Specialists in
the design & engineering of planetary projects, architecture, and biospheric
closed systems.Biospheric Design
A Division of Global Ecotechnics Corporation
Specialists in
the design & engineering of planetary projects, architecture, and biospheric
closed systems.
Overview
Biospheric Design (BD), a Division of
Global Ecotechnics Corporation, has led the development of ecological
perspectives in architecture and engineering on acclaimed projects in seven
countries and on four continents. Biospheric Design projects incorporate the
latest advances in energy efficient and recycling technologies to achieve a
harmony between the architecture and the surrounding environment. Biospheric
Design unifies the approaches of Frank Lloyd Wright, Bruce Goff, and Buckminster
Fuller: “Form follows function” to which Biospheric Design adds, and “function
follows form.” With this paradigm, Biospheric Design recognizes the vital
importance of material selection, and the practical application of synergy -
doing more with less.
Biospheric Design Projects - 1995 to Present
To View Some of Biospheric Design's Projects: 1974 to 1994
For Further Information
Who to Contact
Laboratory Biospheres and Earth to Mars Project
Biospheric Design is designing an
Earth to Mars Project (ETM): a
long-term, comprehensive program to design, construct and operate an Earth-based
prototype life support system that will simulate a base for a manned Mission to
Mars. Development of this Mars base will play a major role in (1) determining
the feasibility of maintaining humans in a self-sustaining system on Mars, (2)
pioneering new technologies for air, water and wastewater recycling, (3)
developing the know-how for increasing food production, and (4) furthering
studies of Earth’s biogeochemical and ecological processes. For the present,
the ETM project is using the “Laboratory Biosphere,” (a 12’ cylindrical chamber,
1,400 cubic ft), to test scientific and engineering systems for the ETM
project.
Laboratory Biosphere, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Click here for information on the Laboratory Biosphere Experiments and for further information on the closed system programs.
Biospheric Design Projects: 1974 to 1994
The
Biosphere 2 Project - Oracle, Arizona
Biospheric Design's most famous design project is
the Biosphere 2 Project, a magnificent
laboratory for the study of global ecology. This 200,000 m3,1.27
ha, miniature airtight world, is sealed on the bottom by a stainless steel liner
and on the top by a steel and glass space frame structure. Inside the laboratory
is a 850 sq. m coral reef (of which 682 m2 is the area of water surface), a 450
sq. m mangrove marsh, a 1,900 sq. m Amazonian rainforest, a 1300 sq. m savannah
grassland, a 1400 sq. m fog desert, a 2500 sq. m tropical agriculture system
with farm and a human habitat with living quarters, kitchen, offices, and
recreational spaces. Heating and cooling water circulated through the biosphere
in independent piping systems, and electrical power was supplied to the
Biosphere from a natural gas energy center, located outside Biosphere 2, through
airtight penetrations.
Biosphere 2 Overview
The habitat of Biosphere 2
Biosphere 2 was nominated by the
USA Discovery Channel in 2003 as the #3 greatest engineering achievement in the
20th Century. Biosphere 2 was also the winner of the 1992 Gold Nugget
Award for Best Architectural Design, its energy center received a merit award
from Pacific Coast Builders for Best Industrial Project, it was honored as one
of Time Magazine’s Top Ten Scientific Projects in 1993, and Biosphere 2 was
featured by Columbia University for its contributions to ongoing ecological
science.
Biosphere 2
Test Module
The Test Module, Oracle Arizona
Prior to the construction of
Biosphere 2, Biospheric Design designed the one person test chamber (see above) for the
facility, called the “Test Module” which first proved the invention of the
sustainability of a completely closed system.
Caravan of Dreams - Fort Worth, Texas
Caravan of Dreams was a unique
restoration of two turn-of-the-century buildings in downtown Fort Worth. The
completion of this music venue, off Broadway theater, and artists residence,
launched an exciting revival of downtown Fort Worth life.
Rooftop gardens, grotto bar and desert dome
Jazz Club Bar
Vajra Hotel
- Kathmandu, Nepal
Conceived as “the meeting place of East and West, Vajra Hotel, a
fifty room hotel launched in 1980, soon became the place in Kathmandu to meet
for Tibetan Rinpoches, Western Mountain climbers, explorers, seekers, Hindu
Swamis, Development economists, wildlife conservationists and artists.
Vajra Hotel
Vajra Hotel Courtyard
October Gallery - London, UK
Renovation of a Victorian building into the
October Gallery art gallery,
café, theater, meeting rooms, courtyard and artists residences.
The October Gallery Courtyard
The Main Gallery
Conference Center and Adobe Condominiums - Santa Fe, New
Mexico
Engineering and architectural projects in Santa Fe include a 30 private home
community in downtown Santa Fe, called Project Llanos, and the
Center for Innovation, a conference center located in the nearby Cerrillos
Hills, that includes a Buckminster Fuller dome and guest accommodations.
Center for Innovation Conference Center, Santa Fe, New
Mexico
Adobe Condominiums, Downtown Santa
Fe
Conference Center Dome
Each of these projects are founded upon the principles of biospherics, the science of water, air, geochemical, ecological, ecosystems, and technical closed loop systems -- both natural and artificial. For further information on this field, and for information on the Biosphere 2 project and key Biospheres team members who have contributed greatly to the development of this field, see www.biospheres.com. For a bibliography of papers on Biosphere 2 and Biospherics, click here.
Books and Journals:
Journal of Life Support and Biosphere Science publishes results of Biosphere
2 Two-Year Closure Experiment
Journal
of Ecological Engineering
Life Under Glass--The
Inside Story of Biosphere 2 by Alling, Nelson,
and Silverstone