Eco architecture takes hold in Asia

Mention Pattaya, and most people think of the Thai resort town's seedy nightlife, drag-queen shows and bedraggled beachfront. But Bruno Pingel, a German real-estate developer, wants to change the landscape with Thailand's first environmentally friendly high-rise.

In the next few months, Mr. Pingel's company, Siam Best Enterprise Ltd., plans to begin building Ocean One, a 91-story, 611-unit beachfront condominium and commercial development with a $245 million price tag. When completed -- the target date is 2010 -- the tower will be able to tout not only its slick design and views of the Gulf of Thailand but also its ecofriendly credentials.

Ocean One's creators say they are taking steps to lower the building's water and electricity consumption through green technology. Green technology often costs more, especially in a developing country like Thailand, where the latest eco-friendly gadgets have to be imported. Mr. Pingel says Ocean One residents will save as much as 30% on electricity bills because of energy-efficient air conditioners.

According to Woods Bagot, the Australia-based architecture firm that designed the project, 80% of the water used in the building -- where condos will sell for about $3,000 a square meter -- will be recycled. Tap water will be fed back into toilets, and then treated and used for the grounds and gardens. A highspeed elevator will zip visitors to an observation deck, generating enough electricity as it descends to light the deck at night. Solar panels on the roof of an adjacent commercial building will power shops and restaurants. Woods Bagot says it hopes the panels will generate excess energy that will be fed into Thailand's national electricity grid.

Asia generally lags the U.S. and Europe as far as the green-buildings movement goes. But there are signs that green architecture is starting to move more into the mainstream.

"The movement toward green design (in Asia) has been advancing a lot faster in the past five years, probably because of the influence of foreign architects," says Kenneth Yeang, a Malaysian architect who has been practicing green design for three decades.

Ocean One's Mr. Pingel, an 18-year Pattaya resident, acknowledges he hoped to make the building more palatable to city officials by incorporating green design features. But he also was motivated by a sense of social responsibility: "I look at Pattaya as my hometown now. That's simply made me think and believe that we have to do something nice, not only for our pocket but also for all our neighbors."

It's a sentiment some environmentalists hope will grow in Asia, where massive populations, breakneck development, poor governance and simple ignorance have resulted in extensive environmental degradation, the consequences of which have become more evident in recent years. Every year, extensive deforestation in the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia is blamed for landslides. Ultramodern cities such as Hong Kong now contend with sharply deteriorating air quality. Parts of China, Australia and India have experienced severe and prolonged droughts in recent years. Global warming is potentially an even bigger issue in Asia than elsewhere, with a number of studies raising alarms. Meantime, China's race to industrialize could soon propel it ahead of the U.S. as the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide -- the greenhouse gas believed to be driving up temperatures world-wide.

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