IaaC Bit 7.2.1

Implementing Advanced Knowledge

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7.2.1 Self-sufficient Platform Vicente Guallart

Self-sufficient Platform

The prototype project of the self-sufficient neighbourhood developed at IaaC is an initiative oriented to proof how can we implement the radical ideas related to cities that are able to produce its own resources. Even if it is true that the main challenge for the upcoming cities is the urban regeneration of what is already built (brown-field), it is true as well that in the next decades many extensions and new cities will be required to host the population growth of continents like Asia, Africa and Latin America. Because of that, from the master of City & Technology at IaaC, and under the direction of Vicente Guallart, Rodrigo Rubio and Ruxandra Iancu, there has been developed a research oriented to define a new urban paradigm related to self-sufficient cities.

The developed unit is a neighbourhood of 1x1km based on the idea of the distributed city model inspired in the urban grid of the Taipei centre, and the system of local equipment of Barcelona. This model encourages a system in which each person can have in less than 500 meters from his dwelling the required equipments to develop his life in community.

The development of the research has allowed to develop a decalog that defines self-sufficient neighbourhood based in the following principles: 1. 1x1 km neighbourhood with several streets of different scales, mix use and different density.

2. Recycling of all the residues to re-engrane them in the fabrication line (digital or not) 3. Electric self-sufficiency based on photovoltaic panels and district heating.

4. Production of the 90% of the vegan diet in rooftops, public spaces and LED farming.

5. Storage of the rain water, and energy production from the black water.

6. Cities without private vehicles, only public transportation and shared cars.

7. Many neighbourhood’s scale equipments and punctual city’s scale equipments.

8. Dwelling based in rents, residences and shared spaces.

All systems are based in the “Internet of things” applied to all the city layers.

In the following pages we can find some details of the projects that have been developed during the research and that celebrate the development of cities through the aggregation of self-sufficient units.

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Figure 0 - Barcelona cartography obtained through geolocated information of images stored on Flickr (100,000 results).

1. Urban Planning for a Self-Sufficient Neighborhood

http://www.iaacblog.com/programs/urban-planning-for-self-sufficiency/ Rethinking the city for a better environmental performance, minimizing unbalancing gaps between production and consumption, is now a priority in the global agenda. As cities continue to grow, new questions arise about their sustainability. To answer them, we should start exanimating the city as living organism.

Starting from its metabolic systems, a deep research needs to be developed around the main systems that keep the city functioning: energy and water, food and matter, mobility and public space, facilities and housing.

The development and design of a prototype for a self-sufficient and distributed neighborhood made evident that in order to attain an efficient urban environment it is necessary to defy most of the existing rules of production and management of resources in the way they have worked until now. A proper mix, diversity and overlapping density of uses, cycles and processes within the neighborhood scale becomes crucial.

Figure 1 - Urban Planning for a Self-Sufficient Neighborhood 4

2. Matter Cycle for a Self-Sufficient Neighborhood http://www.iaacblog.com/programs/23948/

The Matter Cycle is one of the most important biological and technical cycles to make a city self-sufficient. This cycle - also called Flow of Things - is made by the system of people, activities, information and resources involved in providing a product from the supplier to the consumer.

This exercise traces the flow of matter, since its origin in nature till its designed state in cities – as finished objects and facilities - tracking finally its after-use path (reuse, recycle, treatment, waste). Life of the products is understood as a continuous process, following cradle to cradle principles and analyzing expendability and obsolescencºe.

Therefore, policies enabling these self-sufficient logics are clear, we don’t let any waste go out of the economy and we take as less as possible from outside the economy.

Figure 2 - Matter Cycle for a Self-Sufficient Neighborhood

3. Energy for a Self-Sufficient Neighborhood

http://www.iaacblog.com/programs/self-sufficient-neighbourhood-energy/ Energy is a field in staggering transformation. Climate change international policies and global economies point at the energy market as a major player in the scene. Our non-renewable sources should be rapidly substituted by clean and renewable sources.

Solar energy (thermal and photovoltaic) is the most suitable source to be integrated in midd dense urban fabrics. Biogas and biomass, linked to synergies with food and water cycles, aim to complete the proposed energy mix.

High efficient photovoltaic solar panels are located high radiation surfaces, while low efficient transparent solar panels are combined with green houses and façades. The waste produced by the Self-sufficient Neighborhood generates energy by biogas.

Long and Short Term Storage Model Energy production is not stable; there’s the need to storage over production of electricity and heating to supply energy need over the year. Li-ion batteries are proposed for short-term electricity storage, while hydrogen fuel batteries are used for seasonal electricity storage. Thermal Banks are able to keep hot water warm for long term. It is proposed to long term heating energy storage.

Figure 3 - Energy for a Self-Sufficient Neighborhood 6

4. Food for a Self-Sufficient Neighborhood

http://www.iaacblog.com/programs/food-production-cities/ Global food self-sufficiency, taking in consideration models of desertification and world models of population growth, is not an easy target. The whole world depends on agriculture today as a mean of supply for food, feed, fiber, and, increasingly, bio fuels. More and more water is being used to grow the rising number of agricultural areas, which became the greatest source of greenhouse gas emission.

In order to achieve Self-sufficiency within our neighborhood, vegan diet has been adopted as the main dietary regimen. Fruits and vegetables that will be grown in the neighborhood have been selected for being the most nutritious ones that consume the less water.

Different methods of agriculture have been adopted: permaculture, green rooftops - with honeybee farming, vertical farming, LED farming and indoor agriculture, paying special attention to the delicate balances between population density, naturalization and relocalization of mass-produced models for food and their water and energy consumption ratios.

Figure 4 - Food for a Self-Sufficient Neighborhood

5. Water Management Strategies for a Self-Sufficient Neighborhood

http://www.iaacblog.com/programs/water-in-self-sufficient-neighborhood/ Water is among the major challenges of our current metropolitan models of territory inhabitation, challenging our current dynamics of growth and resource consumption. Modern cities and metropolitan regions consume water coming from miles away drying agricultural areas and depleting their social and economical modes. At the same time, cities all over the world dump their used waters into the sea, after quite inefficient filtering processes.

Furthermore, water and food, water and matter, water and energy are organically related. A holistic approach to the entire cycle is needed, reconnecting waste and demand, closing loops between outputs and inputs.

The research defined water-crop relationship and seasonal water demand of agricultural system. The instability of rainwater capacity of our system has been considered, producing different kinds of recycling and treatment facilities.

Figure 5 - Water Manafement Strategies for a Self-Sufficient Neighborhood 8

6. Mobility for a Self-Sufficient Neighborhood

http://www.iaacblog.com/programs/mobility/ A proper mix of uses, a proper definition of the urban pattern scale, and a proper deployment of electric public transport systems and vehicle sharing networks would allow for an almost complete ca-free district within each neighborhood.

Intelligent urban transport systems will connect transportation modes, services, and technologies together in innovative new ways, providing more precise knowledge of the traffic situation across the entire road network.

New transport models made possible by mobile phones and smart card technology are taking a good that sits idle most of the time and turning it into something else. Promote the use of electric vehicles and with alternative fuels among the citizens.

Figure 5 - Mobility for a Self-Sufficient Neighborhood

7. Facilities for a Self-Sufficient Neighborhood

http://www.iaacblog.com/programs/facilities-for-a-self-sufficientneighborhood/ In the self-sufficient neighborhood facilities are divided in four levels: city, neighborhood, hyper-block and block level. Most of the facilities are at neighborhood level.

Among the rules for the position of facilities in the neighborhood is the proximity to public spaces, green spaces or squares. The study of relations between facilities explains the level of connection among different uses, in order to define groups of facilities to be located in the same building.

Figure 7 - Facilities for a Self-Sufficient Neighborhood 10

8. Housing Strategies for a Self-Sufficient Neighborhood

http://www.iaacblog.com/programs/housing-strategies-self-sufficientneighborhood-prototype/ Family and social patterns are changing, the way in which we work and live today affect how we use and understand the concept of housing, of inhabiting.

Phenomena like Airbnb and other collective modes are reflecting these submerged trends.

The housing strategy has been classified in two parts: physical structure which refers to its size and number of bedrooms - and social structure - which brings up the question of household types and their relationship with their dwellings.

The housing layer of the Self Sufficient Neighborhood is realized with three main strategies, shared housing for single person households; mixed typology of housing blocks; and hybrid buildings.

Figure 8 - Housing Strategies for a Self-Sufficient Neighborhood

Copyright © 2014 Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia All rights Reserved.

IAAC BIT 7 September 2016

IAAC BITS

IAAC

DIRECTOR:

IAAC SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE:

Manuel Gausa, IaaC Co-Founder

EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Jordi Vivaldi, IaaC bits Editorial Coordinator

EDITORIAL TEAM Manuel Gausa, IaaC Co-Founder Silvia Brandi, Communication & Publication Jordi Vivaldi, IaaC bits Editorial Coordinator

ADVISORY BOARD: Areti Markopoulou, IaaC Academic Director Tomas Diez, Fab Lab Bcn Director Mathilde Marengo, Academic Coordinator Ricardo Devesa, Advanced Theory Concepts Maite Bravo, Advanced Theory Concepts

Nader Tehrani, Architect, Director MIT School Architecture, Boston Juan Herreros, Architect, Professor ETSAM, Madrid Neil Gershenfeld, Physic, Director CBA MIT, Boston Hanif Kara, Engineer, Director AKT, London Vicente Guallart, IaaC Co-Founder Willy Muller, IaaC Co-Founder Aaron Betsky, Architect & Art Critic, Director Cincinnati Art Mu­seum, Cincinnati Hugh Whitehead, Engineer, Director Foster+ Partners technology, London Nikos A. Salingaros, Professor at the University of Texas, San Antonio Salvador Rueda, Ecologist, Director Agencia Eco­logia Urbana, Barcelona Artur Serra, Anthropologist, Director I2CAT, Barcelona

DESIGN: Ramon Prat, ACTAR Editions

IAAC BIT FIELDS: 1. Theory for Advanced Knowledge 2. Advanced Cities and Territories 3. Advanced Architecture 4. Digital Design and Fabrication 5. Interactive Societies and Technologies 6. Self-Sufficient Lands

PUBLISHED BY: Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia ISSN 2339 - 8647 CONTACT COMMUNICATIONS & PUBLICATIONS OFFICE: communication@iaac.net

Institut for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia Barcelona Pujades 102 08005 Barcelona, Spain T +34 933 209 520 F +34 933 004 333 www.iaac.net

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