Daily COP26 briefing: today's COP26 briefing includes SOM's proposal for skyscrapers that remove carbon from the atmosphere, a net-zero fund for developing cities and a geodesic Grimshaw pavilion made from construction scraps.
Throughout COP26, we are publishing regular updates of what's happening at the climate conference and surrounding events. See all our COP26 coverage here.
SOM unveils Urban Sequoia concept
Skidmore Owings & Merrill presented a proposal for how architecture could move beyond net-zero to create carbon negative buildings at yesterday's Cities, Regions & Built Environment Day.
The prototype high-rise would be built using carbon-storing biomaterials such as hempcrete and timber, as well as direct air capture technologies available today, which according to SOM could sequester up to 400 per cent more carbon over the course of the building's 60-year lifespan than emitted during its construction. Urban Sequoia is SOM's proposal for a carbon-negative high-rise (top and above)
The captured carbon could be sold on for industrial uses and turned into products, creating a circular "carbon-removal economy", while algae and biomass grown on the building's facade could be turned into biofuels for heating as wells as cars and planes.
"The power of this idea is how achievable it is," said SOM principal Yasemin Kologlu.
"Our proposal brings together new design ideas with nature-based solutions, emerging and current carbon absorption t...