Triptyque, an architecture firm with offices in France and Brazil, designed Harmonia 57, a low-rise building in Sao Paulo, which “sprouts a carefully edited mosaic of flowers, ferns, vines and grasses, inserted into earth-filled holes.” According to Azure magazine, the architects behind the project see it as “brutish, with a primitive inelegance.”
Despite its brutishness, the building uses a well-thought-out water management system. “The rainwater that’s not absorbed by the green roofs (about 50 per cent) flows down into three cylindrical tanks in the garden, which act as cisterns and filters. From there it flows into a larger reservoir where it is periodically ozonated, and ultimately it is pumped up to a rooftop tank to supply the building’s non-potable requirements and irrigation system. For irrigation, the water travels through lime-green pipes running along the building’s external walls; the pipes are punctuated by sprinkler heads that emit a mist of water vapour at even intervals. It’s as if the guts of the building have been turned inside out, creating a living, breathing organism with pulsating tubular arteries and an ever-changing green skin.”
The architects argue the building is not a ‘green building.’ According to Azure, water is driven through the exterior tubes by electric pumps because solar panels or other green solutions were viewed as too costly. The architects said: “Rather than being seen as eco-friendly, we are more interested in exploring the freedom that comes with building in São Paulo, a city that is still growing.”
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Image credit: Azure Magazine
