Heatherwick Studio was commissioned to design an apartment building in the historic Newton district of Singapore. Inspired by the vision of a ‘city in a garden’ imagined by Lee Kuan Yew fifty years ago, and by the lush tropical setting of the area, the studio’s design is a radical departure from the glass and steel tower typology. The studio set out to craft homes within a garden that also harnessed all the benefits of apartment living; a place where residents would feel connected to the city’s tree-lined streets whilst enjoying views, light and privacy.
By pulling apart the square block of a conventional residential tower and moving the services to the perimeter, each apartment has a large central living space, surrounded by smaller individual rooms and wide shell-like balconies. The apartments are lifted 27 metres above an intensely planted ground-level tropical garden. The greenery from the garden is threaded upwards and around the building through a series of planted chandeliers which grow as they rise up the building’s dramatic 18 metre high lobby, to become generous private planted outdoor spaces.
The balconies are alternated to create double-height outside spaces filled with planting from more than twenty species of flora. As well as surrounding each apartment with tranquil and calming greenery and natural shading from the Singaporean sun, the plants will grow to cascade down the building, softening its appearance.
The building represents a unique way of living in the city, with its combination of evocative natural materials, textures and crafted details and its celebration of the area’s natural landscape. Over time, the building is designed to mature, as the lush planting grows, like a sapling that has taken root beneath the streets, pulling the landscape of Singapore up into the sky.
Located in the heart of Hong Kong’s central business district, the 36-storey Murray Road project for Henderson Land replaces a multi-storey car park to create an urban oasis adjacent to Chater Garden within a short walking distance to both Central and Admiralty MTR metro stations.
With its base elevated above the ground to shelter courtyards and gardens cultivated with trees and plants in the centre of one of the world’s busiest cities, the design creates new civic plazas that are enveloped by nature.
Echoing the organic forms of the natural world; the redevelopment connects with the adjacent public gardens and parks. These tranquil outdoor areas flow into the generous communal spaces of the interior; the craftsmanship and precision of the curved glass façade enhancing this seamless connectivity between the building’s interiors and the surrounding gardens and city beyond.
The design reinterprets the structural forms and layering of a Bauhinia bud about to blossom. Known as the Hong Kong orchid tree, the Bauhinia x blakeana was first propagated in the city’s botanic gardens above the Murray Road site and its flowering bud features on Hong Kong’s
Working with the Henderson Land and Arup’s Building Sustainability Team, the design has achieved LEED Platinum and WELL Platinum pre-certification together with the highest 3-Star rating of China’s Green Building Rating Program. The design, procurement and construction targets full certification at occupancy.
The building’s smart management system creates a contactless pathway for all occupants from the street to their workstation that eliminates direct contact with communal surfaces and includes AI-assisted lift controls. Using a mobile phone, contactless smart card or biometric recognition, occupants can enter the building and pass security, call lifts to their office floor and access other zones such as lounge areas and washrooms.
Located on the refuge floor, the Sky Garden is an outdoor recreational space with running track and an aquaponics planting network that acts as an effective biological air-purifying filter by consuming contaminants. Designed to withstand the region’s powerful summer typhoons, the façade is comprised of 4-ply, double-laminated, double-curved insulated glass units – the first of their kind in Hong Kong – to effectively insulate the building and reduce its cooling load as well as build resilience.
Hybrid ventilation is controlled by the building’s automated management system and enables all office levels to be naturally ventilated. This natural ventilation can be supplemented when required with mechanical dehumidification and filtration to further enhance the indoor environment and air quality.
The building’s air quality monitoring system will detect the degree of occupancy in any interior and automatically adjust indoor air temperature, humidity and fresh air volume to meet demand. These smart systems learn to accurately predict daily occupancy trends to optimise energy demand, ensuring increased efficiencies with lower energy consumption. A top-down construction method is employed to accelerate the redevelopment programme on-site by implementing deep basement and above-ground construction at the same time.
With construction works beginning last year and its procurement targeting embodied carbon reductions as well as the use of recycled materials, 2 Murray Road looks to the future with the integration of advanced design, construction and operational technologies.
BIG, HIJJAS AND RAMBOLL SELECTED AS WINNER OF PENANG STATE GOVERNMENT’S COMPETITION TO DESIGN PENANG SOUTH ISLANDS MASTERPLAN
BIG, Hijjas and Ramboll propose a vision for a new sustainable destination where cultural, ecological and economic growth is secured and where people and nature co-exist in one of the most biodiverse places on the planet at the southern shore of Penang Island: BiodiverCity.
Penang State Government initiated an international design competition in January 2020 to transform Penang South Islands into a sustainable, global destination, providing Penangites with approximately 4.6km of public beaches, 600 acres of parks and a 25km waterfront. BIG, Hijjas and Ramboll’s masterplan proposal – BiodiverCity – supports the Penang2030 vision with a clear focus on livability, on stimulating a socially and economically inclusive development, and on environmentally sustainability for future generations.
Penang’s vast biodiversity spans various topographies and protected environments which, in recent years, have seen its coastal zones and natural habitats disrupted by urban developments. In contrast, BiodiverCity is conceived as an Urban Mosaic of three diverse islands, and a set of urban design guidelines for mixing programs, addressing pedestrian and mobility networks, building sustainably and harvesting resources. The three islands bring together mixed-use districts of 15,000 to 18,000 residents across 50 to 500 acres, and a continuous 50 to 100m buffer around each district, establishing habitat connectivity and supporting edge ecologies in reserves, parks, corridors and urban plazas.
BiodiverCity will have an integrated system of localized water resources, renewable energy and waste management, tied altogether in a human-made ecosystem. Rather than design a city for cars, we designed BiodiverCity for waterways, rail and different kinds of personal mobility, forming a multi-modal environment of movement. The resultant urban landscape will be a celebration of Penang’s position as a truly global crossroads of the world – economically, ecologically and socially.” Bjarke Ingels, Founder and Creative Director, BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group.
The Channels, BiodiverCity’s first island, is constructed in three complementary phases: in Phase 1, Active Destinations include a wave pool and technology park; in Phase 2, a Civic Heart establishes governance and research institutions in the area; and in Phase 3, a Cultural Coast builds upon the heritage and vibrant creative energy of Penang’s George Town to create a regional and international draw. As the heart of the district, the Channels’ 500-acre digital park includes spaces for research, development and local business opportunities. Malaysia’s newest public destination will be the future home for conferences, education centers and a family-oriented park where locals and guests can explore the world of technology, robotics and virtual reality.
“At the south-end of Penang Island, BiodiverCity’s ecologically diverse landscape promotes co-existence with natural elements while giving ground for communal experiences rooted within Malaysian heritage. A network of biologically rich islands is scaled and programmed to accommodate diversity in social experiences for Penangites and newly established habitats for native plant and animal species.”Daniel Sundlin, Partner, BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group.
The Mangroves, BiodiverCity’s second and central island dedicated to businesses, is organized around a network of sheltered urban wetlands, creating suitable environments for its namesake Mangrove forests—an important natural infrastructure that doubles as effective powerhouses for sequestering more than four times as much carbon as a typical forest.
“Penang’s vibrant multicultural society and biodiverse ecosystem plays a vital role in the social, economic and physical well-being of its inhabitants. As the local architect and planner, we worked together with BIG and Ramboll to secure inclusivity across all levels, including people, culture, nature and land for Penangites. BiodiverCity is designed on this premise of ensuring a sound future and a new normal based on a social contract that puts us in harmony with nature and ensures inclusivity for all, both Penangites and the environment.”Serina Hijjas, Principal Architect, HIJJAS.
The buildings in BiodiverCity will be designed to perform efficiently and will to a large extent be constructed by low-carbon materials such as bamboo and Malaysian timber in combination with green concrete, a sustainable alternative comprised of industrial waste and recycled materials. By encouraging green roofs, facades, public and private open spaces, the islands can form a nearly continuous habitat mosaic feeding back into the forests, beaches, riparian zones and estuaries at the island’s edges.
“The Penang South Island vision includes an adaptive infrastructure management platform to harness the site’s renewable resources provided by the sun, wind, rain and ocean. The platform will be ‘plug-and-play’ and include governance to incentivize the use of emerging green technologies as part of an evolving resource management solution.”Shonn Mills, Global Director, Ramboll.
The Laguna, BiodiverCity’s westernmost island, is an oasis for ecological living, organized around a central marina. Eight smaller islands form a miniature archipelago, where floating, stilted and terraced housing takes advantage of the natural setting of Tanjung Gertak Sanggul, and where fisherman landing points can easily access the open waters by navigating each of the island’s waterways. Meanwhile, newly established marine habitats support biodiversity underwater by providing spawning grounds for native species, and recreational points and hatcheries support the local communities along Penang’s southern coast.
A web of ecological corridors connects forest reserves to coastal beaches while supporting habitats and communities across the islands. Within human-populated areas, animals are given safe passage through the continuous canopy and waterways, and within natural habitats, people can safely access elevated boardwalks.
Images by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group
BiodiverCity supports a water, air and land-based autonomous public transportation network, aiming for a car free environment where streets serve as a safe and welcoming thoroughfare for bikers and pedestrians. Districts are efficiently connected below platforms to increase the efficiency of goods, services and regional mobility, while maximizing pedestrian safety throughout the public realm.
BiodiverCity is BIG’s latest masterplan unveiling following Toyota Woven City at the CES conference earlier this year. Last year, BIG presented Oceanix City at the United Nations high-level roundtable on Sustainable Floating Cities, bringing together innovators, explorers, marine engineers and scientists at the UN Headquarters to share ideas and solutions to the threat faced by coastal cities and countries due to rising sea levels.
Immersed in Costa Rica’s mythic elements, Origins Lodge captures the wild opulence of nature along with Costa Rica’s pre-Columbian history.
Tucked up high on a mountainside with a 250° panoramic view of the valley, volcanoes and Lake Nicaragua, Origins is influenced by Costa Rica’s pre-Colombian circular architecture. With the passionate support of Origins’ owner, designers Patrick Rey and Hugues Blanchère modernized the honored antique philosophies and natural building techniques to create a place shaped by nature and tamed by low-impact
Bioclimatology is embodied in every aspect of this boutique resort. From the use of sustainable structural bamboo, adobe walls for humidity control, recycled bottles planted under the bungalows’ floors, to the natural air conditioning provided by the villa’s floating roof, the living roofs of the bungalows, and the minimal amount of dirt and trees removed during construction. In addition to this, as part of the overall design concept, we increased local vegetation by 75% through the planting of various plants to merge with the already well-established wild jungle — thus going beyond simple sustainability to holistic integration.
The buildings’ exteriors were designed to meld with their natural surroundings, giving them their own identity and personality. Even the vegetation on the living roofs was selected after careful consideration of the neighboring trees, colors and sightline of each particular area. The interiors, on the other hand, were designed to enhance Origins’ overarching energys by defining each space through natural lighting, organic textures and artistic craftsmanship.
The curves of the six private bungalows echo the serpentine curves of the jungle. The bungalows include private hot plunge pools heated by wood fire on each terrace. Much attention was put into synergising the flow of nature in each bungalow: from using an operculum in the ceilings, to positioning each bungalow in a way that allows rainforest clouds to literally fill the room on certain days. Suspended amongst the treetops higher up on the mountainside, the 3-bedroom Villa Vertigo is the essence of raw luxury, exhibiting the use of aggregated raw materials handcrafted by local artisans exclusively for Villa Vertigo.
The design team implemented several traditional and indigenous techniques that are pillars of low-impact construction, thus making Origins an exceptional venue, where one can admire the fusion of creative engineering, sustainability and ingenuity.
Pininfarina Battista Anniversario Takes Electric Cars to New Level
Italian auto designers Automobile Pininfarina have added an elite vision of the Pininfarina Battista electric car to their stable of super-fast road racers.
They claim this is the ultimate expression of the world’s first luxury pure-electric hyper-GT street racer, although we should not be surprised if they have more up their sleeve.
The ‘Anniversario’ alludes to the fact it is 90 years since founder Battista ‘Pinin’ Farina established his coach-building business. This spun out into arguably one of the world’s most bespoke auto design companies.
It also underlines the fact that electric cars are becoming synonymous with their brand, but this time they are being hand-crafted near the company’s headquarters in Turin, Italy.
However, skilled artisans will make only five Battista Anniversario’s, which are up for grabs in exchange for over three million dollars apiece. This makes it the most exclusive, most powerful road-legal electric car to come out of Italy, ever.
Anniversario uses the Battista solution of a 120 kWh battery pack driving four individual motors, one at each wheel
The combined power output from the Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide battery is 1,877 horse power / 1,696 pound-foot of torque.
The Anniversario package adds aerodynamic enhancements, new forged aluminum wheels, and performance-oriented tires
Air brake flaps at the rear keep the Battista under control as speed increases to a blistering 217 miles per hour
Automobili Pininfarina will hand craft just five Anniversario’s in Turin, with the balance of 145 being standard superfast electric cars. Production will begin by the end of 2020. Bidding is expected to be brisk for the Anniversario despite a minimum price tag of €2.6 million each.
These five heritage vehicles celebrate the beginning of Automobili Pininfarina ninety years ago. The founder’s grandson, Paolo Pininfarina, Chairman, Pininfarina SpA says: “My grandfather always had the vision that one day, there would be a stand-alone range of Pininfarina-branded cars. The Battista Anniversario, named in his honor to mark 90 years of the carrozzeria that he started, is a glorious way to link our Per Svantesson, CEO, Automobili Pininfarina explains “For 90 years, the Pininfarina name has been at the forefront of automotive design and performance, and the Battista perfectly encapsulates these values. This ultimate expression of Battista, the Anniversario, is the distillation of everything that the brand has stood for in the past and which we now strive for in the future, creating a new pinnacle of desirability for sustainable and luxurious electric cars.”
Battista Anniversario enhances the basic model – if basic is the right word – with an added level of dynamic ability, and bespoke heritage-inspired anniversary livery. Skilled artisans will take several weeks to paint each car, building up the finish layer-by-layer and color-by-color and all by hand.
Each car will feature a combination of three signature colors: Bianco Sestriere, the never-seen-before Grigio Antonelliano, and Automobili Pininfarina’s signature Iconica Blu. The artisans in the paint shop will painstakingly strip the bodies, and reassemble them five times as they meticulously hand paint the pin stripes directly onto the cars.
Luca Borgogno, Chief Design Officer, Automobili Pininfarina is justifiably proud. “Battista Anniversario features one of the most complex paint finishes in the world. The process of creating such a finish is akin to a great artist completing an Old Master painting. The result is more than just a visual work of art. Styling, balanced with ultimate performance, produces a genuine Pininfarina: the beauty of power and the power of beauty.”
TheBattista Anniversario fully electric car comes complete with the Furiosa package delivered as standard. This package comprises a revised carbon fiber front splitter, side blades and rear diffuser.
However, the Anniversario does things a little differently. These additions are finished in two-tone combinations of exposed signature carbon and carbon tinted in Iconica Blu with pin stripes in Bianco Sestriere.
The designers added a unique rear wing, rear aero fins and other bespoke details to the Battista Anniversario package. These deliver more dynamic balance, increased downforce, and greater stability when cornering at high speeds.
The finishing touches to this electric supercar – the fastest to come out of Italy – include:
Center-lock aluminum forged wheels reducing unsprung weight by almost 22 pounds
Real wheels enlarged to 21-inch diameters and shod in performance-oriented tires
These adjustments enable the fully-electric Anniversario supercar to achieve its top speed of 350 km/h (217 mph). The Battista Anniversario is faster than a Formula One car in the sub-two second 0-60 mph sprint. Finally, the all-electric supercar accelerates from 0 to 300 km/h in less than 12 seconds.
These levels of performance are delivered alongside a zero-emissions range of 500 km, thanks to car’s 120 kWh battery oack, mounted within a stron T-shape carbon frame low down in the chassis.
An engraved chassis plate and headlights, plus ‘Anniversario’ script on side wings, black anodized dedication door plaques and specially engraved chassis plate between the seats identify each Anniversario as one of only five in the world.
The chief architect of Modern House bureau, Alex Wizhevsky, continues to amaze the whole world with exclusive architecture.
The architect and his young design team spend their time in their St Petersburg studio designing luxury houses for Russia’s successful bourgeoisie class. However, there are only so many things you can do with four walls and a roof so occasionally they let their imagination rip open the box.
The architect and his young design team spend their time in their St Petersburg studio designing luxury houses for Russia’s successful bourgeoisie class. However, there are only so many things you can do with four walls and a roof so occasionally they let their imagination rip open the box.
CyberHouse LIFE is Alex Wizhevsky’s latest creation on a craggy slope overlooking a deep lake among high mountains. However, it is more than a retreat for a super-rich person. It is the ultimate retreat in his fertile imagination from a zombie virus that is taking over the world.
The dark times have come to a troubled generation. Devastation and agony rule over vast swathes of territory where there are no borders or governments left. Chaos ensues as the vast majority of humans become mindless zombies, intent on infecting the last of the survivors.
A small number of survivalists had the foresight to build bunker shelters before the apocalyptic moment arrived. They have reached out to each other, and created a new community on an isolated group of islands. This is a virtual commune that acts out of belief in love and kindness, mutual assistance and openness.
They have achieved tremendous success in a remarkably short time. However, they must prepare for the onslaught of the zombies, for they may come. Alex Wizhevsky’s CyberHouse LIFE is the home he created for a survivalist client in his immensely fertile imagination.
The new, avant garde society has achieved tremendous respect for each other. And for the unspoiled islands where they have settled far away from the chaos reigning. It follows their homes will participate in the environment, not dominate it as often happened in the old era.
The new breed of settlers wants a comfortable home that maximizes deployment of new materials and technologies. They want a new take on their living space too, and a new style developed for comfort and convenience.
However, they are also mindful they are creating bastions for the defense of their fledging society. Alex Wizhevsky has recognized this imperative. He has created a design that is not only beautiful. It is a state of the art fortress ready and able to repel invaders.
CyberHouse LIFE embraces nature where it rests on a slope, instead of digging it away. Its design conceals the fact it has an area of almost 15,000 square feet. The house reflects the rugged rocks around it. It palpably wants to take their form without disturbing their natural balance.
However, this is not a home for a spartan survivor. Architect Alex Wizhevsky has endowed his imaginary client with a sundeck to perfect their glorious sun tans using free, abundant solar energy. Perhaps he doubts the zombies will ever find the islands, before they self-destruct in a final act of insanity.
Therefore, he has made his CyberHouse LIFE a place for joyous living, in a truly glorious natural environment that is a fitting place to regenerate humanity. The building comprises two modules, a garage below, and a house plus sundeck above. The upper space has walls of glazing with unique, interior views of landscape.
The interior evolves and opens out as it cascades down the slope and reveals a series of terraces, and the pièce de résistance floating deck. CyberHouse LIFE is a place to be for own sake. But at the same time it is a bunker of monolithic concrete, bullet proof glass, and heavy duty steel.
CyberHouse LIFE is a naturally intelligent home with bunker, household, technical, and residential space. Alex Wizhevsky needed to make house autonomous in order to withstand a mindless zombie siege.
His imaginative design provides for solar panels, wind turbines, heat pump, water and air treatment and purification systems, and an independent wastewater plant. However, the military-grade security takes cyber living to a new level where a system of concentric defenses applies the principle of diminishing probabilities.
1… The exterior surfaces are angled to cause projectiles to deflect like a battle tank or naval combat vessel
2… There’s a bunker at the core made of monolithic concrete with a level four defense contour around it.
3… The concrete ground floor residential area is also monolithic concrete protected by armored airlock doors
4… The outer contour shield is a strong metal frame sheathed in sheets of heavy-duty metal alloy
5… Finally, the window openings have armored glazing with high-strength automated metal shutters
Architect Alex Wizhevsky says CyberHouse LIFE would resist hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, extreme temperatures, chemical emissions, and radioactive contaminations.
But its regular purpose is to provide a safe, comfortable, environmentally friendly home. We’re open to an invite whenever the prototype is ready.
But we will arrive in a Tesla Cyber Truck just in case. That’s because Alex Wyzhevsky suspects it might be the only survivor of a zombie virus.
Impressive design, sophisticated constructions, durable materials, green technology.
Strong monolithic concrete, heavy-duty steel, bulletproof glass. You are still completely safe.
Top Ecological Design: Zaha Hadid Architects’ New Roatán Residence in Honduras is a Sustainable Dream
Zaha Hadid Architects with AKT II and Hilson Moran Partnership have developed a digital architectural platform to create homes for Roatán Próspera. The residential designs are a specific ecological and social response to the climate, terrain and culture of Roatán in the Caribbean, the largest of the Bay Islands of Honduras.
The designs learn from the wisdom of the past, integrating the local vernacular tradition of timber construction, climatic appropriateness and spatial experience with new digital design, engineering and construction techniques.
Working with AKT II, the design approach starts from a comprehensive understanding of the local supply chain, logistics and construction techniques to promote the use of local materials, craftsmanship and manufacturing facilities which support the economy of the region.
The design’s modular system is founded on the use of sustainable timber, sourced nearby from certified forests on the Honduran mainland and treated locally, to form the main structural elements. Digital information technologies will optimize the use of all parts of the sustainably-forested logs to minimize waste and pollution. This process also contributes to reducing the embedded construction energy and carbon footprint of the development.
Erick A. Brimen, CEO of Honduras Próspera LLC, explains: “The design prioritizes sustainability and is integral to our vision for Roatán Próspera. The island of Roatán is already a renowned tourist destination. Roatán Próspera will strengthen and diversify the local economy while creating homes defined by their natural environment.”
With considerable reductions in waste material, and a higher quality of construction due to the greater precision achieved by off-site fabrication, this modular system of assembly is a cost-controlled solution specifically tailored to local supply chains, transportation and installation.
The dimensions of the structure’s base timber units have been established to follow the constraints of the local transportation networks to ensure carbon emissions and logistics costs are minimized.
The use of lightweight timber results in a reduced and adaptive foundation system that can be fabricated off-site, keeping intervention to the site minimal and giving maximum protection to the site’s native flora and fauna.
Divided into a ‘kit of parts’ that is quickly assembled on site, the design approach is centered around ensuring local craftsmen, tradesmen and construction teams also benefit from the knowledge and experience obtained by working with new technologies; building lasting relationships between homeowners and the local community that will help new residents to integrate with local culture. All suppliers will be given full assistance to develop their product lines to the 3D digital information model of the houses and the terrain.
The design’s passive environmental control strategies minimize energy consumption by reducing temperatures to improve thermal comfort, with little or no requirements for mechanical ventilation.
Optimizing renewable resources to reduce energy consumption and generate water, the modules are designed to be self-shading, open and oriented towards the prevailing sea breeze for natural cooling. Local, natural materials and ground coupling provide further cooling to interior spaces. When required, water is removed from the atmosphere for supplementary cooling by dehumidification. This water is harvested and filtered and available for use in each home.
For self-sufficient and net zero carbon operations, shading canopies are optimally shaped to accommodate photovoltaic arrays for renewable power generation. Batteries will store renewable electricity for future use.
The design for manufacture and assembly (DFMA) approach has been carefully instilled into the design of the structural kit of parts, while smart timber connections allow for quick assembly and disassembly, giving the potential to reconfigure the residence or recycle any element of the modular kit.
Integrated services and insulation will be pre-assembled and installed within this structural system that performs as a robust structural frame and building envelope with enhanced thermal and acoustic performance. The configuration platform ensures adjacent units have consistent service locations to minimize on-site connection.
The digital configuration platform allows home-owners to plan their homes and connect with local suppliers; bringing the construction and operational benefits from the digitization of the buildings.
The platform can be used to accommodate the specific spatial needs of family members, share resources and costs with neighbours and allow flexibility for communal modules such as a children’s play area.
This digital platform adapts varying configurations of standardized parts to create individual residences that suit each homeowner.
Applying parametric design software developed by the Computational and Design Group at ZHA (ZHCODE) and the Computational Engineering Team at AKT II, (P.ART), the platform ensures that each residence is developed specifically to the configuration defined by each homeowner. It also ensures that each home is fundamentally sustainable by using as little material and energy as possible in its construction and operation with the shapes of each element within the building being environmentally appropriate, particularly from a solar and ventilation perspective.
Extensive feasibility studies have informed the design of the platform’s kit of parts using a library of spatial and building elements tailored to the ecology and supply chain of Roatan. These adapt digital design and fabrication methods to incorporate the skills, experience and craftsmanship of local building traditions and culture.
Particular care has been given to ensuring the designs are sustainable and feasible within the environment of Roatan; incorporating vernacular design features such as palapas and other naturally ventilated spaces, the use of locally sourced timber, passive shading, rain water collection and cooling-pools.
A principle underpinning the configuration platform is three-dimensional property rights with homeowners acquiring occupational and exclusion rights for units of 3D space called volume-pixels or voxels. Their residences will be algorithmically computed to fit within their chosen arrangement of voxels. Each voxel is 35 square meters in plan-area and 4 meters high. Residential units vary from 35 sq.m studios (1 voxel), to 175 sq.m family homes (5 voxels). This parametric approach to the design of each residence and overall composition of the development yields many different possibilities united by a coherent formal logic and materiality.
Homeowners can use the platform to customize the spatial layout of their residence to fit their preferred number of voxels. These choices are exponential in nature, with at least 15,000 different variations to configure the maximum of 5 voxels.
The configuration platform adapts each residence to the terrain and other particulars of the site include views and minimizing any earthworks during assembly.
The platform also gives a choice of built-in furniture modules and spatial arrangements to suit individual lifestyles and preferences. These modules include walk-in wardrobes and conversation pits and are designed to integrate into the walls or contained in islands within each room.
Homeowners can also appoint local suppliers to create furniture specific for each room using the digital assets that the configuration platform provides including the 3D model of the home.
MM Residential Building sits on a 900-square-meter rectangular site at the intersection of two streets in Chiyah, a fast-developing suburb of Beirut.
The new structure holds 14 residences plus a retail space on the ground floor, in a vertical stacking of floor plates set around a central and open planted core. The structural façade offers plenty of flexibility for the ways in which the building can be inhabited, both in plan and in section. Single-floor apartments, duplexes and penthouses can be integrated into the volume, in a nearly random pattern, so that residents can customize their own living space.
Pocket Gardens and linear terraces run along four façades, creating 360-degree views of Beirut and its environs. The planted surfaces are buffer zones between the private internal spaces and the immediate surroundings. At the same time, the building soars from the ground up as a single structural vertical planted element, extending out of the busy city life.
MM Residential Building is a vertical green landmark with a unified structure whose multi-layered façades act as a protective translucent shell vis-à-vis the street and the surrounding buildings. In a contemporary and innovative manner, the new landmark offers residential solutions that are both practical and enjoyable, while giving city residents new ways to inhabit the urban environment.
SPACE by Ecocapsule® is a limited off-grid micro-unit with beautiful ORIGINAL design and solar panels for green energy gathering. It gives an extra 6.3 m2 of habitable space to any building or space in usage. It can be your garden home office, sales place for little entrepreneurs, a guest room or a daughter for Ecocapsule® ORIGINAL which makes it a perfect off-grid living for 4-5 people. Also, it’s a great accommodation solution for traveling business in situations as we are experiencing now on a global scale.
Since Ecocapsule® launched a mass production in 2018, Ecocapsule ORIGINAL has made it to all the corners of the world. Besides Europe, at the moment there are Ecocapsules e.g. in USA, Costa Rica, Bahamas and Japan. One of these capsules was purchased by a famous Hollywood actress, political and environmental activist Susan Sarandon. „When I first saw Ecocapsule, I thought this is what we need for the future, as a concept. We need to support and use purely green solutions in everyday life”, S. Sarandon said.
Compared to the Ecocapsule ORIGINAL the price of SPACE is much lower. “Based upon demand of our customers we’ve made SPACE affordable for broader customers scale, and more comfortable to use.
Besides green energy collected by solar panels SPACE can also use energy from the grid, which makes it more users-friendly”, says Tomáš Žáček, founder, Design Director and CEO of Ecocapsule Ltd.
Compared to the Ecocapsule ORIGINAL the price of SPACE is much lower. “Based upon demand of our customers we’ve made SPACE affordable for broader customers scale, and more comfortable to use. Besides green energy collected by solar panels SPACE can also use energy from the grid, which makes it more users-friendly”, says Tomáš Žáček, founder, Design Director and CEO of Ecocapsule Ltd.
SPACE has a multiply usage – it can be a home office, a guest room, an attractive sales place for small entrepreneurs, additional housing for a cottage, a houseboat or simply your personal space. As for situations, that we are currently experiencing globally, it can be an effective solution of accommodation for travel businesses and resorts.
The price of basic version of SPACE by Ecocapsule is 49 900 €.
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