Master in Advanced Architecture 2012-2013
URBAN ACUPUNCTURE RS2 SELF SUFFICIENT BUILDINGS
Miguel Oliveira
Master in Advanced Architecture 2012-2013
URBAN ACUPUNCTURE RS2 SELF SUFFICIENT BUILDINGS
STUDENT Miguel Oliveira
FACULTY Enric Ruiz Geli Mireia Luzรกrraga Silvia Bures Josep Perello Iker Murraga
INDEX
1
Introduction
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2
Strategy
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Conclusion
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References
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1
INTRODUCTION
Things will never be the same We are living a transition era; the current energy, economic and social model will in the next decades be replaced by a new model (1). As in every crisis, uncertainty about the future is the most challenging issue, for it is the one that causes lack of confidence in individuals and institutions. Sola Morales used to talk about the importance of handling Uncertainty in Urbanism, managing time and key players in the extremely complex process that is the life of cities and territories. In this turning point as a society, we must find a common ground from where to start the recovery from this global crisis. A common ground that will put investors, politicians and citizens working together: sustainability and energy efficiency (2). We are in the middle of the biggest globalization period in the history of our planet, the digital revolution created the tools for instant connection and cooperation. A cooperation that is essential for the survival and balance of our planet´s ecosystem that is our home (3). 1
Jeremy Rifkin (2011), The Third Industrial Revolution, Palgrave Macmillan Joan Fitzgerald (2010), Emerald Cities, Oxford University Press 3 James Lovelock (2007), The Revenge of Gaia, Basic Books 2
> Esto No Es Un Solar, Zaragoza
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STRATEGY An efficient use of resources
This Thesis analyses the problems of an area in the limit of Barcelona. An area without equipments as daycare centers, bicing stations or recycling points. A negleted and characterless area, that could be located in Barcelona or anywhere in the world. The goal of the Thesis was to retrofit and improve the area through surgical interventions. The challenge was to do so building as least as possible, reusing available resources. To do so the strategy encompassed retrofitting 6 empty sites close to important public and private buildings. Each site shows a specific vocation, related to the building next to it, and together with the other sites they define a Masterplan. Every site is connected to each other through the community: in this sense this masterplan is a bottom-up process, it requires the population to be the engine of the sites and their use. The use of renewable energies and recycling strategies in each site is key to set the bases for energy self sufficiency and more competitive businesses. The use of soft and natural materials allows for these structures and spaces to be dismantled and recycled in the future.
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La Mina, Barcelona >
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Strategy | Sites and Key Buildings
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Library Site | Present
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Library Site | Daycare Center One of the missing equipments in this area is a Daycare Center. Combining the use of the Public Library, this empty site is retrofitted into a Daycare Center, designed for elderly people that just lie in public benches during the day, creating arts workshops and gardens for them to participate in and meet other people. The intervention is built with soft and natural recyclable materials, like compacted earth, plants and wood for the workshops and structures.
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School Site | Present
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School Site | Foodcycle Canteen The site next to the school transforms into an educational farm, a solar kitchen and a canteen. In this space kids and students will be able to learn about the cycle of food, from its production to its consumption and waste handling. The goal of this space is to create a sustainable awareness in future generations, of the value of natural resources and food. After all we are what we eat. This intervention uses the same natural recyclable materials as before.
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Housing Site | Present
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Housing Site | Communitary Farm In the Housing Site, the strategy was to create communitary farms for the neighbours, where each neighbour through a small monthly maintenance fee for tools, can at the end of each month collect a given amount of locally produced fresh and natural vegetables. Close to the Tram station, the Rambla is retrofitted with a Photovoltaic light structure, creating free shade and electricity, that power batteries for new electric public bicycles.
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Sports Site | Present
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Sports Site | Sports Energy Park The Sports Site is retrofitted as a sports energy park, where people can turn calories into electricity in workout machines. The solution of the light Photovoltaic Roof is also applied here, creating a shaded car parking, with solar charged cars for car sharing systems. This car sharing station combined with the bicycles station provides less co2 emmiting mobility solutions. All the energy produced here can be used to charge cars or bicycles.
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Formation Site | Present
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Formation Site | Recycling Industry The empty site next to the Formation and Unemployment Center is turned into a recycling center. Bearing in mind that there are no reclycling points in the area, the idea is to deploy recycling points through the neighbourhood and create a center where to handle those materials. With recycled glass, plastic, electronics, paper and wood one can design and build products destined to energy efficiency and retrofitting, like the solar panels used in these car sharing parks. Unemployed people or students taking formation in the center can take part in any part of the process, from pickup to handling and recycling to the design and construction of new products.
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Port Site | Present
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Port Site | Leisure & Commerce The Port site has most of its spaces unused. It serves mainly as storage for boats, missing an extraordinary opportunity to become a leisure and commerce center in the area, next to the beach and the mediterraneum sea. The structure is retrofitted into restaurants, bars and small commerce. The pavement is turned into a promenade for terraces and walks. An area dedicated to a new economy of experiences and tourism, that strenghtens the local mediterraneum character.
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CONCLUSION
This project is a soft and surgical intervention. Its users and clients are real people, with real problems and small budgets. In Self-Sufficiency the ends don´t always justify the means, so one should be extremely careful when designing something and labelling it Sustainable or Green. For example, a green grass rooftop can be one of the most unsustainable green solutions around: it needs constant maintenance, its construction needs to be flawless so water and roots don´t go through the building itself. In fact one of the best green rooftops I have ever seen wasn´t green at all, it was brown because it used local plants from the buildings´ surroundings and required very little maintenance. This Thesis is a message in a bottle, to investors, nations and citizens so they realize that retrofitting existing buildings, sites and infrastructures while focusing in energy efficiency is a way out of this global crisis. A strategy that will provide jobs to millions of people, improve their quality of life and help manage the shrinking available resources and biodiversity of our, still, beautiful green and blue planet...
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REFERENCES The Third Industrial Revolution Jeremy Rifkin 2011 Palgrave Macmillan
Emerald Cities Joan Fitzgerald 2010 Oxford University Press
The Revenge of Gaia James Lovelock 2007 Basic Books
Macrowikinomics Don Tapscott, Anthony Williams 2011 Paidos
Acupuntura Urbana Jaime Lerner 2003 Editora Record
> Mediterraneum Field Trip, RS2, IaaC
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I dedicate this thesis to my family, friends, and the architects and engineers I was fortunate to work with in Idom. I would like to thank Manuel Gausa for his inspiration and positive spirit, Areti and Silvia for their support and Enric and Mireia for their guidance. IaaC is a place for reactions and relations, a place to open your mind to different points of view and approaches, essential in an architects life journey.
valldaura S elf S ufficient Lab
www.iaac.net
Accredited by:
www.upc.edu
fablabbcn.org
www.valldaura.net
We are living a transition era; the current energy, economic and social model will in the next decades be replaced by a new system. This project analyses the problems and opportunities of an area in the limit of Barcelona that is missing equipments such as daycare centers or recycling points. The goal was to improve the area through surgical interventions in empty sites. The challenge was to do so building as least as possible, using available resources and renewable energies.