A self-sufficient community center p

by Davina Francesca Priscilla Drummond

electric bike point

productive roof garden

productive garden

productive roof garden

electric bike point

productive roof garden

community center

(awareness and social cohesion unit to build a sustainable neighborhood)

(i.e. electrical bikes powered by excess energy created by organic waste by and solar energy)

alternative shared mobility productive roof gardens with

compost (compost is used to create heat and energy in order to power up the building and alternative mobility units, as well as raw fertilizer)

I propose to build a self-suffi cient community centre to increase community awareness, improve quality of life, increase the use of public space and encourage energyneutral mobility through the use of solar-powered electric bikes.

A Self- Suffi cient community centre is built out of compacted soil with a rooftop garden. Compost will be created using organic waste from the building and from the community. Households will be encouraged to leave organic waste in an orangecoloured trash bag which will then be collected by a volunteer of the community centre and used in the compost. The compost will be used to power the building if large enough by using the thermal energy generated to power the building (battery source). In addition, Rainwater will be collected, fi ltered and heated inside the compost for the building’s use. Furthermore, outside the community centre, there would be an electric bike rack powered by solar energy which people could access with an app similar to the Santander bikes in London. This would encourage people to use bikes for shorter trips in the neighbourhood which would increase the health of the community and decrease their pollution.

This community centre would be used to teach the community about self-suffi ciency and encourage them to implement some parts of the self-suffi cient systems in their homes. The community is encouraged to take responsibility for the community centre and the upkeep of the rooftop garden. This will hopefully increase the quality of life and community awareness as they learn about self-suffi ciency and become a closerknit community. Members of the community will be encouraged to teach classes at the community centre about their interests and to brainstorm ways to make the community more self-suffi cient.

Over time it should function as the social centre of the community such as organizing friendly football matches on the available football fi eld. It will be designed to have activities for all age groups within the community from arts and crafts and gardening for children to lectures and dance classes for adults. I believe that constructing a self-suffi cient building and teaching the members about self-suffi ciency will encourage them to fi nd a myriad of different methods they can implement themselves.

To be successful in attracting and retaining community involvement it will be important to work alongside the community and to appoint leaders of the community to organize events that will be of interest and maximize involvement.