EVOLO SKYSCRAPER COMPETITION 2015 - GROW!
PROJECT BACKGROUND
Today’s big metropolis in developing countries are surrounded by so called shanty towns, slums or favelas – the uncontrollably growing suburbs accommodating thousands of people living in poverty. Most of them don’t have access to basic services, such as water, electricity, sewerage or waste disposal. There is also a high crime rate in these areas.
Some large governmental developments are wiping out the existing squatter structures, leaving thousands of people homeless – as no one cares about their fate. The great example is the Brazil 2014 World Cup – when the big investments were made, the houses were removed and people were left standing on the ruins. The number of extremely poor people in Brazil exceeds 16 million.
DESIGN CONCEPT
The idea is to create a building that grows by itself – a BIO HABITAT. The nature already has mechanisms that create similar forms in micro scale – for example fungus structures, that follow the tensions in their material, the natural fractals – these processes may be recreated in macro scale and help solve the modern construction problems. The genetic modifications that form a skyscraper plant-like structure are now possible thanks to the 21st century technology advancement. The nowadays controversial genetically improved products do not have to mean unhealthy or bad solutions – they can demonstrate the human strength and progress and become a monument of science.
The form will be a result of continuous planned growth. As the families grow, the interior spaces would enlarge in time, allowing new inhabitants to fit in and have a comfortable living space.
SELF DEVELOPMENT
The people living in shanty towns show the great will to develop their futures – there are often many improvements done to the houses as these structures are upgraded by inhabitants – people left without any external support can organize themselves and fight the unlucky conditions they were born into. The people should have the possibility to govern their fate – have employment and safety, be able to start a family and rise their children in an environment full of opportunities.
This is the moment when the architect’s role ends and the structure starts to live by itself, guided only by the active and motivated community. It is a beginning of a new architectural movement – bionism. The concept allows the people currently living on the edge of poverty to make a fresh start, build their own homes and therefore invest in their future – the employment during the whole construction process, or more likely – growth – will prove their usefulness and guarantee them their own part in the skyscraper world. The work in exchange for resources and inhabitancy will boost the small economies of these areas and therefore give the people the independence they need.
TECHNOLOGY
The ‘seeds’ would grow in a special farm, continuously watched and modified – the plant DNA must be complete and securely coded, as the structure has to be kept under human control.
The feeding of the plant would be the task to perform by the inhabitants or the plant-skyscraper could feed by itself (ex. garbage recycling and photosynthesis). The skyscraper should be CO2 sensitive and change its form according to current conditions. It could detect the amount of carbon dioxide and thereby adjust to the number of people living in it – by expanding. The inhabitants would have to maintain the structure, for example cut off the unnecessary roots and form the desired interior spaces. The basic technical installments such as elevators could be manufactured from local materials and cutoffs of the plant. The biohabitat could replicate via strings of roots that may be directed to the places where new structures will be created.