Supper trees:
Supper trees are located in Garden by the Bay in Singapore. Apart from different planting on these trees,they help to make the garden more environmentally sustainable. Some functions of these trees are like real trees. Real trees have a process called photosynthesise. In this process trees absorb sunlight,water and carbon dioxide and produce carbohydrate and oxygen ( NSTA 2014). Supper trees absorb sunlight by photovoltaic cells to produce electricity for lighting and also gather the rain water for plants in garden. Furthermore it can moderate the temperature by absorbing and releasing air. They also provide shadow for visitors (CNN 2012). These structures are the good examples of  imitating the nature to provide sustainable environment. They act like trees which are effective to alleviate air pollution and global warming.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1643309&page=2

http://designlike.com/2012/08/02/incredible-futuristic-gardens-by-the-bay-in-singapore/

http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0775714.html

Source:
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/08/world/asia/singapore-supertrees-gardens-bay/
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/courses/bio104/photosyn.htm

Natural ventilation for buildings:
Wind catcher is an structure that could be built on the roof of the buildings in order to provide natural ventilation and make inside of  the building cooler with out using energy. In the past people in arid areas did not have electricity and they used wind catchers to make their house cooler. Today,in order to reduce global warming and cost of electricity wind catchers are used in buildings. The general structure of modern and old wind catchers are same. Both of them catch wind from opening. Inside the wind catcher will be divided to 4 sections . According to Ji and Su and Khan (2012)wind catchers catch wind from different sides and one section that is in the wind side,brings it inside the building and other one on the opposite side releases stale air because of the pressure.They also claim that modern wind catchers usually have a manual or automatic window inside the building in order to control air volume and to close the wind catcher in winter. Old wind catchers bring wind inside a room that usually have small pool to make water cooler with evaporation.These rooms usually have several doors to different part of building. When one part needs cool air the door will be opened (Kazemi and Dehghan 2012).  Old wind catchers have made from mud and brick but modern ones are mostly made from metal and could be designed in order to be set with building appearance.

httpghoolabad.com

http://www.esi.info

httpwww.iasdm.org

http://www.bse.polyu.edu.hk

Sources:
- Ji,Z   Su,Y   Khan,N  2012.Performance Evaluation and Energy Saving Potential of

Windcatcher Natural Ventilation Systems in China,International Journal of Architecture, Engineering and Construction ,Vol.1, No. 2, pp.84-95

- Kazemi,m Dehghan,A 2012,Visualized flow structure around and inside of one-sided wind-catchers,Energy and BuildingsVolume 55, Pages 545–552.

Sustainable Agriculture:

http://www.digmnl.com/health-and-beauty/grow-your-own-food-a-quick-guide-to-urban-farming

Soil-less agriculture is a method that plants grow with out soil. Instead of soil the rout of plants are located in water with enough nutrient or in gravel or sand that use same water. This kind of cultivating is sustainable because it uses low amount of water to compare with cultivating in soil. Furthermore the water stayes in this system and it can be used over and over. The light, humidity and temperature can be controlled in indoor spaces. This could be effective especially in areas that the condition for cultivate is not suitable. This system also have some problems.Plants can catch some sort of disease because of water.Furthermore to provide this kind of cultivate in large scale the cost will not be efficient. However this method have some problems because it could help to grow different plants in different climate with low amount of water. Also it could be more efficient if farmer use sunlight instead of artificial lights.

http://www.greenprophet.com/2010/05/aerofarms-vertical-farming/

 



 Source:
 Benton,J 2012,Hydroponics: A Practical Guide for the Soilless Grower, CRC press.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSS5mFjwLtI

http://www.allianceforamericanquilts.org/support/QTM2014.php

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/united-states/high-line-gets-20-million-gift-63404.html

Walking as sustainable mode of transportation:High park is an unusual structure because it was a high rail line in the past which remained unused and after many years city decided to rebuilt it instead of destroy it. Today most part of the park have been constructed.The length of the park is about 1 mile.According to video 1 mile is about 20 blocks which people prefer to use other kind of transport to travel this distance rather than walking.When people walk on it, they experience different spaces. The variety of spaces and view of the park attract large amount of people every day. Walking in this park is enjoyable and these kind of structures can encourage people to walk more. 



Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W2Yq1zzxAc

Lahijan traditional houses:
Lahijan is located in the north of Iran near Caspian Sea. High humidity ,large amount of rain and temperature stability play important role to shape the houses there. high humidity could bring mould to building,therefore proper ventilation is required. Traditional houses in lahijan have special design  in order to use low amount of energy and  to adjust the building to region climate. According to Ghorbani Nia (2013) because daily temperature usually do not have fluctuation, walls are made of light materials such as wood which is local material and are covered with plaster or clay in order to increase ventilation. Furthermore these walls do not have high thermal capacity in order to save heat for night.White colour of walls usually helps to reflect the sunlight in summers . There is gap between houses and ground to increase the ventilation from floor for buildings. furthermore porches are located in four side of building to provide more ventilation. Roofs in these houses are made with rice stalk that is local material. furthermore because of large amount of rain in this region the slop of roofs are high. For these reasons these kind of houses could be considered as sustainable structures. 

http://fouman.com/Y/Picture_View-Gilan_Roodbaneh_Traditional_House.htm

Source:

Source:
Ghorbani Nia,E (2013) Architectural Structure and Environmental Performance of Sustainable Lahijan Vernacular Settlements, N Iran , International Journal of Environmental Protection,Vol. 3 Iss. 1, PP. 15-2.

Solar water heater system with recyclable materials:

http://www.solar-energy-for-homes.com

Solar water heater is a system that use sun heat as renewable energy source. As it can be seen in the picture, cold water is pumped to the sun collector. when it gets warm, because of the feature of water with out pumping it goes to the tank above solar collector( Chong,K 2012). Then it can be used for different purposes in the building. In order to make this system more environmental friendly and more efficient from economic point of view this system can be made by empty and used bottles or soda cans. The bottles are filled with water and are used as solar collector. This is a home made structure that can decrease the cost of electricity and help to environment by using recyclable materials and renewable energy.

http://b1ke.wordpress.com

Source:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148111004459
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehDgXrpRlTU

Geo Exchange Heating and Cooling System:

http://www.vredevoogd.com

  

http://www.nuenergygroup.com

 
Earth has a feature than can absorb the heat of sunlight and save it. The temperature of the underground is usually stable . These features of earth can be use in order to warm building in winter and cool it in summer .This system consisted of the pips which are located underground and filled with water, heat pipe inside the building and a system to scatter the heat or cool inside the building ( Florides,G 2007). As it can be seen in the pictures in winter  cool water from building will  be delivered to warmer underground to became warm and in summer warm water from building will be delivered to become cold and go back to the building. This system is efficient and use small amount of energy for heat pump. Therefore it can reduce the cost of cooling and warming of the building.
Source:
 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148107000092