top of page
Birds, Bees & Washing Machines
Arch 601 | Design Studio III | Fall 2020
In collaboration with X Cristofer Damianos Jr.
Instructor : Sulan Kolatan
Since the inception of architectural practice, it has primarily focused on fulfilling human needs, resulting in the excessive exploitation of resources and the disregard for the habitats of other living beings.
This housing project endeavors to rectify this by creating an equitable environment that accommodates all indigenous living beings on the site, incorporating humans into a new ecological habitat. Within this ecosystem, the output of one living being becomes the input for another. The project seamlessly integrates all such activities both within and outside the building's exterior skin, functioning as an analogous habitat
Formally, the building mass is a calibrated aggregation of carefully selected objects and scales: The Urn from the Cooper Hewitt Building and the column from the Barcelona Pavilion. In addition to the formal language of the objects, materials and textures have also been incorporated to create a secondary layer within the massing.
Fractal developed
using Grasshopper
Slab study
Urn aggregated
using the fractal
Column aggregated
using the fractal
The aggregation of the urns establish the building's water infrastructure and housing spaces, while the aggregation of the columns contributes to the structure of the building and the vertical farm infrastructure. Varying scales and volumes are utilized to accommodate birds, humans, bees, and plants, along with building technologies such as gray water purification, rainwater harvesting, and composting. The services, including the aviary and apiary, encompass and surround the living spaces designated for humans
Ultimately, the functioning of these individual processes and technologies is contingent upon the diverse beings inhabiting the project. This interdependence cultivates the collective thriving of all living agents involved and reinstates humans as an integral part of the natural habitat.
bottom of page