Designer Michael Maltzan of Michale Maltzan Architecture has a new vision for infrastructure in Los Angeles and beyond. Maltzan and architects have proposed freeway redesigns that solve multiple problems at once including traffic noise, carbon emissions, solar energy and more.
Maltzan's redesign of the 134 freeway in Pasadena, CA, wraps the bridge in a tunnel to acoustically insulate the walls and cut traffic noise by up to 65%. A perforated ceiling could trap exhaust into titanium dioxide-coated "lungs" that would capture the carbon emissions. Solar panels on top of the covered bridge would collect enough sunlight to power 600 homes, and rainwater collectors could capture hundreds of thousands of gallons of water.
"I think those types of mutually beneficial relationships are both a real opportunity in cities, but also increasingly a real necessity as the city becomes denser and denser," says Maltzan. "The effect of all of these different development infrastructures, energy and sustainability issues, political and social issues, will potentially run into each other."
Other L.A. designers have also proposed capping a freeway with a park.
(more on the new sustainable ideas for redesigned highways...)
