MCLC: park domes

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: park domes
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And wouldn't the energy needed to regulate the air inside the dome further
contribute to greenhouse gases and global warming?

Kirk

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Source: NY Daily News (4/8/14):
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/proposed-air-pollution-solution-beiji
ng-domed-parks-article-1.1749575

Architect firm proposes building park domes in Beijing to protect from air
pollution 
Orproject claims its 'Bubbles' project can regulate temperature and air
quality so people can live without the threat of pollution. But critics
say more should be done to clean up the air in the city where playing
sports outdoors is often banned.
BY JOEL LANDAU 

An architectural firm has a solution for the smog problem in Beijing -
placing large domes over its parks so people can have a place to go away
from the pollution.

Orproject <http://orproject.com/bubbles/> has presented the idea to
Beijing to build a lightweight dome on top of an area that would house a
botanical garden. The air inside the park would be clean and the
temperature and humidity inside would be controlled throughout the year.

"The buildings surrounding the park, which are connected to the controlled
air system, can house apartments, offices and retail, but may also offer
sports or medical facilities which make specific use of the healthy air,"
the company said.

The firm, which has offices in London, Beijing and New Delhi, said the
concept could extend to all types of complexes including playgrounds,
school yards, office buildings and shopping malls.

Beijing's pollution levels are so bad that playing outdoor sports are
often banned, but the "Bubbles" ideas could change the lifestyles of the
city's 21 million people, Orproject architect Rajat Sodhi told the South
China Morning Post.

"It's just an infrastructure project like building metro stations and
parks - it's applicable in every dense, polluted metropolis where there's
a need for open, green spaces throughout the year," he said. "Everyone's
always wearing masks [outdoors]. We're not meant to live like this."
Construction would cost HK$5,150 , or roughly $660, per meter.

"Bubbles is about surviving climate change," Sodhi told the newspaper.
"Air quality will take at least 20 years to undo - if it's even possible -
and that's if the Chinese and Indian governments changed their policies
right now. You have to accept that the climate is changing and we have to
do something about it … in a couple of decades we may have passed beyond
the mark where we can reverse anything."

The company is proposing the idea for several cities in the world, but the
high cost would only make it feasible in prosperous areas like Beijing for
now, he said.

But critics say the infrastructure would not solve the environmental
problems and would separate people living outside the domes.

"While Orproject's lushly rendered proposal is no doubt a well-intentioned
answer to the air quality problems of cities like Beijing, it's hardly a
solution,"Jason Carlow, an assistant professor in the architecture
department at the University of Hong Kong, told the newspaper.

"Beijing would do better to consider innovative, long-term design and
regulatory solutions that address the problems of air pollution at the
source, not the end user."

jlandau at nydailynews.com Follow on Twitter @joelzlandau
<http://twitter.com/joelzlandau>