Today, Crosscheck is celebrating #WorldArchitectureDay!
Established by the International Union of Architects in 1985, World Architecture Day falls on the first Monday of October each year.
This year’s theme, “Empowering the Next Generation in Participatory Design,” highlights the importance of involving young minds in shaping our built environment. To that end, we’re shining a light on the Solarpunk movement and its influence on architecture and urban planning.
Solarpunk, an eco-futurist literary and artistic movement with roots in science fiction, emerged in part as a reaction to predecessors like cyberpunk, which envisioned a dystopian and hyper-industrialized future society. Solarpunk, in contrast, emphasizes an optimistic outlook for the future, with a focus on sustainability through renewable energy resources and the integration of technology and nature.
Although largely conceptual, Solarpunk philosophy has already inspired several real-world architectural projects, such as:
- Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest) in Milan, Italy: This residential complex consists of two 11-story skyscrapers covered in over 90 species of plants, increasing the city’s biodiversity from a 3,000-square-meter footprint. The plant-covered facade naturally filters sunlight, creating a comfortable microclimate by regulating humidity, producing oxygen, and absorbing carbon dioxide.
- Jewel Changi Airport in Singapore: An 8-acre indoor garden enclosed in a climate-controlled glass dome, this architectural marvel features the world’s tallest indoor waterfall, surrounded by a forested terrace and ten distinct garden areas across four terminals.
- Liuzhou Forest City in China: Inspired by the success of Bosco Verticale, this planned city will embody the Solarpunk vision of blending urban technology with natural ecosystems. The city will be blanketed in greenery, improving air quality, regulating temperature, and reducing noise, while creating a rich ecosystem for plants, animals, and humans alike.
Though these examples come with their own challenges, they illustrate that a sustainable, energy-efficient, and eco-friendly future is within reach. It’s now up to the next generation of architects and urban planners to make this vision a reality.
On this World Architecture Day, Crosscheck honors the visionary minds who design the buildings, spaces, and cities that shape our daily lives. Let’s continue to support sustainable, inclusive, and forward-thinking architecture that fosters harmony between people and the planet.
#WorldArchitectureDay #SustainableDesign #UrbanPlanning #ArchitectureForTheFuture #Solarpunk #EcoFriendly #Permaculture #InspectSmarter #CrosscheckCares
Photo by?Zach Rowlandson?on?Unsplash
Photo by?Darren Tan?on?Unsplash
