The “Sky Gardens” of San Jose stems from the vision that the site is foremost a PARK, that it should be enjoyed by magnitudes of people SIMULTANEOUSLY and the fact that it should be a world class VISIBLE ICON / LANDMARK. Combination of these two ingrained notions gives us the obvious solution _ Visibility ( Elevation ) + Park = the Elevated Gardens.
The size of the Sky Garden is the size of a nearby city block, ie 560’ x 280’. The Sky-gardens is at 140’. The 4 massive piers that houses the 2 cable cars, 2 escalators, stairs, service elevators and emergency exit, holds up the Sky-Gardens. The footprints of the piers are all within the project area.
Large circular Tree-turntables on ground level, are reminiscent of the children carousel and locomotive turn tables of old times, paying homage to site history & nearby train station. The turntables rotate the trees to their new position on the hour, every hour to much delight of the visitors. This kinetic tree-turntables transform the park into a surrealistic landscape never yet seen in the world!
The ‘Sky Gardens’ constructed of 30’ deep Vierendeel Truss system houses programs of Nature Museum, glass floor Hanging Galleries where view of Confluence Point is part of the exhibit, Revolving Restaurant, Sky-Aquarium, children Wading Pool and a Virtual Reality kinetic gaming hall showcasing the greatest inventions of San Jose.
The suspended water fall at the center of the revolving restaurant is the Emotional Heart of the project and it hovers exactly over the confluence of the two rivers.
The curtain wall glazing is lined with LEDs, turning the façade into a kinetic soft light display system , yet avoiding light pollution.
Recently invented transparent solar panels designed as solar trees are placed on the garden along with natural trees. Furthermore, nearby parking lots can be covered with regular solar panels. For reducing cooling & heat exchange loads on refrigerants, geothermal heat pumps and closed loop coils within the river are used. These strategies will work towards achieving Net Zero.
Architect's comment:
" In designing our proposal, we kept couple of things in Mind for the Sky Gardens of San Jose
That it is timeless and will Not date. Just like Falling Water, or the Eiffel Tower, or the Sydney Opera House, the Sky Gardens will be as relevant in the 23rd century as it will be now if it is built today.
That this is an Awe Inspiring, Gravity defying design. We have a city-block sized elevated garden with fully mature trees high up in the air for multitude of people experiencing it simultaneously, while you have the free-flowing garden of Arena Green with trees underneath it with flowing rivers , like a Dreamy Landscape. People will come and feel inspired, looking up to this vast man made yet Nature filled structure. There will be no other emotion but to be Inspired. It will provoke "the Human mind can DO this? then I too can do better”. Isn't that what an icon is supposed to be_Inspiring?
The 'Sky Gardens' is that kind of a design. A single line zinger for the design is ..... Even Queen of Sheeba would have been Impressed."
View Original