Construction has begun on Park Habitat, a plant-infused building in Silicon Valley that was designed by Japanese studio Kengo Kuma and Associates with a 'green lung'.
The 20-storey building will have a glass and wood facade covered with vines and planters and will be located in downtown San Jose in the middle of Silicon Valley, California, reports Dezeen.
"Strong relationships to nature are essential to our quality of life," said Kengo Kuma, founder of Kengo Kuma and Associates. "Park Habitat breathes with an outsized vertical courtyard called the green lung."
"The green lung brings light deep into each floor and surprises as a vertical garden, pervading the building’s atmospheres," he added.
Other aspects of the strikingly original building that will contribute to its biophilic design include a landscaped garden on the roof and operable vents on the exterior that will bring in and flush out air. This will create "architectural inhalation and exhalation on a 24-hour cycle," the studio said. "The biophilic stance of the building is systemic and performative, not just metaphorical."
To reduce embodied and operational carbon to the greatest extent possible, the building will leverage low-carbon building materials, and connect to an all-electric district energy system.
Kengo Kuma and Associates designed the stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
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