Highway Noise Brarier by Bread Studio Vertical vegetation panels have been proved to be not desirable for greening highway condition. The shallow soil depth makes the plants dry up easily. The complicated irrigation system which it requires also makes the maintenance demanding. The proposal has planting pots underneath the highway. These pots provide proper soil depth for heavy and low maintenance plantings. The pendulum system generates electricity from surrounding wind and turbulence from the passing traffic. Compared to the use of PV panels which requires particular installation angles and imposes visual disturbance, this system works holistically with the entire design and more independent to weather conditions. The surplus electricity could supply lightings for the park facilities and podium of adjacent residential block. Main posts are made by laminated recycled plastic lumber. This material is made of recycled milk jugs and shampoo bottles which contain the required high- density polyethylene. It is made by recycled high weight and durable. This ecofriendly material has been tested in building 50 feet spanning bridge with loading capability of 15 tons and life expectancy of 50 years. Rainwater is collected from the barrier and road surface are channeled down to planting pots with petrol filter. The use of deep planting pots allows large reserves of water in soil. This eliminates the requirement of irrigation system. Although the proposal gives an organic appearance imitating a botanical greenhouse, the components are highly modular. The main posts have only 3 variations. This makes it cost effective to construct and replace. Separating the heavy soil from the main barrier structure allows the supporting frame to be more slender. This not only reduces the loads concentrating on the highway curb edge but also makes the barrier visually less bulky. Maintenance of the plantings is easy and safer. Operators access the planting soil via a walkway underneath the highway. This arrangement allows generous walkway width for transporting soil and replacement plants. Doing maintenance away from the road level is safer.
Posted on: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 10:09:39 +0000