Reduce Reuse Recycle
Have you ever wondered why they tear down an old building, dig a hole and build a similar building on the same spot? How does it make sense to throw away all that stuff and then use all new stuff to accomplish the same thing? In Sydney, Australia at least one landlord asked that question for himself. If the AMP Center had been demolished, it’s possible a new structure of a similar scale would not have been permitted due to new height restrictions in Sydney, which aim to prevent buildings from overshadowing the city’s botanical gardens. AMP Capital launched a bold and bizarre call to action to the architectural community of Sydney—replace their skyscraper headquarters without demolishing it. They wanted their AMP Center, the once-tallest building in Sydney, to become the world’s first “upcycled skyscraper,” and the results were truly inspirational. By building a second tower around the existing core of the AMP Center and not demolishing it, 12,000 tons of CO2 were saved which would have otherwise been created through the use of heavy machinery and the loss of carbon captured in the cement.
Built in the 1970s, the AMP Center wasn’t necessarily on its last legs, but wasn’t viable for the company any longer. Towers, it turns out, shrink—a result of the concrete spreading and settling. And it was only when construction began in 2018 that the architects could really get a sense of whether the concrete was as strong as their initial estimates, as well as where—and how much—extra weight could be placed. They decided to build another skyscraper around the existing one as you can see in the very fast video below. Dubbed the world’s first “upcycled” high-rise, the resulting tower opened earlier this year and, on Friday, was named World Building of the Year 2022. Standing at 676 feet tall, the vastly expanded 49-story skyscraper, now known as Quay Quarter Tower, retained more than two-thirds of the old structure, including beams and columns, as well as 95% of the original building’s core. In short, the build was a huge success, and the architects boast that walking from the new construction into the old tower is an unnoticeable transition. Five stacked units with sharp points twist up toward the sky, while an envelope covers both the new extension and the old tower such that no one could tell the difference. Office space was expanded from 4,500 to 9,000 personnel, and the lack of demolition saved AMP around $150 million. The Quay Quarter Tower, as it’s called, won World Building of the Year upon its opening late in 2022.
Conscientious Recycling
Recycling in the UK is getting very serious…
Even our illegal aliens are being shipped in reusable containers.
If Mac users care more about the environment more than Windows users,
Then why do Macs have a trash can and Windows has a recycling bin?
I was doing some home renovations and I was knocking down a wall, only to find a secret unfurnished room behind it…
…then I remembered we live in a duplex.
My friend is so environmentally concerned she’s started recycling throwaway comments.
In the office we had a recycling bin with a sign that said, “Empty water bottles here?”
Pretty soon the bin was full of water.
May 8th Birthdays
1993 – Ana Mulvey-Ten, 1965 – Melissa Gilbert, 1961 – Janet McTeer, 1993 – Olivia Culpo
1982 – Stephen Amel, 1979 – Matthew Davis, 1975 – Enrique Iglesias, 1957 – Bill Cowher