Urban Sequoia
" Urban Sequoia is a systems approach, a philosophy," says SOM Sustainability Director Mina Hasman. "It is a way of thinking about cities as ecologies, as living and breathing systems that can be reconfigured to achieve dramatic reductions in whole life carbon, reframing the built environment as a solution for the climate crisis."
Today at COP26, the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill ( SOM ) unveiled Urban Sequoia - a concept for buildings and their urban context to absorb carbon at an unprecedented rate. SOM has developed the first step toward achieving this goal on a broad scale, with a prototype for a high-rise building that can be built today. Created by a global ...
At COP27, SOM Presents Urban Sequoia, a Building Proposal ...
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill ( SOM ) presented the Urban Sequoia NOW concept, a design that can sequester carbon from the atmosphere throughout its lifecycle.
" Urban Sequoia is a systems approach, a philosophy," says SOM Sustainability Director Mina Hasman. "It is a way of thinking about cities as ecologies, as living and breathing systems that can be reconfigured to achieve dramatic reductions in whole life carbon, reframing the built environment as a solution for the climate crisis."
Urban Sequoia NOW
Urban Sequoia accomplishes this by consolidating building systems (using a reductive approach), reducing the mass of the structural shell, and using modular prefabricated systems. SOM and its structural engineers designed a domed concrete shell, that because of its shape and strength is 65% thinner than conventional concrete flat slabs.
The Urban Sequoia NOW model imagined by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill ( SOM ) poses the question of whether buildings can act like trees: capturing carbon, purifying the air and restoring the environment?
SOM proposes a forest of carbon
SOM unveils its urban sequoia concept at COP26 as an ambitious proposal to absorb carbon at an unprecedented rate. the team has developed the first step toward achieving this goal on a broad scale ...
A year after Skidmore, Owings & Merrill ( SOM ) first debuted Urban Sequoia , a prototypical high-rise capable of sequestering up to 1,000 tons of carbon each year with purifying the air around it ...
Urban Sequoia building for absorbing carbon by SOM
Today at COP26, the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill ( SOM ) unveiled Urban Sequoia - a concept for buildings and their urban context to absorb carbon at an unprecedented rate. SOM has developed the first step toward achieving this goal on a broad scale, with a prototype for a high-rise building that can be built today. Created by a global ...
The central proposition of Urban Sequoia is that the built environment can absorb carbon. SOM's proposal transforms buildings into solutions—radically rethinking how buildings and cities are designed and constructed. It is a viable solution that could have a far-reaching impact, with the potential to create a circular economy that absorbs ...