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
| Aug 11, 2010
29 Great Solutions for the AEC Industry
AEC firms are hotbeds of invention and innovation to meet client needs in today's highly competitive environment. The editors of Building Design+Construction are pleased to present 29 "Great Solutions" to some of the most complex problems and issues facing Building Teams today. Our solutions cover eight key areas: Design, BIM + IT, Collaboration, Healthcare, Products, Technology, Business Management, and Green Building.
| Aug 11, 2010
Arup, SOM top BD+C's ranking of the country's largest mixed-use design firms
A ranking of the Top 75 Mixed-Use Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Structure Tone, Turner among the nation's busiest reconstruction contractors, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 75 Reconstruction Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
SSOE, Fluor among nation's largest industrial building design firms
A ranking of the Top 75 Industrial Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Walmart establishes sustainable product index to evaluate 'greeness' of products
Walmart today announced plans to develop a worldwide sustainable product index during a meeting with 1,500 of its suppliers, associates and sustainability leaders at its home office. The index will establish a single source of data for evaluating the sustainability of products.
| Aug 11, 2010
Manitoba Hydro Place, Tornado Tower among world's 'best tall buildings,' according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat last week announced the winners of its annual “Best Tall Building” awards for 2009, recognizing one outstanding tall building from each of four geographical regions: Americas, Asia & Australia, Europe, and Middle East & Africa. This year’s winners are: Manitoba Hydro Place, Winnipeg, Canada; Linked Hybrid, Beijing, China; The Broadgate Tower, London, UK; Tornado Tower, Doha, Qatar.
| Aug 11, 2010
Clark Group, Mortenson among nation's busiest state/local government contractors, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 40 State/Local Government Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit /giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Report: Building codes and regulations impede progress toward uber-green buildings
The enthusiasm for super green Living Buildings continues unabated, but a key stumbling block to the growth of this highest level of green building performance is an existing set of codes and regulations. A new report by the Cascadia Region Green Building Council entitled "Code, Regulatory and Systemic Barriers Affecting Living Building Projects" presents a case for fundamental reassessment of building codes.