, Director of Design for HOK’s Chicago office, commented: “Clients across a wide range of sectors have been asking us for architectural design solutions that push the sustainable design envelope. For this assignment, Friedman Properties gave us the opportunity to collaboratively envision what a ‘green’ parking garage could be. Our design is sustainably astute and sets a new standard for this architecture building type.”

exterior building Greenway Self Park glass facade

In contrast to the classic closed-exterior wall design of many parking garages, HOK have installed a naturally ventilated external wall complete with glazed screen that completely eliminates the need for a mechanical system. This unique glazed screen is comprised of a visually layered fabric of breathable glass channels that progressively reveal the inner concrete super-structure of the building.

exterior architecture Greenway Self Park from the bridge

This entry was posted on Friday, August 20th, 2010 at 9:15 pm and is filed under Architecture Design. Tags: architectural design solutions, energy-efficient garage, Environmental design, green building, Greenway Self Park, HOK International, HOK International Ltd., Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, Low-energy building, rain water collection systems, sustainable architecture, sustainable building, Sustainable Design, Sustainable development, U.S. Green Building Council, United States Architecture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.