At the 2016 World Economic Forum, the high-profile annual gathering of leading technocrats and politicians happening this week in Davos, Switzerland, a modest building constructed for the event hopes to become part of the global conversation about sustainable development.
The 90-sm (969-sf) ICEHouse (short for Innovation for the Circular Economy house) is the brainchild of William McDonough, FAIA, Int. FRIBA, the noted architect who specializes in Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) design solutions. His firms, William McDonough + Partners and WonderFrame LLC, constructed ICEHouse at the invitation of Hub Culture, a global collaboration network with 25,000 professional members, which each year makes space available for the press, NGOs, and other support staff attending the event.
After the Forum ends, ICEHouse will be taken apart and reassembled at The Valley at Schiphol Trade Park in Amsterdam, the location for the new National Hub for the Circular Economy, for which McDonough is an equity partner and master architect.
Speaking from Davos by phone, McDonough told BD+C that ICEHouse is the latest effort in his career-long quest to come up with innovations that provide shelter for people in need around the world. (McDonough is co-author of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, and serves as Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Meta-Council on the Circular Economy.)
His prototype at the Forum, which was assembled in two days, is framed with aluminum covered with a polycarbonate sheathing system provided by SABIC, a remnant of the former GE Plastics. McDonough says ICEHouse is an experimental platform for his “WonderFrame” system, which he designed to be erected using locally available materials, such as polymers or even bamboo. “I think that, in the future, we’d be using a lot of composites, taken from the existing waste stream,” he predicted.
The space has a heated floor, and Shaw Contract Group provided the flooring materials. McDonough wasn’t able to provide the cost of the structure, which he says his team is still analyzing.
McDonough estimates that 1,000 Davos attendees will have walked through ICEHouse. To his surprise, what was meant to be nothing more than an “evocation” and “a place for dreaming” about the future might actually turn out to have more immediate and viable product potential.
“The typical reaction of people who come through is, one, ‘Wow, this is beautiful,’ and, two, ‘I want one of these.’ ” McDonough envisions ICEHouse, because of its recycling flexibility and ease of assembly (it doesn't require a foundation, for example), having all kinds of “pop-up” applications, for housing, education, heath care, even manufacturing.
McDonough also sees ICEHouse as part of a bigger shift away from the primacy of ownership. “People don’t see a stigma about ‘temporary’ anymore. They are more interested in the quality of the services provided.”
(To learn more about McDonough's thoughts about Cradle-to-Cradle design and construction check out his interview last year with inhabitat.com.)
Architect William McDonough (left) and former Great Britain Prime Minister Tony Blair share a moment inside ICEHouse at the World Economic Forum at Davos. Photo courtesy of William McDonough + Partners
Related Stories
| Dec 10, 2013
16 great solutions for architects, engineers, and contractors
From a crowd-funded smart shovel to a why-didn’t-someone-do-this-sooner scheme for managing traffic in public restrooms, these ideas are noteworthy for creative problem-solving. Here are some of the most intriguing innovations the BD+C community has brought to our attention this year.
| Dec 9, 2013
What is life cycle cost optioneering?
Life cycle cost optioneering is a way of assessing alternative design options, analyzing their long-term capital and operational costs to identify those with the lowest price tag, over the entire life cycle.
| Nov 27, 2013
LEED for Healthcare offers new paths to green
LEED for Healthcare debuted in spring 2011, and certifications are now beginning to roll in. They include the new Puyallup (Wash.) Medical Center and the W.H. and Elaine McCarty South Tower at Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas in Austin.
| Nov 25, 2013
Manufacturers race to offer EPDs, HPDs in response to LEED v4
Under LEED v4, projects are awarded points for using at least 20 building products that have issued Environmental Product Declarations or Health Product Declarations. In response, manufacturers are racing to offer EPDs and HPDs for their product lines.
| Nov 22, 2013
Health Product Declaration Collaborative to develop protocol for third-party verification of HPDs
Seven leading product sustainability assessment companies partner with the HPD Collaborative to develop the verification and quality assurance protocols.
| Nov 19, 2013
Top 10 green building products for 2014
Assa Abloy's power-over-ethernet access-control locks and Schüco's retrofit façade system are among the products to make BuildingGreen Inc.'s annual Top-10 Green Building Products list.
| Nov 18, 2013
USGBC, UL Environment announce joint Environmental Product Declaration
Strategic partnership between U.S. Green Building Council and UL Environment will focus on building materials and product transparency.
| Nov 15, 2013
Greenbuild 2013 Report - BD+C Exclusive
The BD+C editorial team brings you this special report on the latest green building trends across nine key market sectors.
| Nov 14, 2013
How increased domestic energy production affects the nation [Infographic]
In light of America's new energy resources and an increased emphasis on energy efficiency, Skanska examined the trends in U.S. energy production and consumption, as well as the benefits we may incur from increased domestic energy production.
| Nov 14, 2013
Behind the build: BD+C's 'Pedia-Pod' modular pediatric patient unit at Greenbuild 2013 [slideshow]
Next week at Greenbuild, BD+C will unveil its demonstration pediatric patient unit, called Pedia-Pod. Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the construction of this unique modular structure.
