Research's IaaC - Students Research - Emergent Territories

MAA Students:  Ahmad Derhalli (Jordan), Aron Biro (Hungary)

Research Studio: Emergent Territories

Studio Instructor: Willy Müller with the assistance of Maite Bravo

Student Summary:

Port i-Fungus

Commercial ports are essential elements for cities growth, prosperity, and play a big role in developing and supporting the trading power of the country or even of bigger regional scale.Ports are the first platform for goods exchange and providing the society needs, But most of the time its functionality is limited to its commercial nature and does not support farther public needs or ecological growth. In general ports expand to claim its surrounding and impose it self on the near environment and can lead to its deterioration. The port iFungus is an experimental approach to promote the ports function and to add a new layer of complexity to its system by providing filtering mechanism inspired from biological systems and fluid dynamics studies which can lead to better ecological system, enhance public interaction, and  landscape outdoor education.

In this stage our objectives are to find the best solution to integrate the filters system to the port using the tectonic features of the area and by considering certain parameters can guide to the main master plan of the system which must respond to the fluctuating behavior of the pollution carried in the wind. Second objective is to experiment with different components responsive designs using Arduino technology to achieve the best way to harvest the harmful gases from air and  process them to have fresh water to be distributed to the surrounding areas.

MAA Students:  Jose Alfredo Guerro Mora (Mexico), Katerina Inepologlou (Greece), Panagiota Banioti (Greece)

Research Studio: Emergent Territories

Studio Instructor: Willy Müller, MAA Co-Director

Student Summary:

SYMBIOSIS

The existent city order clearly separates our buildings and pedestrians from the high speed mobility systems (Highway). These act as two separate layers that require  independent space from one another, and as the city grows, this only leads to a larger miscommunication between the two layers. We confront a design phase of our city in which we must rethink space as “sharing of space” for different layers within “time”. Then comes the question of How can live information help us establish rules for the happenings of our city? and how can this be more efficient?

Symbiosis is an adaptive road and space distribution system that is flexible in the 3D and time axes. It proposes a new “changing” urban section prototype in which mobility and space flows are determined by live information of the city (vehicular traffic and people flows). This is achieved by collecting real time information through the use of sensors. In Symbiosis, the current mobility items are rethought, then replaced by prints of light and texture. These prints are visualized and change in time. The system optimizes space according to what is needed in terms of road space and people space.

MAA Students: : Siddhesh Kale (India), Laura Molina Araujo (Dominican Republic), Marziah Rajabzadeh (Iran)

Research Studio: Emergent Territories

Studio Instructor: Willy Müller, MAA Co-Director

Student Summary:

Moll de La Fusta:

1_ Begins at the Placa de Colom, where the touristic ‘La Rambla’ ends

2_ Ronda del Litoral passes through the center of the site

3_ Adjacent to Barcelona harbor

The many over ground lanes create a horizontal obstacle for pedestrian passage to the waterfront. The Ronda -even as it passes below ground level, creates vertical disconnection by forcing pedestrians to make many height changes before reaching relative proximity to the water.

A visual and psychological connection to the waterfront can only be achieved by physical proximity to the water. This, and accessibility issues have compressed all activities within 5 meters of the harbor border. Lack of organization and amenities further limit social programs in the site.

The amount of existing green space in Barcelona is a mere 10.2% or approximately 18 square meters per capita. Furthermore, this green space is not evenly divided throughout the city area (i.e. a high percentage is concentrated in Montjuic park) and as a result is often a great distance for habitants to travel to.

1_ the ronda solution

2_ the public access solution

3_solving the connectivity

The initial step to confront the site’s disuse was to identify and strengthen the points of access to the site, by infusing them with activity and an inviting atmosphere, we hoped to better integrate the city into the site. This is the first intervention; the intervention of the roads.

While the Ronda maintains it’s initial physical location within the site, it is more integrated and connected to the actuality of the waterfront. The Ronda is exposed within glass tube to create a visual connection without any sound pollution. Pedestrians enter the site adjacent to the Ronda and gradually walk above and beyond it, giving the vehicles a chance to be part of the site too.

Interactive_1

Through the interaction of water and the planes within the site we hope to better reconnect the city with the waterfront, introducing a new relationship with the sea.

Interactive_2

Through the interaction of people with the digital world which is reflected upon various intelligent surfaces upon the planes we hoped to create greater digital connectivity with other parts of Barcelona and the world.

Self_ Sufficient Ecobarrio II Term: Director Vicente Guallart, Assistant: Hemant Purohit

The main issue of the Hyperhabitat research project is to try to develop a general theory about the understanding of the structures and logics where the construction of the urbanity is based, considering urbanity as a complex and diverse ecosystem were the people is able to develop their lives in a artificial environment exchanging information between them.

The understanding of this complex reality as a system of networks that are mixed between them is the starting point for the methodology of analyse; ‘urban network structures’ are based on four elements:

Nodes > concentrate the information and specific contents

Nets > distribute the information between nodes

Environment > supports all the systems in a specific context

Protocols > organise the ingredients of the system: the information

The IaaC works beyond the conventional scales of territorial design, town planning,building or fabrication in designing a multiscale habitat.
As in the design of ecosystems, each level has its own rules of interaction and relation,and at the same time must comply with certain parameters that pertain to the systemas a whole.
The Emergent Territories group works on projects that range in scale from the territoryto the neighbourhood.
The idea of Emergent Territories is related to two issues:
On the one hand, the IaaC is interested in understanding those countries and citiesaround the world with emerging economies and cultures that, by virtue of theirregional or economic position, can contribute value to the planet as a whole. In recentyears we have studied Brazil, Croatia, Taiwan, Romania, Colombia and Tunisia, or in the near future will be studying India and the countries of North Africa, the Persian Gulf and Sub-Saharan Africa.The work done in these countries seeks to identify the particular urban and territorial values of these places in order to construct more intelligent territories anywhere in the world, moving on from the Western idea that there is a single model of city (be it European or American) to work on the basis of more complex and more open values.
The other issue related to emergent territories has to do with the creation of intelligent territories that function in a multiscalar way, in order that the relationship between natures, networks and nodes can foment the ‘emergence’ of an urban intelligence.
To this end we are interested in pursuing what we call ‘Hyperhabitat’  esearch as a process of developing a general theory of the multiscalar habitat that can be applied anywhere in the world and at any scale, as a basis for the construction of complete complex ecosystems.
This group also focuses on Barcelona as a site for ongoing urban experimentation, with a view to contributing to the discussions and refl ections in relation to the urban progress of the city.
Areas of research:
• Emergent Territories
• Hyperhabitat
• Research Trips
• Barcelona-Metapolis

Project images:Charging city,Mongolia

http://www.iaacblog.com/emergentcities/?cat=19

http://www.iaacblog.com/emergentcities/?cat=6

To reduce the footprint of the city it is important to reduce sprawl by building up instead of out, as well as reducing automobile infrastructure, by creating more dynamic systems for pedestrians and bicycles. Reducing infrastructure can also be done by creating an efficient central nucleus of public spaces that can be used by the entire community. A Hierarchy of multi dimensional spaces: conference rooms with fine arts, a public library with private cafe, gymnasiums for the local school and business as well. Endless combinations of uses to create spaces that can be used by the entire community for any need. The basic idea of mixing uses in terms of plan as well as vertically(building up) and the idea off adding spaces according to the needs at a specific moment, lead up to the our first attempt to design a building unit. This unit will start forming from a central core, where spaces of different uses will be added. This core will be the source of energy for each building (wind turbines). In order to reduce its footprint, our task will be to design the city for minimum infrastructure and energy consumption.

http://www.iaacblog.com/emergentcities/?cat=3

http://www.iaacblog.com/emergentcities/?cat=16

http://www.iaacblog.com/emergentcities/?cat=8

While I was doing it was interesting to find the consideration of Andres Perea in diverse scales, although the scales does not exactly match to ours. Overall landscape of the city and the sequence that was being proposed through out the project was very clear and well illustrated. To conserve the Korean rice field was brillient in the sense the FTA was one of the main issues in Korea last year. Many people worry that FTA would import cheap crops which will pressure the farming industry. Also, although it is not illustrated in the jpg file but the distribution of land, use of land and transportation would well fit with the concept of Korean government