When you add one part skyscraper, one part forest-saving reservoir, and one part eco-laboratory, you get the all-parts-awesome behemoth known as the Rainforest Guardian, a conceptual design that looks like a giant metal lotus flower sticking out of the expansive Amazon rainforest.Designed by Jie Huang, Jin Wei, Qiaowan Tang, Yiwei Yu, and Zhe Hao from China, the architectural beast is not like your average skyscraper. In contrast to the normally spearhead-like structure of your typical cloud-kissing building, the top of the Guardian has the most surface area. This allows it to catch and store hundreds of gallons of rainwater to save for the dry season. It also gives the building an organic, futuristic aesthetic that seems more at home in a galaxy far, far away than on our own world. Not to mention, the building is driping with dozens of long, wet vines—making it some fusion of nature and artificial design. No wonder it was an honorable mention at this year's eVolvo Skyscraper Competition.
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According to the designers, the Rainforest Guardian would be less disruptive than a traditional reservoir. They say that, "using capillarity combined with active energy, the aerial roots with a distinct sponge-structure can absorb and store the excess water without disturbing the Amazon's ecosystem." The water irrigates the land during the dry season, and gives local firefighters the liquid they need to put out fires that can devastate the rare and delicate Amazonian flora and fauna.When it's not quenching the thirst of the dry earth or smothering impending flames, the Rainforest Guardian would also serve as a scientific research and education center. Data about weather and local ecology would be gathered en masse by trained experts and research students.The designers modeled the Rainforest Guardian after the lotus flower, a plant well-known for its hardiness and ability to survive in very wet environments. If it's ever actualized, we hope to see lots of happy tree frogs and parakeets splish-splashing and taking a bath that only a pro-nature building like the Rainforest Guardian could offer.
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