Check Out this Sustainably-Built Mega Oasis in Cairo!

This incredible green-complex designed by Vincent Callebaut Architectures in Paris is just that: absolutely incredible. Lead “archibiotect” Vincent Callebaut from Belgium is behind many of the most environmentally friendly designs recently commissioned around the world, integrating sustainable building techniques in diverse locales from South Korea to Morocco. He was recently commissioned by Abraj Misr Real Estate in Egypt to build this “iconic sustainable building that would express the future of the city” of Cairo. Creating a signifying, monumental building that represents the role of green architecture in the fight against climate change is a top priority of both the designer and the client. Seems like a rare motivation to us Yankees, right? Well, soak it in.

To term this structure a “building” is a vast understatement. The design commands 450,000 square meters, or slightly over 100 American football fields - imagine 50 average city blocks. It is quite an ambitious design. From Vincent.Callebaut.org: The building, dubbed “The Gate Residence,” is more of an eco-complex, merging the residential and the commercial under a cutting-edge green-roof.

One thousand apartments sprawl across the top nine housing levels in The Gate Residence, sitting atop three commercial levels, a supermarket level, and four underground levels for parking. Also integrated into the complex are 3 levels of offices to line the main street that traverses the entire structure. Sky footpaths, green walls and suspended garden balconies are eloquently arranged between the interior buildings.

Community food gardens, orchards and playgrounds cover the top residential level, with the green roof appearing as if it is suspended above. Innovative solar panels built to replace conventional glass and wind turbines positioned in parallel with the prevailing wind cover the green roof, which is rooted in nine downward-branching supports. These cascading green walls form the massive, tree-like structures that not only serve as legs for the green roof, but work to funnel winds aloft down to green patios beneath and accelerate nighttime cooling across the complex. Passive geothermal cooling systems and solar heating tubes, together with built-in home automation systems, offer environmentally friendly comforts during weather extremes. That is, if you wind up needing them, of course.

The whole complex, in fact, depends largely on sustainable natural ventilation and lighting – cutting around 50 percent of the energy costs of an equally spacious set of standard buildings in conjunction with the rooftop renewable energy sources. Occupants will also gain a greater appreciation for the source of their food at the community gardens while reducing their own ecological footprints. Abraj Misr of Egypt has gathered the equivalent of over $6 billion U.S. to move forward on the design of The Gate Residence from Vincent Callebaut Architecture, hoping others choose to follow in their footsteps and help to directly address climate change. Ground breaks in March 2015 in Cairo. Let us hope a tremor felt around the world ensues.

photos via: Vincent Callebaut Architectures