EcoARK: Plastic Megastructures

by David White

(WebOptimiser.com and WireNews+Co) - London, England - 10 August 2012

The Taipei International Flora Exhibition took place from 6th November 2010 till 25th April 2011. Over 30 million flowers and plants from 3,300 species were exhibited there for six months, over an area of more than 90 hectares. But the star of the exhibition was not the flowers but an interesting building with glass walls: the new-age pavilion called EcoARK.

The EcoARK pavilion is onsidered as a new benchmark for the future of green buildings and a spectacular showpiece for the Taipei International Flora Expo. Adhering to the concept of “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle”, the nine-storey high EcoARK Pavilion was built largely out of 1.5 million recycled plastic bottles. It weighs 50 percent less than a conventional building, yet it is strong enough to withstand the forces of nature, including fire!

The EcoARK design team has applied the concept of “utilizing nature and picking up our trash”, turning waste into something valuable. The hall was the first green construction in Taiwan to be spotlighted in National Geographic Channel’s megastructures series.

The EcoARK was designed by Arthur Huang, a Taiwanese university professor, engineer, and architect that had the honor of becoming Perspective Magazine’s 40 Under 40 for 2011 because of his work on designing and building EcoArk.

Huang has dedicated himself to the creation of executable sustainable products and building solutions since 2004 and he was named the Earth Award 2010 winner in the product design category.

Inspired by the EcoARK, a Malaysian high school inaugurated a similar structure made from plastic bottles to promote environmental awareness and green building concepts.

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