Conceptually, at Least, a Hillside Grows in Downtown Dallas

Last week we showed you the three winners and three finalists chosen in the Re:Vision Dallas competition that called for folks to design a self-sustaining block on what’s not a parking lot behind Dallas City Hall. Turns out, that was but a sneak preview.

Today, Urban Re:Vision — the folks behind the contest and whatever may or may not follow — gives us a better look at the three winners: Forwarding Dallas (which is “modeled after one of the most diverse system in nature, the hillside”), Greenways Xero Energy (where “community gardens, vertical farming, and water capture are at the basis of the community unit”) and Entangled Bank (possessing “a green roof with vegetation and a sky pasture to sustain ‘Dexter’ livestock that require less dietary consumption and can thrive on pastures where other cattle would starve”). And by “Dexter livestock,” I assume they mean this. Not this.

Each entry comes with its own downloadable media kit loaded with detailed graphics — quite the what-if time-killer. Still, though, no Co-Op Canyon. Which sucks.

And the other finalists in the competition:

This design finalist, by the North Carolina firm Little, includes a “sky pasture” with ultra-efficient Dexter livestock, grey water treatment and a “vertical axis wind turbine” for 50% more energy production than regular turbines.

With solar hot water and geothermal tubes to regulate the building’s temperature, the Greenways Xero Energy plan goes for extra efficiency and, according to its proposal, “self-sustainability through practices such as vertical farming and slow food restaurants.”