“Eco-Pod” is a conceptual structure design for the city of Boston. Developed by Squared Design Lab and Howeler Yoon Architecture.

Official notes about project:

Taking advantage of the stalled Filene’s construction site at Downtown Crossing, Eco�Pod is a proposal to immediately stimulate the economy, and the ecology, of downtown Boston. Eco�Pod (Gen1) is a temporary vertical algae bio�reactor and new public Commons, built with custom prefabricated modules. The pods will serve as bio�fuel sources and as micro�incubators for flexible research and development programs. As an open and reconfigurable structure, the voids between pods form a network of vertical public parks/botanical gardens housing unique plant species� a new Uncommon for the Commons.

Micro�algae is one of the most promising bio�fuel crops of today, yielding over thirty times more energy per acre than any other fuel crop. Unlike other crops, algae can grow vertically and on non�arable land, is biodegradable, and may be the only viable method by which we can produce enough automotive fuel to replace the world’s current diesel usage. Algae farming uses sugar and cellulose to create bio�fuels and simultaneously helps reduce Carbon Dioxide emissions, since it replaces CO2 with Oxygen during photosynthesis. While the bio�reactor process is currently in an experimental phase, recent advances in single step algae oil extraction and low energy high efficiency LEDs make the algae bio�reactor an extremely promising prospect on the renewable energy technology horizon.

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