Wildfires are getting worse across the world, despite some early assumptions that the might get better with man made climate change. The assumption was that warmer air can hold more moisture. Unfortunately wind patterns have changed AND the ocean has warmed up, and therefore (we think) much hotter air has not lead to wetter winters and less fires.
As I am sure you know, I have said for at least a decade, it is too late to stop climate change - so we must work within a new parameter set. Well, people are doing this and I present the Forest Fire Skyscraper. It is 280 foot (80 meter) tall structure designed to slowly deteriorate and spread seeds and fertilizer as it does.
It is a fascinating idea. I will quote from the piece some details.
The sustainable architecture tower will be located in the center of a burnt ecosystem and as it degenerates it will spread nutrients and seeds through winds while also becoming a temporary shelter for birds and small-sized animals. Think of Regenera as a supporting pillar to the recovering ecosystem. Through the erosion of its own 80-meter tall structure, Regenera will transform and spread itself into the ecosystem in a purposeful manner. During the initials phases, a laboratory on the lower level is dedicated to experimenting, monitoring, and researching the process and the progress of the ecosystem. In the following phases, scientists will abandon the skyscraper and make more space for the undisturbed re-population of small to medium-sized animals and plants.
Regenera proposes a new paradigm that creates the possibility to carefully program and diversify each part of the structure, defining a life cycle determined by erosion and constant transformation…which is exactly what the cycle of life is all about. Materials chosen to build the structure include mixing substances needed by the forest with the architectural capability to be a temporary shelter while slowly dissolving. This design can be a success with a team of chemists, phyrogeographers, meteorologists, engineers, and biologists, all working together to understand the necessities and needs of a dead ecosystem. The skyscraper shows a new way of relating architecture and nature, structure and ecosystem, time and erosion, skyscrapers and forests. Regenera dissolves as the forest heals.
Anywho, I kind of love the thinking and design which addresses a real problem spreading through the Mediterranean Climate Systems - which is those Western Coastal Areas abutted by a very cold ocean current like California, Australia, Chile, South Africa and (of course) the Mediterranean Basin.
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