An eco-friendly, yet modern place in the lap of nature! This is the wonderful proposition set forth by Eriksson Architects. This company, based in Helsinki,develops environment friendly architectural designs. They have prepared the blue print for the ‘Mentougou Eco Valley’ to be developed in Mentougou, China. If the Chinese Government approves their proposal, it will pave way for the creation of what can be termed as ‘Eco-Silicon Valley’.
This concept of eco-valley brings to mind the lines in the poem by Henry Van Dyke “God of the open Air”
“Thou who hast made thy dwelling fair
with flowers beneath, above with starry lights,
And set thine altars everywhere,
On mountain heights,
In woodlands dim with many a dream,
In valleys bright with springs….”
The ‘Mentougou Eco Valley’ will extend across 28 square kilometers and will have commercial, institutional, as well as residential buildings. It will house around 50,000 people, will have a city center, and a number of small villages. There will be several companies and environment research institutes. The best part is that all these structures will be built according to the contemporary architectural principles and will use eco-fiendly designs, materials, and shapes.
All this development will incorporate the components of nature. For this venture, Eriksson Architects have teamed up with ‘Eero Paloheimo Eco City’, the ecological experts from Finland. Whereas the former will contribute their expertise in the area of modern architecture, the latter will bring in the environmental perspective. Here, the knowledge and innovations of modern science will be combined with care and concerns for the natural environment. There will be eco-friendly buildings and the natural resources will be managed efficiently. The buildings and other structures like roads and highways will be constructed around trees, plants, and water bodies.
The area where the construction has been planned, is sorrounded by mountains and is away from every kind of pollution. So this makes it a very special place to live! This project aims to harness the maximum potential of the land availble in that area, ao as to provide good houses and services to the residents. The area will have its own resources to produce water and energy. It aims to maintain the ecological balance of the natural resources even after fulfilling the consumption needs. This will benefit the local agriculture because the land will be more enriched with biological nutrients.
This project has been planned keeping in mind the learnings from the successes and failures of the earlier attempts at creating eco-cities like Dongtan and Huangbaiyu in China and Masdar in Abu Dhabi. It aims to provide a functional whole i.e. an area where the environment would not be disturbed and polluted by the daily activities of the people living there. No such wastes will be generated which can not be recycled and put to some use. This will provide people with a clean and healthy environment, free from carbon emissions. It will also be helping in preseving the delicate balance of the eco-system.
But, as very rightly said by Emily Dickinson:
“Touch lightly Nature’s sweet Guitar
Unless thou know’st the tune….”
Source: designboom
