The Ecopolis

Carly Kandrack
December 9, 2010

The Ecopolis is a proposal in answer to the question of climate refugee housing by Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut. His research suggests the need for inhabitable space for the millions of refugees to come with the onslaught of global warming, and the melting of the above-sea-level ice reservoirs in the Antartic and Greenland.



Callbaut goes on to suggest that every rise in degree celcius will correspond with the rise of sea level by 1 meter. This increase "would bring ground losses emerged of approximately 0.05% in Uruguay, 1% in Egypt, 6% in the Netherlands, 17.5% in Bangladesh and up to 80% approximately in the atoll Majuro in Oceania". In many countries, fertile lands will be flooded with salt water, rendering them useless to their inhabitants.


The prototype design, called the Ecopolis, Callebaut has developed are based on the structural makeup of Amazonian great lilypads, which absorb atmospheric pollution. The Ecopolis integrates various efficient methods to produce more energy than it consumes. Its biotype is recyclable, and it integrates ecology in order to provide its own food source.



Ecopolis can accomodate 50,000 refugees. The city's centre is composed of an articifical lagoon surrounded by three mountain-like marinas which act as the city centres for work, entertainment and shopping. The mountains are covered with a vegetative 'stratum' of inhabitable space with a network of pedestrian walkways.



"The goal is to create a harmonious coexistence of the couple Human / Nature and to explore new modes of living the sea by building with fluidity collective spaces in proximity, overwhelming spaces of social inclusion suitable to the meeting of all the inhabitants – denizen or foreign-born, recent or old, young or aged people." - Vincent Callebaut.


Callebaut, Vincent. "Vincent Callebaut Architecte LILYPAD ." VINCENT CALLEBAUT ARCHITECTE C.V. . http://vincent.callebaut.org/page1-img-lilypad.html (accessed December 9, 2010).

Hempcrete

A wonderful material available worldwide, Hempcrete is able to act as an excellent carbon sink, has incredible strength and an almost unbelievable lifespan. An long story cut short. Hempcrete starts off as hemp-which is not hard to grow and is a remarkable material in itself, which uses an incredible amount of carbon dioxide before it is harvested. Then it is combined with lime and water to form a brick-like material. As a brick, it calcifies over time, essentially becoming a stone and acts as a great carbon sink. In which case the wall that is made of it becomes increasingly stronger-almost as strong as stone. It also gives it an incredible life span, about 600-800 years.Yes, they have built houses using it, but the majority of which is in Europe.Too bad it's incredibly expensive for North Americans (especially in the USA).

To summarize, hemp (other than being wearable, non-toxic, and absolutely wonderful) can be made into blocks of stone which harden over time and create structural strength so it lasts very long and is incredibly environmentally friendly and can be made available anywhere in the world that can grow hemp, and has lime or a suitable substitute.


"The House Made of Hemp." Grank Banks. http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/content/2010/12/01/House-Made-Hemp (accessed December 9 2010).
"Hemp Houses Have Negative Carbon Footprint." Jake Gosselin.http://www.sustainabilityninja.com/agriculture-sustainability/hemp-houses-have-negative-carbon-footprint-32437/(accessed December 9, 2010)

Floating Island

For centuries, the Peruvian Uros people have been living on islands made out of reeds on Lake Titicaca.  In for these islands to hold together, it essential that the reeds be living.  As reeds from the bottom (4 to 8 feet down) disintegrate into the lake, more are added to the top layer of the island.

The islands were originally created as a place of refuge from the the conquering Incas in the 1500s, offering the unique tactical advantage of being able to simply drift away from the enemy. Today there are still hundreds living on these floating platforms, subsisting on fishing and trade in woven reed products. 

They even have tiny island outhouses, where reeds help absorb human waste.

Meanwhile in Baton Rouge, a company is manufacturing and selling floating islands. Floating Island Environmental Solutions is creating the islands out of recycled PET plastic bonded with marine foam (for buoyancy).

They are marketing these as a solution for levee stabilisation, shoreline protection, marsh creation, and revegetation - not for habitation (at least not by people...yet).

 

Posted by Paul Rivers 9:51pm, December 8th, 2010

Sources:

• "Fascinating Living Growing Architecture." Funzug.com. www.funzug.com/index.php/architecture/fascinating-living-growing-architecture.html (accessed December 8, 2010).
• "Floating Island Environmental Solutions - Applications." Floating Island Environmental Solutions - Welcome. http://www.floatingislandes.com/applications/ (accessed December 8, 2010).

Architecture Branching Out

Three German architects are branching out into what they call "building botany, " the process of grafting trees together into building structures.  They start with numerous individual trees connected through grafts and supported by a scaffold.  Eventually the scaffold will be removed, most of the roots will be cut off, and at that point, according to Ferdinand Ludwig, one of the architects, "the trees will finally have merged into a single organism."

 

"In our opinion trees are high-tech material, which is why plant growth is part of our vision," says Ludwig's teammate Schwertfeger. "We start them off but the tree itself continues the building process," Ludwig adds. "In architectural terms it's very risky -- but it's a positive risk."

 There are unanticipated challenges with this approach. Trees are naturally capable of forming two-dimensional structures. As Ludwig puts it, "a tree doesn't want to become a wall."

Also,Ludwig says the tree structure requires meticulous maintenance "or else everything turns back into shrubbery."

The architects are doing a series of experiments with willow saplings that have concrete weights suspended from them. Four times a day, a computer-controlled winch system uses the weights to rock the trees back and forth.  Apparently, when tree are lashed to a frame, they have no reason to develop their own strength, so the experiements are aimed at overcoming this problem.

Eventually, the architects are planning to complete a 120 square metre pavilion and concert hall in downtown Stuttgart.

 Posted by Paul Rivers, 9:09pm December 8th, 2010

Sources:

• Bethge, Philip. "New Branch of Architecture: Grow Your Own Skyscraper - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International." SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten. http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,636716,00.html (accessed December 8, 2010).
• Cavale, Jaiyant. "Botany Building: Where the Structure Grows with a Tree | Trends Updates." Trends Updates - Gadgets, Fashion, Automobile, Environment. http://trendsupdates.com/botany-building-where-the-structure-grows-with-a-tree/ (accessed December 8, 2010).
• "Organic Architecture: Living Tree Building Designs & Ideas « Dornob." Dornob | Modern Home, Interior & Furniture Designs & DIY Ideas. http://dornob.com/organic-architecture-living-tree-building-designs-ideas/ (accessed December 8, 2010).
• db, andrea. "grow your own architecture." designboom. http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/7062/grow-your-own-architecture.html (accessed December 8, 2010).

Takenaka Corporation

A corporation whose motto is to create "sustainable architecture" which meets both the demands and expectations of the client/society at large, and to exist in harmony with nature.

Some of the projects that they did include:
The 2010 Shanghai Expo Japanese Pavilion, whose theme was “Harmony of the Hearts, Harmony of the Skills,” with the concept of “architecture like a breathing organism.”It is covered in a double-layered pillow-shaped Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) film and used "ecotubes"-the protruding tubes that are visible in the picture- that allowed for natural sunlight and ventilation into the building. Along with that, it employed technology which made use of rainwater and was overall very eco-friendly.
Personally, I think the "high tech to be green" is a re-occurring theme that is seen quite a lot recently-especially in countries like Japan. However, if I were to consider the costs and energy required to manufacture something of this size, whose only intention is to show off products and ideas-and eventually torn down-is not very useful for our purpose. That being said, I (personal bias in mind) do believe that high tech is a good way to go-just, not like this.

Another project that seemed interesting was the Fukuoka PARCO.
I'll quote the exceptional summary they have given.
"This project entailed earthquake resistance strengthening and interior and exterior refurbishing of an old department store building in the Tenjin area of Fukuoka in order for it to be reused as a new commercial facility. While keeping the vestige of this historical building, a refreshing change has been made to the image. The image has been reformed by using glass to bring a feeling of transparency and uniformity to the existing volume, covered with a design of pure white aluminum panels. The light from LEDs inserted into the panel joints makes various illuminations, such as marking the time of day, or the season of the year. In addition to the earthquake resistance strengthening, such as strengthening the columns with steel sheet bracing, and the installation of steel bracing, safety measures have also been improved, such as the installation of emergency-use elevators and special evacuation stairways."

What I believe is important in this-and I think Wade and Paul have been going at it for a while now too-is that instead of making new architecture on blank ground, we should be reusing structures that are still somewhat stable and to build upon that instead-or we could use airplanes, which is, I think, a superb idea.

Another project is a student's residence for an "International College For Post Buddhist Studies."
It is based on an old samurai residence on the site of the Tokugawa Yoshinobu estate - the name Tokugawa being very important in Japanese history/culture, but that's for another time- it essentially used a similar style to the building before, and created a wonderfully green-lots of trees-campus for living.
In short, very ergonomic, incredibly beautiful, idea of harmonizing with nature and using old building as ready made structures is very interesting.

Of course, for slums, there isn't really any "ruins" that one could use as a ready made structure, and it is rather hard to incorporate high tech into a place with no infrastructure, but, I still think that it is another alternative to the "problem at large."

*To be honest, I still don't have a perfect picture of what it is we are trying to accomplish, but I suppose that just makes it more fun, right?

**Check out their website, if you want, decently cool stuff here
"Release of 'Topics of Major Works - Autumn 2010." Takenaka Corporation. http://www.takenaka.co.jp/takenaka_e/ (accessed 8 December 2010).

Side-bar: Pallet House

An architectural firm in New York, I-beam, created this prototype of a house made from shipping pallets, specifically intended for refugees and/or disaster-affected people. 

The idea is that this structure could serve as a canvas or plastic tent-frame and might eventually be transformed into a more permanent house. 

I suppose this makes sense if a huge shipment of food, supplies, etc are sent as disaster relief. Then you re-use the pallets they were shipped on. I gather that happens on an ad hoc basis today. However, you can see that you would require a lot of pallets just to build one house.

Also, one wonders if this wood is safe to live in given that is generally treated with arsenic and other toxins to keep the pests and rot out.  Still, interesting as a potential temporary solution (i.e 5-7 years, the typical life of a refugee camp, according to I-Beam). 

You can watch them building one at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z7WI2v1Mh8

Posted by Paul Rivers, 11:34 December 8th, 2010

Sources:
   Etherington, Rose. "Dezeen » Blog Archive » Pallet House by I-Beam." Dezeen architecture and design magazine . http://www.dezeen.com/2008/05/12/pallet-house-by-i-beam/#idc-cover (accessed December 8, 2010). 
   "I-BEAM DESIGN + ARCHITECTURE." I-BEAM DESIGN ARCHITECTURAL. http://www.i-beamdesign.com/projects/refugee/refugee.html (accessed December 8, 2010).

Container Living

Further to the idea of re-purposing existing structures previously discussed (airplane houses), peak oil is likely to decimate the shipping industry as well, leaving vast quantities of shipping containers available for re-use. 

Hence, container cities.  These make an enormous amount of sense for "housing." While modest in size, these are still a major improvement over the makeshift lean-to, primarily because they can be stacked vertically, allowing for greater population density around shared point-based resources like water sources. This is reminiscent of the Kowloon Walled City, but more structurally sound since they were purpose-built to be stacked. 

Interestingly, these are quite trendy. As you can see from the Container City website, quite a number of these projects have already been built and in a relatively comfortable style. 

I can see these becoming a major solution in the interim period as the growing house is prefect and cultivated.  Obviously, they will eventually wind down as they rust away.  In the event that Global shipping comes to an end, it is unlikely that more shipping containers will be constructed.

Still, one can eke out a relatively urbane existence in these.

Posted by Paul Rivers 11:10, December 8th, 2010

Sources:

• "Cargo Container House Plans Continue to Expand « Dornob." Dornob. http://dornob.com/cargo-container-house-plans-continue-to-expand/ (accessed December 8, 2010).
• "Container City™ | Home." Container City™ | Home. http://www.containercity.com/home.html (accessed December 8, 2010).