Programatic Stack - Bench in a park

Observation of existing activites reveal that the infrastructure and design elements in the park have to accomodate the expanding and contracting tendencies of programs. This ability to ’stack’ objects when not in use and distribute facilities when required is an essential trait of the park’s structure.

Already studied, Magnolia Grandiflora’s ‘optimised stack’ of branches and leaves is translated into a dimensional and parametric constraint to generate configurations of a single element - a 450 mm pipe. The idea is abstratced to apply to a single bench structure which accomodates multiple events and generates a focal point in the natural expanse of the park.

The Celtis Austrailis project

The Palm tree

sunfigther

Duality of the cypress tree became an inspiration for the project. On the one hand seemingly homogenous structure from outside, on the other hand there appears a mixture of branches fighting for space to grow inside. Within the vertical genome special limitations appears a cruel fight of branches for space, in which those that couldn’t find a way to grow- die. The tree is not only interacting with the environment, but also with itself – acting and then reacting on its previous action.
In the project the genetic information could be interpreted as a predesigned geometry and selective protein production as selective angle of each folding depending on light conditions. The interactivity would be understood as interaction with the structure itself and with the environment, being independent from human influence, just as nature doesn’t adjust any of its parameters to the human scale. The installation operates as both a complex light pattern embedding responsive lighting technologies and as an environment-sensing device.

sustainable tower

charging city, mongolia

Emergent city

multi-functional administrative city, Korea

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’s equi-poise developement policy. I just wanted to write about his project in a Korean perspective; Others could be found in discussion of the studio. You can fin more details in the full pdf file attatched.

radiator c!ty

Dual city - colombia pacific coast

Mauretiania - drifting dwelling

Suez Gulf 1 000 000 city

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.

megastructure at Jaisamler, India

Aqueduct in Baja California

Knowledge Village 2.0 (iiD)

A project which took the assumption that “no-place” is a local quality of Dubai and wondered about what sustainability means in terms of prosumers ended up as a strategy for reshaping existing ubran sprawls (no-places around the world) into sustainable, distributed networks.

efugee housing in Sudan

There are only a few instances that we are fortunate enough to have people that teach us the most difficult thing to teach: to love what we do.

The week we spent at the studio was an incredible experience, where Michel knew each of our names, each of our projects, and help us dream about architecture much more and much better.

I just added Michel Rojkind to the list of one of the most influential professors I ever had.

node tower

Cuba libre - wind and hurricanes

woven tower

he project is finally taking shape, not only conceptually but also formally….

The intention is to provide canopy covered spaces that prevent soil erosion, generate a water harvester tower that uses evaporation/condensation as a means to harvest and recycle water and provide recreation and commercial spaces around the central node (tower) and extensive field around (horizontal trellises)…

There is a need to establish a water allocation process in order to formalize existing water use rights and manage water demands around the Lake Chad drainage basin. There needs to be a policy implementation of river channel improvement works, water augmentation and promotion of conservation techniques…Sustainable agricultural practices and sustainable management of natural resources need to be encouraged within the basin

ambience project

Self Sufficient housing

digital tectonics studio _ parametric house

parametric house

buildings prototypes

box2 - anything

house - wrap

Ombu

coccolous laurifolius

pissardi plum

Robusta number 2

The Tokyo Project

The “Tokyo project” is a result of certain decisions taken in terms of self-sufficiency through three aspects: natural, social and contemporary events.
Protection from the environment, differential exposure to natural forces and differentiation of the material sources are the choices related to nature. Temporary property and a range of privacy and meeting variations are the proposals emerging from social self-sufficiency and precariousness depending on the results of the customization of the users, a leisure zone, and overlapping networks of different elements are proposed to obtain self sufficiency in terms of contemporary events.

By Chrysokona Mavrou

Plasti+City_Plastic Parametric Pavilion at Construmat_Bcn 07

Plasti+City is an installation done by students of the IAAC \\\\\\\"Digital Tectonics\\\\\\\" postgraduate program, presented at the construmat 2007 in Barcelona. It is the result of a collaborative exploration with the company LASENTIU to expand the use of Syntrewood, a 100% recycled and 100% recyclable plastic material, through the use of advanced digital design and manufacturing technologies (parametric cad-cam software + CNC fabrication equipment). Plasti+City is an adaptable architectural surface made out of 200 differenciated parts, all derived from identical standard elements.

Sao Paulo

Can we read the complexity of a metropolis like São Paulo identifying and understanding self_organized systems that work through an interactive process?
The proposal searches to explore the internal organization of an open_system – a building - trough the manipulation of self_organized systems - organized into dwelling, leisure, mobility, structure and energy units. Each system increases in complexity without being guided or managed by an outside source _ the façades are defined by several “self_sufficient” patterns that react to different needs and evolution in time.

By Abel Patacho

Workshop Statement

By means of material manipulation, deployment of rules of differentiation and the processing of digital data fields: the workshop explored several forms of physical kinetics, interactivity and connectivity through the construction of gradual systems in the form of eco-machines. This informing and controlling of abstract behavioral structures is what has been understood as a principle of self-sufficiency in relation to dynamic environments. Framed operations in which a specific natural phenomenon is observed an integrated into artificial cycles.

Mauritania: Multicity

A diagrammatic scheme that refers and responds to the problematic - constructing a self sufficient city. A diagrammatic system of 1000 cities , a structure based on self organized systems. A continuously transforming and evolving diagrammatic system that has 1000 potential, possible answers-results. The final result is an interpretation based on the different environmental, economical, social inputs and its structure derives from changing parameters and forces. An economical system based on different economical unit systems working indipendently based on different economical sources. An energetic enviromental system based on renewable energy and hydrogen. Self sufficient units each one with its own energy source combined with smaller systems of energy in the interior. A multiethnic system of people with different cultures interchanging experiences. Combined unities of different cultures into one totality that at the same tinme respects the identity of each unit.

Team: Frosso Charalambous, Chiara Farinea, Carmen Ferrando Ortells, Panagiota Piperidou, Anna Szloser

Directed by Vicente Guallart

Mauritania: Estrella

The project of Estrella is founded on a research that follow two different paths:
_on one side we developed a model of city in which all the urban parameter derives from the data about an optimized energy consumption. A parametric model of a selfsufficient city.
_on the other side we developed an event city. A city that will be developed using the potential that the event can bring in the city, in terms of energy, infrastructure, services. Estrella is a city divided in units in which the quantity of energy production and the area is fixed. The energy is produced inside the unit and partially integrated with the built and open space. Each unit can have a different proportion between the quantity of people, the average level of built space, the percentage of open space and residual space.
The usage of the residual space gives the identity to each unit.

Team: Berardo Matalucci, Chrysokona Mavrou, Vasileios Ntovros, Fabiano Spano

Directed by Vicente Guallart

Mauritania: Dune City

An analysis of the existing dune patterns of the site, occurred due to the effects of the wind, showed linear dunes, located in three different angles and scales. The three angle patterns were translated to three types of densities, connected to the working activities, urban facilities and residential ,each one refering to each separate system of local and tourist people.The type and the intensity of the program activities were defined according to the social and economic developping strategy of the city, while their position on site was based on deformation tools, depending on the effects of the coast line, the port, the bus terminal and the airpot in the case of the locals\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' system, and of the coastline in the case of the tourists.Existing dune structures were analyzed in the aspect of their physical appearance, their wind behaviour and their tension of merging and creating complex types, in order to give to this natural element programmatic and density parameters.The hybrid units were chosen in the points of high density of activities and consist of a \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"hybrid tower\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"(a vertical transformation of the dune geometry) , an infrastructure dune applying the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"foggara system\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" for the production of water and an accumulation of trees. These units are also the nodes of water(foggara system), waste (integrated circle of organic waste) and energy (wind mills) infrastructure.

Team: Theodora Christoforidou, Karlo De Soto, Fani Natou, Fotios Vasilakis

Directed by Vicente Guallart

Barcelona: Wat-ergy

How to produce energy from the sea? Starting from the rigid grid of Barcelona we understood the area of the project and the industrial area inside. By the opposite part we found the smoothed geometry of the biggest green area in Barcelona, Montjuic. It is characterized by a more natural landscape movement. In order to plan the housing for 10.000 people, the idea was to join the green area of Montjuic with the gray industrial area of the Port of Barcelona. Analysing self sufficiency in nature, one of the most important phenomena is the deciduousness in trees. The new natural grid will be able to receive as many houses as we want and the growth of the housing system is like the growth of leaves in the branches. When we don\\\'t need houses we move them away leaving a green space, but when we need more houses we can fill the empty spaces in the new grid. Continuing the understanding of how a tree lives and produces energy, we introduced a nano-technological element, in order to bring the water from the sea, to desalinate it and than to produce energy. This microscopic element is called \\\"carbon nano-tube\\\". Carbon nano-tubes , an allotrope of carbon, are members of the fullerene structural family. The super smooth inside of the nano-tubes allow liquids and gases to rapidly flow through, while the tiny pore size can block larger molecules like minerals.

Team: Gabriella Castellanos, Enrico Crobu, Ki hoon Nam, Alfonso Pezzi

Directed by Willy Müller

Barcelona: Chrono_sufficiency

Chrono_sufficiency is an attempt to expand the field for the discussion in terms of sufficiency and sustainability. Time is a very important factor that is constantly shaping our life. The built environment is usually thought as something that should last forever. But what about making structures that can be ungraded periodically? What about thinking not just in the building process but also in the unbuilding and in the way these structures can be disposed or recycled when they become obsolete?Translating a concept like chrono_sufficiency into a physical matter, or even further, into a project more than a challenge. To recognize the limits of the theme is also to understand the constant mobility of our lifes framed by architecture that acts as the main stage. Chrono_sufficiency is a wider argument to conceptually conduct a projectual strategy. The possibilities identify and define different fluxes that are translated into different velocities. Establish intelligent and efficient connections inside the project and with the city; proposing a dialogue through mobility.

Team: Cristobal Bernal, Guillermo I.Lopez, Gabriel Ochoa, Abel Patacho

Directed by Willy Müller

Barcelona: Interchange City

This is an observation of several cycles that happen in the city. This cycles are generated by the connection of the metro and by the fact that young people live far away from the center of the city.Plaza Catalunya is a center point in the city from where, the different points that connect the rest of the city, appear. The routes of mobility are open like fun.In the project there has been an effort to translate this movement of Plaza Catalunya creating a main plaza where this movement can generate a lot of dynamism in the neighbourhood, spread the different activities and create an interchange with living, leisure, commerce, education and transportation. How to Get to the Project Area?How to Move in the Project Area? One can access the Project Area by public transportation; metro, bus, and “teleferic”; and by private transportation; meaning cars and bicycles. There is only one main route for motor vehicles, that permits a reasonable walking distance in all the area of the project. Since young people use more public transportation and bicycles for means of mobility and since Barcelona has a problem with CO2 emission levels, our project promote the usage of bikes and ¨pure¨ public transportation. It also incorporates more green areas to help balance the CO2 cycle.

Team: Lilieth Aparicio, Diego Camargo, Natalia Miranda, Honghao Zhao

Directed by Willy Müller

Barcelona: Reef City

A new concept of neighborhood in where the young creative are the protagonists. Is a city to fulfill the needs and desires of the young creative. The city is composed basically by neighborhoods that define one creative person. These neighborhoods are related one another by the public space that connects them. The complete city is formed by these different neighborhoods of different creative linked by the public space. In the port of Barcelona is placed this city with the motive to integrate the nature of Montjuic mountain to the sea, and at the same time opening this view of the city to other cities. Breaking a little bit with the industrial history that this port has.

Team: Luz Escobar, Massiel Santos, Walee Phiriyaphongsak

Directed by Willy Müller

Stratified Aquascapes

The Aquascape machine is a system created to obtain water filtration through a process of sedimentation. It is developed through the study and definition of different rules of connectivity between systems of spheres organized in layers. The machine can have different behaviors through size variation of the spheres according to differentiated gradients.
The population of spheres is treated like cavities and built up through a layering system of cardboard sheets in order to explore the prototype’s physical behavior of absorption, channeling and water storing.

Team: Chiara Farinea, Giota Piperidou, Abel Patacho, Frosso Charalambous Dora Christoforidou,
Fani Natou

The Weave

Expansion & Contraction
A mesh type structure or \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"weave\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" responds to internal and external activator \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"chambers”, which enables it to expand and contract. These movements were later constrained by a series of fixed and flexible joints, which enabled a more specific observation of the structure’s behavior.
Depending on the placement of these “chambers” and also on some constraints rings that were applied either on the extremes or on the middle area, there were a series of variations and behaviors that could be appreciated and were mapped for the further development of the structure.

Team: Gabriella Castellanos, Chrysokona Mavrou, Karlo De Soto, Fotis Vasilakis, Natlia Miranda, Cristobal Bernal.

Eco-breath

The project starting point considers the symbiotic dynamics of the lichens, based on two vital processes of most of the ecosystems: photosynthesis and fermentation.
The structural and geometrical configuration has been generated to allow daily blooming, provoked by the CO2 production, oxygen absorption and sunlight management. According to the symbiotic principle two material fields are proposed: the down one dedicated to the fermentation process and related to the decomposition of plants organic waste, and the upper one, dedicated to photosynthesis and plant growing.
The test of the machine proliferation in a territorial scale is based on the definition of gradients that consider the different quantities of organic waste production, of CO2 production and O2 absorption between the urban areas and the agricultural fields.

Team: Berardo Matalucci, Fabiano Spano, Lilieth Apancio, Walle Phiriyaphongsak, Vasileios Ntovros.

Neuron Field

Different resolutions of maps gradients get translated into variations of density through the proliferation of a given family of objects in a field. The parameters are set to transform these objects creating an extensive catalog of elements with the aims of altering their own dynamics of interaction and to help differentiating the changes in density. The final result is an abstraction of these densities that generated a pattern-making machine, which then made evident the difference in dynamics of the pieces. Connectivity emerges as a primary issue of investigation.

Team: Diego Camargo, Alfonso Pezzi, Enrico Crobu Honghao Zhao, Carmen Ferrando, Guillermo Ivan

Eco-Wings

The Eco-wings are kinetic structures arranged as modular systems. The composition is based on the addition of single pieces that are transformed into combined objects creating a sequential path. The sequence simulates the movement of the waves and the wing. These objects create choreography by producing a system of opening and closing among the structure. These structures are constantly changing and alternating their position along a semicircular path between 0 and 180 degrees.

Team: Assad Rassel, Massiel Santos, Luz Escobar, Gabriel Ochoa.

Vertical Building @ Rome

The purpose of this project in Rome is to find possible solutions for some of the problems that affect the city nowadys. In order to answer to the needs of the new social classes (couples, workers, singles... ) and to solve the problem of the marginality of the partecipation of the city council in term of quality and quantity of housing, the vertical building has to be able to adapt itself to the different necessity and it has to be easily transformed. The building grows, starting from the earliest core to the second second surface which is also the connection point between the first building and the landscape. This second adaptive skin-facade changes its aspect when the internal condition and external condition change. It is at the same time an internal \"habitat\" and an external environment. An inflatable surface define its different light permeability. It is hold by a triangulated structure made up of carbon fiber. Carbon fiber are 17 time more sustainable because one quarter of the steel has five times the strenght of steel.
By Alfonso Pezzi

Jeddah Building

Jeddah is a city of Saudi Arabia situated by the side of red sea coast; it is one of the oldest cities of the world. It has one of the most important pilgrimages of Muslim religion. So designing a self sufficient vertical building is concentrating on some basic principle of nature as well as concern about religious and culture in Jeddah. The panel consist the ideas concept and basic technologies how to made the building self sufficient.

By Asaduzzaman Rassel

Berlin Luft

The project starts with the analysis of some relevant phenomena that take place in Berlin: the abandonment and reuse of old objects and furniture through the market, covers the economical self-sufficient aspect, the occupation of empty space in the building and the creation of new activities in them , covers the social aspect, and the rapid climate changes, the environmental one. Four floors for the market, ten empty floors for activities and six empty floors for living spaces compose the functional program of the building. The intention is that people can occupy these empty spaces in a temporary way, and organize their space and activities with the objects that they find in the market. The energetic building program is composed by an external captation system, created by tubes of silicon nets and transparent solar panels, a floor distribution and H2 storage system for the energy , a central part with installations and vertical water distribution and a system of hanging tents to divide the space in a quick time.

By Chiara Farinea

Vertical Refugee Camp in Amman

The bulding is based at a need for fast, easyly assembled, and low cost housing
which is directed towards refugees. The building grows at the addition of rooms which structure is based on a enlarged rectangle bicupula (jhonson solid). This composition is made so that the structure can be made so that the length of each vertice is the same and the distance optimised for the implementation of diferent materials.

By Cristobal Bernal

Villa Miseria Buenos Aires

Cuccagna 1.0

The idea of self-sufficiency is explored trough a self fabrication process. All the building can be constructed by the future inhabitants. The constructive system, constituted of a steel triangulated structure allows the use of very few tools and of few people. The straw bale construction for the walls and the use of fiberglass and resins for the floors allows to have high structural and thermodynamic performances in a completely handmade process.
The building works as a wind concentrator, to improve the production of energy through vertical axis windmills. The 3 main structural towers have different junction points, that allows different ways of circulation inside the building.
The building can be reinforced and can grow according to the necessities of its inhabitants.

By Fabiano Spano

Amsterdam

A floating structure that implicates three systems of social involment. Amsterdam inhabitments, tourists and events that are recessing or co-exist according to an annual calendar, defining a dynamic social identity of the building. 01 Greenhouses_ rented by local people for cultivation. 02 Camping_ temorary dwellings (tents, boat houses) placed in a network hanged by vertical elements (antenas), using collective spaces (kitchens, wc, device) that are accumulated vertically (antennas) for energy economy reasons. 03 Festivals_ temporary spaces accumulated in three antenas, hosting events according to the local festival calendar (sailing exposition, aquarium, media laboratories). Events that iimplicate water flows and pumping systems in the vertical axis. The events\\\' system concetrates the energy infrastructure system that consists of windmills, hydroelectric generators and hydrogen batteries, providing with energy the camping area and the greenhouses. The building functions as a battery charging during the winter months, when there are no events, and consumping it during summer. The transparency of the structure allows the building to act as a real time statistic machine that declares social data.
By Fanni Natou

Santorini Island

Santorini is an island made from the erection of a volcano. All the land is like a museum of geology. In this project we studied two different qualities of space. The one is the inside, the dark and humid space, full of history and traces. The other one the outside, is the luminous and light space, full of possibilities. Thus we create a “tower” on the outside. A Tower based on new technologies, providing energy and water in a self sufficient manner. In the inside we excavated a space, an empty space that works as an open museum. These two spaces are connected to each other, the one is like a machine that provides power and the other is like a system that can not function without this power.

By Theodora Christoforidou

Lagos

The city of Lagos faces a very fast growth. One thing that is interesting in Lagos is the “resistance” that it makes on the western type developments. It looks that Lagos absorbs every at¬tempt that is made base on the western type development, and makes it it’s owns. Based on this observation, the first thing that we de¬cide to do was to provide to the people of Lagos the required infrastructure for living and working, and give them the freedom to build according to their needs. In order to do that we studied the turtle system and we try to develop a script tha generates a dynamic system based on the enviroment of lagos and that it can be adaptive to diferent programs.

By Fotis Vasilakis

L.A. Educational Reformatory

Social Sustainability. This building aims to rehabilitate people between the ages of 18-21, who have committed minor crimes and misdemeanors by creating activities that can use the productive aspect of their time for correction and rehabilitation. Economical Sustainability. This building is a productive industrial farm. It is based on the concepts of permaculture and the generation of micro systems that allow for optimum production and quality. Environmental Sustainability. The vertical farm concepts\\\' intention is to meet the demands of today\\\'s population growth v.s. the amount of farmland available (there is not enough land to farm). It is designed to be a Zero Emission building, and as a matter of fact its energetic revenues should result creating a continuous surplus that can then be sold to the grid.

By Gabriel Ochoa

Moscow

As the Soviet Union fell apart in Moscow many of its projects were put on hold, and some cancelled altogether. For the first time, there was no longer any control over what theme or how high a building should be. Looking for a way to break with the closed and repressive building scene of the soviet Moscow , to fragmentize it, the Communal House for Textile Institute students was chosen for that purpose. The building has a 200 meter-long eight-floor block with 1000 6 m2 cabins, which was the specific area where the self-sufficient definitions and decisions were applied. These decisions led to a social integrated and environmentally responsive layer or “skinâ€￾, where events, processes, interchange takes place.

By Gabriella Castellanos

Bagdad Project

In an average western context, things usually seem to be about accumulation, improvement and supposedly progress. The question for this project was to think how the opposite could be dealt in a war zone. The case study was Baghdad. The building tries to incorporate different microelements to negotiate with the context. It’s made up of a basic structure which can accommodate improvements but also survive with the minimum.

By Guillermo Iván

Dubai Self Sufficiency

This design is for the future. Now we almost could foresee our future about energy will be use the clean energy to continue our life. For this project, I would like choose the thermo-nuclear energy that is a kind of clean energy to develop my project. Though this kind of energy is not perfect now, we believe it will be the main kind of life energy in the future. It should build near the sea, and it can combine with the hydrogen energy another clean energy to beautify our life. As we know Dubai is a city between the sea and the desert, and it is rich. It has the good condition to anticipate the thermo-nuclear energy. Now we suppose it’s the future, and the Dubai has begun to use the thermo-nuclear energy and the hydrogen energy.

By Zhao Honghao

El Cairo

The city of Cairo is the main focal point in all Egypt, thus migration from rural areas of the northen and southern part of the country is expected and is overwhelming. This factor, plus lack of regulation in many aspects brings to the city various dilemmas: demand for housing, high air and water pollution, lack of public areas and creating satellite cities. These factors will be taken into account into the design process of this building. In no way iti is implied that this project will resolve all of this issues, but it will incorporate them in such a way that they are reflected and manipulated in order to create a sustainable building in a economic, social and environmental way. With a programmatic redistribution of dwelling areas mixed with agriculture crops and public spaces, the functionality of the building will provide descent housing for the high demographic of migrants and permanent families, a chance to produce income and consumption products from the crop areas and open space for public use.

By Karlo Alejandro De Soto Molina

NYC Tower

This vertical building was designed in New York City. Specific elements that characterized the city were used, like the big pollution in the city, CO2, the trajectory of the wind, the distribution of the 5 boroughs in the city, the supply of the water and the city as a melting pot. Respecting to the CO2 I used tidal coated with titanium dioxide a pollution-fighting technology activated by day light and an electrostatic system to attract the dust in the air. The water in the building has 3 different ways of recollection by the main supplier of the city, by the rain, and absorbing water of the sea. The floors of the building are setting in a way that allow the entirely ventilation of it. To represent the melting pot, I create a big park in the bottom of the building that can be use by the residence and the city, and the building has 2 parks distributed in the middle of it to allow the interaction between the neighbours.

By Lilieth Aparicio

Vertical Building Paris

The concept to develop this building consisted of analysing an aglomeration of arguments that explains the actual situation of the city of Paris. Paris is now a city that is sailing a beautiful image while in reality have critical problems in society.The strongest one is the social debate betwen the politics ideology trying to answer the necesities of the society. That is why this project tries to compare the two ideologies in a dinamic skin with movement systems, of which the housing units can be adapted by the user depending on their needs. The users can experiment diferents functions and conditions.

By Luz Escobar Michel

Beijing

Beijing is the cultural capital of China. It consist of a rich history that it is being removed from the residential area of the city. Families have been reduced, and the extended family has become a myth. So the project focuses on the social aspects of Beijing; creating 3 scenarios of families, and mixing each scenario with the amount of space needed and a specific skin typology. By doing so, it makes a building with continuous growth and morphology, that adapts to the different living conditions of the emergent families.

By Natalia Enid Miranda Morales

Cape Town

A combination of micro-systems, in a structure, giving it the character of a building…….or not. A public student residence, in a city with a 24 year old medium age, 3 universities………but no public student accommodation for the poor. An infrastructure without walls and using reflections to deal with the high crime rate……psychology in action. Sun collectors, water collectors that function in a different way above or under the ground……...the positive and negative. The functions that emerge from the different microenvironments……..no predetermined use of space. A self-sufficient building(?) situated on the limit…….

By Panagiota Piperidou

[ gruascape ] under construction…

Construction boom and floating population are characteristic elements of Shanghai city. The “gruascape” propose a flexible, sustainable and efficient system that take advance all the spaces under construction. The contemporary nomads can find new conditions of habitat and can enrich the previous “vague” places with new functions.

By Ntovros Vasileios

Snowman_ helsinky_self-sufficient building system

The project is based, by the research concepts of the sites, in developing an economical, social and environmental system that could generate a new formula in thinking about the sustainability. The microelements define the basical strategies. These are the environments (water-land, ice-land, ground-land, forest-land…), the saunas (that provides the heat system of the building and define influence areas), and the little fishes (camping tents, self-organized and distributed around the saunas). The contacts are the structure, and the communication is based in holding objects. Moreover, the saunas protect the little fishes when these are in hibernation phase, but when the fishes become adults they are self-sufficient protected.
It’s a growing system in interaction with the environment.

By Carmen Ferrando Ortells

Red Sydney

The city of Sydney due to the global warming is suffering from water shortage. In order to provide water to the citizens the proposal of the new self sufficient building for the city consist of a system for catching water through rain fall and reserved it. The building acts as a mechanism that makes the water flow through all the space units providing each space with water for different uses such as water for drinking, water for domestic use, water to produce electricity, water for irrigation and for recycling process.

Plasti+City_Plastic

Plasti+City_Parametric

Plasti+City_Pavilion

AQVA habitat

The water habitat should be understood as a larger strategy defined by a double structured “machine” – under water and upper – are part of the same system, constantly negotiating with the environment – with different scales – and promoting an intensive interaction between them trough the water dynamics cycle. A component is designed to perform both as a water purification system and a space generator able to adjust, modify and characterize an environment. This component is multiplied in its several combinations either technical either space generator, creating a field with different degrees of concentration and porosity, defining a neighborhood. The domesticy of the neighborhood is recognized trough the strong negotiation promoted in the intermediate spaces and the rotation of the membranes that react to that social dynamic interaction. The neighborhood is also understood as a ground of energetic efficiency where sufficiency is recognized as a plural strategy towards a global benefit.

By Abel Patacho, Theodora Christoforidou

Adaptive microclimates

Adaptive microclimates is a prototype that through a caving system creates different microclimates. Through a gradient of different size of caves, controls the temperature according to the external inputs. The final project is situated at the delta d’ebre at the isla de buda and as a landscape manipulates the rising of the water level due to the tides. The bigger cavities with fewer connections are at the sea side controlling the waves and stabilising the coastline, and the smaller ones with more connections are at the side of the lagoon manipulating the water circulation for cultivations. The program emerges from the different situations and microclimates. The landscape systems extrudes at 3 point responding to the three different site-zones of the site, in order to accept habitable spaces. At the lagoon coast the main activity that emerges is the cultivation of algas, at the dry sand land the salt drying, and at the sea coast emerge fishing activities. Thus the prototype system adapts each time to the different environmental conditions and the program and living activities emerge and adapt to the different microclimates.

By Chiara Farinea, Froso Charamboulous, Panagiota Piperidou

Neuron production field (El Perello, Barcelona)

The topography of an hilly region near El Perello town (Catalunya, Spain) and its climate (in terms of sun and wind) become in principal the departing point in the creation of a clustering prototype with the capability to adjust to these different conditions.
The clusters are the grouping of living environments organized around working environments. Since one of the main economic engines of the area is the production of bee honey and fruity-colture, the introduction of bee farming as a programmatic element becomes the organizing factor and the sustaining element for the community. Bees are capable of very quickly start a colony just by the relocation of one queen. In the same way, the community can expand and generate new clusters.

By Alfonso Pezzi, Diego Camargo

Neo Parasite

Generated as an eco machine from the natural logarithmic curvature of Nautilus (under water sea creature) and in further development algorithmic rules were applied to this machine prototype to generate the final selfsufficient housing prototype.
At the chosen site Vinaroz where this Prototype acts as a socio cultural as well as an economically sustainable livable space. This housing prototype is connected with the sea shore where the beach acts as a buffer space for the housing and the urban space.
After studying the site condition it was found that the necessity of this site which can be combined with the housing prototype to make it self sufficient. The data and findings lead us to design a livable space that can work all the year as an economically viable socio cultural space.

By Anna Szloser, Asaduzzaman Rassel

EcoTectonic Village

The starting point of the project is the consideration of the symbiotic dynamics of the lichens, that is based on two processes that are common to most of the ecosystems: photosynthesis and fermentation. The element of the symbiotic system in the case of our housing system are human and plants.
The house unit is divided, according to the symbiotic principle, in two fields: the down one dedicated to the fermentation process, and related to the decomposition of organic waste of plants, digestion of waste and production of biogas, and the upper one, dedicated to photosyntesis, plant growing, water collection and storage.

By Fabiano Spano, Berardo Matalucci

Expandable prototype

Conjugating living and working, this housing-research prototype starts with the minimum occupation of land space, and expands when in need of more space to adapt itself to the quantity of users. It is configured with a combination of fixed modules, expandable ones, and a series of columns that mold themselves to capture sunlight. All covered with a continuous skin that helps to merge the prototype into its surrounding landscape.

By Karlo de Soto M., Chrysokona Mavrou, Gabriella Castellanos