INTER-FABRICATED SCALES (REDUX)

Location: Pugh Hall, University of Florida - Gainesville Date: 18 April, 2011 Time: 6:15pm - 8:15pm

Panelists: Neil Leach, Wendy W Fok, Stephen Belton, Lee-Su Huang * Panel Discussion will follow the Keynote Lecture by Professor Neil Leach

Water is the lifeblood of sustainable habitation, and no more so is it crucial than in desert societies. One of this year’s winners of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture is not a building complex, but remarkably, an entire ecosystem. Located in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, is the Wadi Hanifa watershed, a 4,000 square kilometer drainage that has become key to the capital’s environmental sustainability. After many years of neglect, a long term reclamation plan was put underway, and is now being recognized worldwide for its size and aesthetic. The safe use of the river was one of the most visually compelling design features, but it was water reclamation, habitat restoration and industrial clean up throughout the river basin that really exemplifies how profound the project’s scope is. 

Years of laissez-faire development led to damaging floods, mounds of construction waste and polluted water in the basin which serves a burgeoning population that grows increasingly dependent the source. The plan, a joint venture between Moriyama & Teshima Planners Limited and Buro Happold was to turn the basin into a thriving natural reserve that not only would restore wildlife, but serve to provide benefits for the community. Water quality was paramount in the restoration for both the water upstream and for the city’s wastewater which is intended to be stored and reused. To accomplish this 1.25 million cubic meters of construction debris were removed, and the haphazard roads and power lines were reorganized to reduce surface impact. Side water inlets have been reclaimed or added to aid in flood control and habitation.

Situated adjacent to the city, the basin is a major local and tourist attraction thus recreational facilities were combined with habitat enhancement and water quality infrastructure. Natural stone weirs were installed to create a habitat for micro-organisms as well as to increase oxygen levels to reduce chloroform bacteria. The large bio-remediation facility is a one of a kind design which recreates a complex habitat, in turn treating the city and river water naturally. Downstream large Periphyton Benthic Substrate Devices (APBS) have been installed, which have given way to an underwater habitat.

Courtesy of Yushang Zhang, Rajiv Sewtahal, Riemer Postma & Qianqian Cai

Yushang Zhang, Rajiv Sewtahal, Riemer Postma and Qianqian Cai (with studio tutorAlexander Sverdlo) shared with us their project, “Vertical Village: A Sustainable Way of Village-style Living”, which was awarded the first prize in the d3 Housing Tomorrow 2011 Competition. The competition called for transformative solutions that advanced sustainable thought, building performance, and social interaction through the study of intrinsic environmental geometries, social behaviors, urban implications, and programmatic flows.

The d3 Housing Tomorrow competition assumes that architecture does not simply form, but rather perform various functions beyond those conventionally associated with residential buildings. More images and architects’ description after the break. 

Courtesy of Yushang Zhang, Rajiv Sewtahal, Riemer Postma & Qianqian Cai

What we strive to explore in this medium‐density housing project is a new way to obtain the joy of village living without occupying as much land resources as traditional villages do.

A traditional village provides its habitants with various plots to build their unique house which shapes or reflects different lifestyles. However, a village occupies too many land resources which should belong to nature. A high-rise residence provides efficiency and capacity, but personal domains lose the uniqueness they should have. Therefore, we came up with the idea of the “3D plot” to provide a third choice called  “Vertical Village”.

 based on the 3D Voronoi algorithmic system, which can translate the relation of points into interfaces to divide a certain volume into individual cells. If every cell is owned by one family, by changing the positions of points, we can create various 3D individual domains.

 A special rule controlling the generation of points is that every point should be relatively orthogonal to its nearest point, so that every cell will have its largest surface being perpendicular or parallel to the horizon. Some activities, like cooking or studying, can rely on those orthogonal surfaces, while others, like gardening or having a party, can happen in those irregular parts. Therefore, both practical and dramatic spaces have been defined by this system.

Like the embryo living in its egg, each family can decide where and how to put their house inside their 3D plot. A series of cells are designed as circulation and public facilities to provide habitants with conveniences and places to have collective activities.

Prefabrication of the components for this apartment complex designed for Denver, Colorado, would hasten construction times and ideally reduce overall cost. Weave Housing, designed by Meridian 105 Architecture, is a proposal for a prefab, urban housing complex that relies on lightweight insulated concrete and high performance glazing.

The urban apartment complex would feature a mixture of different sized apartments. Some apartments are one unit wide, others are two across or two vertically and even larger units are two across and two vertically. Inspired by a child’s weaving loom, the facade features various textures, deep overhangs, and pockets, which add to the overall passive design strategy. Each apartment is narrow in width and long in length allowing for more daylighting and ventilation. The complex would also feature retail space on the ground floor and resident amenities, like a rooftop pool.

Lightweight and insulated concrete slabs reduce overall building weight and foundation requirements as well as provide extra insulation. Windows would be argon filled, with low-e coatings and have shading fritted patterns. Composite polymer components would be prefabricated off-site and then transported to the apartment complex and hoisted into place. Prefabrication would facilitate greater precision and reduces overall construction time.

+ Meridian 105 Architecture

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