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GreenbridgeChapel Hill, North Carolina

DESCRIPTION

Envisioned by our client as a model for conscious living, Greenbridge offers a positive strategy for suburban areas by demonstrating smart growth principles in action.
The site, located between two existing town centers and their infrastructure, discourages sprawl. The client’s goal for a dense, urban community is enhanced by WM+P’s sensitive massing and orientation and optimized use of materials and resources that are regionally appropriate. Through a series of terraces and a large central courtyard, sunlight penetrates all public areas, offices and apartments. The design optimizes energy use, comfort, individual control, feedback and adaptability. Roof surfaces will be productive—used to grow plants and food, generate power, and provide places to play and rest. As the first mixed-use residential project in North Carolina to target LEED Gold, Greenbridge is poised to be a catalyst for the region and an exemplar of intelligent growth.

PROGRAM

Mixed-use residential, office and retail

And here’s a particularly telling quote from McDonough’s talk:

What we need is “…something that makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, distills water, accrues solar energy as fuel, makes complex sugars into food, creates micro climates, changes colors with the seasons and self replicates,” said McDonough.

“Why don’t we knock that down and write on it.”

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