Reference

Beyond Sin City
Thanks to the local government, the Smith Center is putting a Las Vegas brownfield site to good use. Other American cities have had similar success with redeveloping industrial wastelands. In 2005, the Atlantic Station neighborhood (www.atlanticstation.com) opened on a 138-acre brownfield site in northwestern Atlanta. Previously home to a steel mill, the development’s size and density earned it a new ZIP code—as well as an Ikea, which prompted inevitable debates about traffic (www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2005/05/09/focus8.html). The energy-efficient design and LEED-certified buildings secured the community the EPA’s Phoenix Award for best national brownfield redevelopment.

Vishaansanity
Vishaan Chakrabarti’s idea of using landfill to bridge the gap between
Lower Manhattan and Governors Island has received plenty of attention
(e.g., www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/realestate/commercial/visions-of-lolo-a
-neighborhood-rising-from-landfill.html). But really, it’s an old idea. A good chunk of today’s Governors Island was created from debris from the construction of New York City’s subway system. In Berlin, Teufelsberg (www.atlasobscura.com/place/teufelsberg), a man-made mountain, was formed from more than 26 million square meters of World War II rubble. An unfinished Nazi military technical college designed by Albert Speer is buried under the hill; on top are the remains of an NSA listening station, which was abandoned after the Cold War.

Starck’s Material World
Emeco may establish some eco-cred with its new Broom side chair, but it’s certainly not the first to produce furniture from oddly sourced recycled materials. Sawdust chips aren’t all that exotic. How about something a bit clunkier? Endless Chair, by the Dutch design student Dirk Vander Kooij (www.dirkvanderkooij.nl),
is made of melted refrigerator parts. Vander Kooij programmed a repurposed welding robot to create furniture out of a continuous string of melted plastic. Here’s a look at the process: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKEnBZNXXyQ.