Lucky for us, more and more eco-towers are popping up all the time. In fact, a symposium about greenscrapers called Mixed Greens: An International Survey of State-of-the-Art Sustainable Skyscraper Design just wrapped up last month in NYC.

Lucky for us, Jon Schroeder is on the case, and is bringing us the top ten green skyscrapers.

 10. The Urban Cactus, Rotterdam
UNDER CONSTRUCTION

The Urban Cactus is a residential project in the Netherlands that will offer 98 residential units on 19 floors. Thanks to the staggered design of the curvy balconies, each unit's outdoor space will get plenty of light from the sun. That means that this greenscraper really will be green when all the residents' gardens are in bloom. While this tower may lack in the technology department, its carbon-mitigation potential still looms high thanks to all the photosynthesis happening on the porch. Plus, its white color will help to mitigate the urban heat island effect.

9. 340 on the Park, Chicago
NEARLY FINISHED

When 340 on the Park opens later this year in Chicago, it may become the first residential greenscraper in the city to meet LEED standards. The building is sure to be a wealthy EcoGeek's dream-come-true. If you have $700K to throw down on a 1600 square-foot condo, you can enjoy low utility bills thanks to the building's fully insulated windows and rainwater capture system. And the most awesome amenity is the multi-storey winter garden starting on floor 25.

  8.Waugh Thistleton Residential Tower, London
ON THE DRAWING BOARD

On the other side of the pond, the Waugh Thistleton Architects have an eco-residential building in the works as well. This design will employ helical wind turbine technology previously on featured on EcoGeek. Four turbines attached to one side of the tower have the potential to generate 40,000kW hrs a year, more than 15% of its energy needs.

7.The Burj al-Taqa (Energy Tower), Dubai
ON THE DRAWING BOARD

If this 68-story super greenscraper becomes a reality, it may become the tallest of all eco-towers, thanks to the proposed 200-foot wind turbine that will sit atop the building. Burj al-Taqa will occupy #22 on the world's tallest buildings list should it gets the green light.

Wind isn't this greenscaper's only bag, however. Solar panels will cover a 161,459 square foot artificial island chain connected to the building and seawater will power Burj al-Taqa's air conditioner!

6. The Hearst Tower, New York City
OPEN FOR BUSINESS

The Hearst Tower became New York City's first skyscraper to achieve LEED Gold accreditation from the USGBC when it opened its doors last year. 80% of the steel used to make the behemoth was recycled. On the inside, the floors and ceiling tiles are made from recycled materials as well.

The diamond shapes on the building's façade aren't just for show either. The diagonal grid required fewer steel beams to achieve the same rigidity as a conventional skyscraper, and the design allows more natural light to enter the tower.

What's more, rainwater is collected on the roof and is funneled into a 14,000-gallon tank in the basement. The Hearst gathers enough water from the sky to account for 50% of the tower's usage. It's pumped into the cooling system, used for irrigating plants and for the innovative water sculpture in the main lobby.

5.The CIS Tower, Manchester England
NEARLY FINISHED

Formerly on featured on EcoGeek, the CIS Tower outdoes the pretty much anyone in solar. Weighing in with over 7,000 panels on the façade and 24 wind turbines on the roof, the CIS Tower will be able to produce 10% of its energy needs all on its own.

4.The Lighthouse Tower, Dubai
ON THE DRAWING BOARD

The Dubai International Financial Centre Lighthouse Tower plans to use 4000 photovoltaic panels on the south facing façade as well as three mega 225 kilowatt wind turbines to meet its electricity needs. Other details are sparse, if it was under construction this definitely would have broken into the top three.

3. Bank of America Tower, New York City
UNDER CONSTRUCTION

The designers of Bank of America Tower, Cook + Fox Architects, are hoping to one-up the Hearst Tower by going for LEED Platinum certification. We'll see if they pull it off next year, when the building is slated to cut the red ribbon. Like the Hearst, The BOA tower will also use rainwater capture and floor-to-ceiling windows for natural lighting—but it will also employ even more EcoGeeky technologies. Natural gas fuel cells will create on-site electricity, and sunlight-sensing LED lights will maximize efficiency.

For more info on all of NYC's greenscrapers, check out this short film directed by Carol Willis titled Green Towers for New York: From Visionary to Vernacular

2. The Pearl River Tower, Guangzhou, China
UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Another greenscraper designed to harness winds at lofty heights, the Pearl River Tower will use internal wind turbines to keep the lights on. Fashioned like a giant wing, the tower pushes air through wind tunnels on two of the building's 71 stories. This eco-marvel of a building will also employ geothermal heat sinks, ventilated facades, waterless urinals, integrated photovoltaics and daylight responsive controls when it opens in late 2009.

1.The Bahrain World Trade Center Towers, Kingdom of Bahrain
UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Three 96-foot propellers suspended between the towers will supply the 42-storey spires with over 1100 megawatts per year. The shape of the building itself will create an accelerated airflow for the jumbo blades. Here are some virtual views of the Arabian Gulf from various levels of the building. Real views can be appreciated later this year, when the building opens.

 Information for this article came from: The Skyscraper Museum (skyscrapers.org), archidose, ecomoto.org, Jetson Green, Metaefficient, Inhabitat, dezeen, engadget, Trendhunter and TreeHugger

Comments (48)

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Awesome story...
written by Preston , June 06, 2007

Jon, this is a great article. Thanks for the news.

Innovation Collection....
written by Olmec Sinclair , June 06, 2007

Nice to see a collection of innovation like this in one place. Interesting to see that it is becoming 'cool' to have environmentally friendly offices.

You Got Me Drooling
written by Kelvin Nicholson , June 07, 2007

I love skyscrapers (I've seen nine of the ten tallest). Some of the designs here are just beautiful!

Beautiful post!
written by Okok , June 07, 2007

Thanks for getting these beauties together, shall come back later to investigate more on these scrapers. Once again, it's proved that design is NOT always adding a couple of gimmics!

What about the 10 greenest buildings alr
written by rahoorkhuit , June 07, 2007

It would be cool to see the current top 10 (not under construction) and revisit the list after these new featured buildings are constructed to see how much more greener they are.

http://www.templatestaff.com

Awsome pictures
written by joshua , June 07, 2007

Wooh !! Awesome sky scrappers. good efforts keep it up

...
written by Doug , June 07, 2007

Also, look at the "Gherkin" at 30 St. Mary Axe, in London. It has similar eco-friendly characteristics.

wow
written by Brad , June 07, 2007

awesome buildings, I love the bank of america one
cool to see that finally the eco way is really coming out

...
written by Tonya , June 07, 2007

Nice article...might want to try proofreading before publishing.

great stuff
written by brian , June 07, 2007

Nice gathering of incredible buildings! nice!

Wonderful compiliation ...
written by A Siegel , June 08, 2007

I've had the chance to sit in lectures by architects for several of these projects. They are truly amazing. What is starting to get great is that it is that is hard to keep track of what great building advance is going on where, whether for zero-energy homes or amazing skyscrapers.

Thanks for this post.

Small Correction
written by nozians , June 10, 2007

Great work Mr.Jon Schroeder, but i am afraid you have a tiny mistake there. the energy Tower is supposed to be built in kingdom of Saudi Arabia specifically Riyadh.
Thanks and impressive work indeed.

Comcast Center in Philadelphia (still un
written by MB , June 11, 2007

Comcast Center is a 58-story,975-foot high office tower encompassing approximately 1,253,000 rentable square feet, inclusive of 24,000 rentable square feet of restaurant and retail space. Features of Comcast Center include multiple three-story stacked atria rising on the south face of the building; a ½ acre landscaped public park; a new entrance to Suburban Station commuter rail station via a dramatic 120' high glass enclosed winter garden; the expansion of Suburban Station's underground retail concourse; a 500-seat concourse level dining court; 120 private space underground parking garage; and a new entrance lobby addition to historic Arch Street Presbyterian Church. The building also features a sustainable building design with the goal of achieving a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.

With the designation, Liberty (NYSE: LRY), and Philadelphia, would have the tallest green building in the country.

Comcast Center will be a fully glazed structure using glass to filter light around the building. This will also protect the building from extreme heat and cold conditions. The ceilings will be 13ft high and the windows will be clear enough to allow a free flow of light. The summit of Comcast Center will be in the shape of a rectangular glass box. The tower will be a simple geometric structure with an enormous structural core and a 110ft-high winter garden housing a luxurious interior dining court.

Robert Stern selected low E coding and lightly tinted glass to cover Comcast Center to make provision for greater floor heights and office space, sufficient daylight and better quality of air and air-flow systems.

Philadelphia's tallest building is being constructed with a sustainable design that will make it eligible for LEED Certification from the US Green Building Council. The interiors and exteriors of Comcast Center will bear the eco-friendly mark. The floor heights will vary from 13ft to 17ft, thus providing sufficient ventilation and natural light to every part of the building. These design aspects will also reduce the burden on electricity.

Recycled materials are being used for the carpeting in Comcast Center. Building systems like heating and air conditioning will be controlled floor-by-floor to avoid excess consumption. The paints used will carry minimal volatile organic compounds and external window screens will be installed in the winter garden to check the sunlight.

And waterless urinals too.

Lucida applies for LEED
written by Michael , June 12, 2007

Christie over at JustLuxe released an article today on
Lucida, an environmental friendly tower in the Eastside of NY. You can read it over at http://www.justluxe.com/lifest...201148.php

Commerzbank
written by Sheila Samuelson , June 13, 2007

This tower's been up for 10 years now (was the world's first "ecological tower", so I'm not surprised that there are 10 others by now that have beat it out for green specs. The Commerzbank building in Frankfurt, Germany (by Foster and Associates) is a gem of a green building, with an 8 story sky garden spiraling up from the bottom to the top. It is 3 sided with an atrium rising the whole height of the building for ventilation and allows daylighting for every single office.

great
written by yelda , June 16, 2007

Great work, thanks...
The Burj is getting a lot of attention. I would like to see all of them....

ArkitecTrue.com

...
written by Stefan , June 18, 2007

somebody spot the mistake in the wind diagram :

2. The Pearl River Tower, Guangzhou, China

I came from different world :)
written by mareksy , June 24, 2007

This post is very good job - congratulation!
For me number ten is numero uno - because in general is very fine, and The Dubai International Financial Centre Lighthouse Tower because design

Dubai
written by kikiblitz , July 03, 2007

Thanks for the great post! Too bad number 1 is in Dubai. I hear they have terrible human rights for the construction workers, but at least the architects are thinking green. Thanks.

Fantastic list
written by Batir Wardam , July 14, 2007

This is a great post in an awsome blog. I have linked it in my blog
http://www.arabenvironment.net...364.html
and I am certain I will be a frequent visitor to your blog.

amazing
written by bandung , July 23, 2007

great architecture....

tower
written by brittany , July 25, 2007

this is a great way to show people and tell people about towers but then again its really quier and o this has nuffin to to wif this but (telesia your a pregnant slut)

nuffin
written by telesia , July 25, 2007

im soooooooooo kool mitchell lidner i love you yoyr my sweet sexy bbe go out wif me

[img=[url=]]

...
written by telesia , July 25, 2007

um brittany your da slut slut and dont tell noone im pregnant

...
written by brittany , July 25, 2007

Comcast Center is a 58-story,975-foot high office tower encompassing approximately 1,253,000 rentable square feet, inclusive of 24,000 rentable square feet of restaurant and retail space. Features of Comcast Center include multiple three-story stacked atria rising on the south face of the building; a ½ acre landscaped public park; a new entrance to Suburban Station commuter rail station via a dramatic 120' high glass enclosed winter garden; the expansion of Suburban Station's underground retail concourse; a 500-seat concourse level dining court; 120 private space underground parking garage; and a new entrance lobby addition to historic Arch Street Presbyterian Church. The building also features a sustainable building design with the goal of achieving a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.

With the designation, Liberty (NYSE: LRY), and Philadelphia, would have the tallest green building in the country.

Comcast Center will be a fully glazed structure using glass to filter light around the building. This will also protect the building from extreme heat and cold conditions. The ceilings will be 13ft high and the windows will be clear enough to allow a free flow of light. The summit of Comcast Center will be in the shape of a rectangular glass box. The tower will be a simple geometric structure with an enormous structural core and a 110ft-high winter garden housing a luxurious interior dining court.

Robert Stern selected low E coding and lightly tinted glass to cover Comcast Center to make provision for greater floor heights and office space, sufficient daylight and better quality of air and air-flow systems.

Philadelphia's tallest building is being constructed with a sustainable design that will make it eligible for LEED Certification from the US Green Building Council. The interiors and exteriors of Comcast Center will bear the eco-friendly mark. The floor heights will vary from 13ft to 17ft, thus providing sufficient ventilation and natural light to every part of the building. These design aspects will also reduce the burden on electricity.

Recycled materials are being used for the carpeting in Comcast Center. Building systems like heating and air conditioning will be controlled floor-by-floor to avoid excess consumption. The paints used will carry minimal volatile organic compounds and external window screens will be installed in the winter garden to check the sunlight.

And waterless urinals too.

bbe
written by mitchell , July 25, 2007

brittany love you to fuck me plz i love you brittany bed ford

When business starts planning green ...
written by graceonline , July 28, 2007

I feel real hope. Some of these proposed structures are incredibly beautiful, far moreso than anything we've seen in a long while. Thanks for highlighting this--I hope--growing trend.

Thank You!
written by Dawn , August 01, 2007

I'm an Interior Design student hoping to one day rule the world with Architects to build a better place for our planet! Thanks for having a site like this where I can do research on tomorrow's technology!

BAHRAIN
written by alex , August 03, 2007

I live in Bahrain at the moment, the Bahrain world trade towers are almost complete. Looks amazing.

Persian Gulf,
written by Amirali , August 05, 2007

I would like to ask website's administrator to kindly amend the phrase "arabian Gulf" to the correct one which is "Persian Gulf".
His kind attnention will be highly appreciated.

...
written by Amanda Lakhanpal , August 05, 2007

I am suprised the Permenant Peace Towers designed in the Maharishi Sthapatya Veda style of architecture are not included here. See: http://globalcountry.org/EasyWeb.asp?pcpid=1768

...
written by Meteor , August 08, 2007

Persian Gulf
That is "Persian Gulf". There is no arabian gulf.
Take a look at the maps that are prepared by your ancestors from thousands years ago up to now.

smile
written by zohre , August 10, 2007

Try Tsui
written by TsuiFan , August 20, 2007

Have a look at Tsui:

http://www.uas.coop/node/627

'Ecological design as it is thought of presently, is not ecological design. We are only fooling ourselves if we think industrial-based and consumer-driven recycled/re-used materials constitute this. Labels like “green architecture” and “green design” are being applied to slightly modified versions of the ubiquitous box. This is not the true study of nature. Not even close to it. True ecological design comes from the profound study of nature—finding out how nature works and why'

Persian Gulf
written by marziye , August 21, 2007

JUST Persian Gulf there is not any arabian gulf(!)
So please Correct your mistake

Student
written by Jeimy , August 23, 2007

I am still a student in High School and, yes, i am interested in architecture and engineering. These pictures of future architecture inspires me and keeps me motivated for my future. Great Job to everybody who has put their mind on this.

WOW
written by regie , September 24, 2007

wowowee>>>great buildings! i luv searching 4 a skyscrapers!

Structural revolution
written by Per Corell , September 25, 2007

It is all very well, But all these high rise buildings, are rather tradisional in the perception of a building structure. Only when architecture change to accept 3dh sorts of computer generated building core structure, the green about these suildings will be obvious -- new methods where you model the building in 3D with a computer program, produce the raw data, to allow computers calculate, a more simple manufactored building core, 3dh is the native honeycomb structure that replaces hundreds of various building parts, with one simple material, -- that way as this material are sheet steel, can manufactor the building assembly, with simple N.Cm cutters , numbers and holes for pipes or structural members are subtracted the original Solid model in the computer, and that way, electric cables and pipes, are encapsulated the building core, providing brand new concepts for maintainment and expantion, understand these new options, read my homepage please .... in the end, this solve the problem making the computers do the right computer things, and that is the real digital revolution, one that change manufactoring, curtain walls melt softly into such honeycomb structure, the structure form arounf the edges if you design it ,so this new building core idear by Per Corell the Designer acturly conform to any delivery.

...
written by sexy bicth , November 03, 2007

sex me bicth

suq my slimy coq
written by Calvin van Rooy , November 04, 2007

yes, i'm Calvin van Rooy, Cape Town, South Africa!

and you can all suq my swollen wet cock!

...
written by susan , November 23, 2007

absolutely brilliant!! lets love our earth!!

Pop Culture Green Spin Machine
written by Guy , December 07, 2007

Urban Cactus: "its carbon-mitigation potential still looms high thanks to all the photosynthesis happening on the porch." I love the Urban Cactus, but it amazes me how shall I say, "un-knowledgeable" the writer is thinking that a few gardens have much relative impact when the vast amount of "carbon-mitigation" reality comes from the plants of the ocean and relatively little from land plants. Writer seems to be narrowly educated by the popular culture. I love the wind tunnel building design and would love to compare wattage output data to the non-tunneled design.

CEO
written by Dane Scarborough , December 08, 2007

You may find our approach to building green is a great intro for kids and students of architecture.

...
written by Mercedes , December 30, 2007

Wonderful Towers.

Futuristic monument
written by Choiri , January 31, 2008

Greats. That is real futuristic monument and in our country, Indonesia we have the greatest budha monument in the world was build more than 2 million block of volcanic stone and about 75 years in building . The monument was build in 8 century with around 35.000 man power.

The Top Ten Green Skyscrapers
written by Gilles Brophy , February 29, 2008

Wow!great idea to have this kind of technology in skyscrapers in ecology green,they should have competition worldwide for this kind of construction and (ingénieur)it's important to ad lot's of garden,tree,flowers,instead of cement and parking outside...

mkdgo
written by tmnb , April 04, 2008

gfdi9uahrts

wow
written by babo , May 06, 2008

this is good

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