MICROGRID DISTRICT
Tria Amalia Ningsih
Master of Design Innovation & Technology
Interior Architect
TRIA AMALIA NINGSIH
Professional Experiences
An Indonesian designer who currently study at
2012
RMIT major in Master of Design Innovation and
2013 -2015 Interior Architect in PT. titik I garis I bidang
Technology. An experienced architectural and
2016-2018 Assistant Lecturer at Universitas Indonesia
interior designer, part time lecturer in Universitas
2016-2018 Building Technology and Material Researcher
Internship with Popo Danes Architecture and Interior
Indonesia, passionate yogis, artlover and a highly enthusiastic maker. Jakarta, October 16th 1991
Awards
+61 403 308 482
2013
Cumlaude Predicate Graduated at UI
2014
Finalist Indonesia Furniture Design Award
2014
3rd winner Design Competition “Batik Museum TMII”
2015
2nd winner Design Competition Office in CoContest
2016
Finalist of Falling Wall Lab DAAD Jakarta
2017
3rd winner of Design Competition Tiny Sustainable House
2017
Indonesia’s Endowment Fund for Education
2019
Finalist of Bio Design Challenge
tria.amalianingsih@gmail.com s3574695@student.rmit.edu.au Master of Design Innovation and Technology RMIT University
Publishion
Technical Skills
2017
Local Material as a Character of Contemporary Interior Design in Indonesia
AutoCad - 2D
2018
Exploring Materiality in Learning Interior Architecture
2018
Mix Concrete: Combining the Composition to Create New Surface of Architectural Building
Sketchup 3D Digital Fabrication BIM - Revit
Professional Traits
Rhino & Grasshoper
Working Vision
Adobe Suites
Leadership
Video Making
Teamwork
Programming - Arduino
Time Management
Freehand Drawing
Creativity
Master of Design Innovation & Technology | 01
Contents A | Brief
F | Use
01 | Studio Brief : Bio-Cities
01 | Microgrid-District
02 | Design Brief : Microgrid-District
02 | Design Program
B | Melbourne Energy
03 | The Heart of CBD Melbourne
01 | Energy in Melbourne
04 | Microgrid-District
02 | Energy Transition
05 | Unisuper
03 | Energy Off-Grid
06 | Adaptive Reuse
04 | Energy Storage
07 | Building Massing Process
Design the Things Right
08 | Design Program
C | Energy Innovation
09 | Plans
01 | Solar Cell Innovation
10 | Humans Activities
02 | Tesla Energy
11 | Cladding Design
03 | Bio Battery
12 | Interactive Facade
Design the Right Thing
13 | Design Reflection
D | Capture 01 | Bio Solar Cell 02 | Photoperiodism 03 | Prototype
E | Store 01 | Microbial Rechargeable Battery 02 | MRB System 03 | Prototype
02 | Bio Cities
G | Final Design 01 | Building Visualisation 02 | Vertical Jungle 03 | Living Quaters & Communal Space 04 | Elevation 05 | Section 05 | Building Prototype
Reference
01 | STUDIO BRIEF The BioCities | BioMelbourne exhibition and series of community events investigate points of departure in the way we think, design and live within future urban systems. Through a series of architectural concepts located in Melbourne CBD—Swanston Street, Bourke Street Mall and the Unisuper building located 385 Bourke Street—BioCities | BioMelbourne will explore how architecture, water, food, materials, energy and other areas where biological design can make a difference could help us design more resilient and regenerative cities. It will also investigate how the built environment can shape new societal and cultural narratives. BioCities | BioMelbourne aims to: (1) Engage various Melbourne audiences with the future of their own city; (2) Alert Melbourne audiences to looming environmental and societal risks; (3) Inspire visions for a more sustainable and resilient Melbourne; (4) Educate on the role of design in shaping futures and ways of living.
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02 | DESIGN BRIEF Microgrid District is an energy self-sufficient and community -based vertical neighbourhood. The purpose of the building is to start a new conversation in Melbourne around what a city says about us. The central-located affordable building is more focused on people and the environment. The architecture is designed to perform as an integrated bio-battery system with the objective to store and recover electricity using microorganisms. Due to the rotation of the sun, the building envelope works as parametric surface using bio solar cell to capture the electron, then will transfer to the battery, called microbial rechargeable battery (MRB), which will be placed in the core of the building as the main resources of energy.
05 | Bio Cities
MELBOURNE’S ENERGY Design the Things Right
Master of Design Innovation & Technology | 06
MELBOURNE’S ENERGY
Energy is an essential element in human’s day to day activities. The world is going to need a lot more energy in the coming decades—an increase of 50 percent or more between 2010 and 2040 (Gates, 2014). In Melbourne, a single person who live in the apartment of the city can use electricity approximately 2,500 kWh per year or 7 kWh per day (Red Energy, 2018). Moreover, a seasonal usage such as a very hot summer or a very cold winter can drive the electricity bills up. some of the houses design may not take advantage of natural heating and cooling opportunities (State Government of Victoria, 2019).
07 | Bio Cities
MELBOURNE’S ENERGY
Coal Energy. Source : State Government of Victoria
01 | ENERGY IN MELBOURNE Energy is an essential element in human’s day to day activities. The world is going to need a lot more energy in the coming decades—an increase of 50 percent or more between 2010 and 2040 (Gates, 2014). In Melbourne, a single person who live in the apartment of the city can use electricity approximately 2,500 kWh per year or 7 kWh per day (Red Energy, 2018). Moreover, a seasonal usage such as a very hot summer or a very cold winter can drive the electricity bills up. some of the houses design may not take advantage of natural heating and cooling opportunities (State Government of Victoria, 2019). Melbourne has an abundance of energy sources – both fossil and renewable energy. For the electricity comes from various sources. Large transmission lines connect the generator and distributions network to the national grid. A network of smaller power lines distribute electricity to homes and business (State Government of Victoria, 2019).
Melbourne uses 60% energy generated from coal (Department of Environment and Energy, 2019) which is a highly unsustainable source of energy. Melbourne also employs hydroelectric power source which is technically a sustainable power source, but its operation is consequentially bad since its construction and maintenance do cause a lot of environmental problems. Melbourne also uses gas as energy sources. Mainly, this energy sources is for domestic and commercial applications such as heating, cooking, and industrial uses. for the transportation sector, is heavily dependent on oil, with oil-based fuel supplying around 90 percent of transportation. Clearly, these sources become contributor of greenhouse gasses emission.
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MELBOURNE’S ENERGY
Coal Energy. Source : State Government of Victoria
02 | ENERGY TRANSITION Melbourne has started to plan for a transition into clean energy sources without any dependence on coal and oil by 2030. Melbourne Renewable Energy Projects (MREP) is a program by the City of Melbourne to purchase renewable energy sources in various government buildings such asl ocal government, cultural institutions, universities, and corporations. The 39-turbine wind farm is owned and operated by Melbourne-based clean energy company Pacific Hydro to produce 88 GWh of electricity per year (City of Melbourne, 2019). However, renewable energy technologies that are currently in development still has a number of issues. Wind and solar energy is clean with zero production cost once windmills or solar panels are in place, but they only generate power when the wind blows and the sun shines, thereby creating energy supply instability, (Byrne, 2017). Furthermore, solar panel materials can not be recycled, thereby go to the landfill. in 2050, the amount of waste from solar panels could reach 1,500 kilotons, (Terzon, 2019). This means that the current solution just simply generate another form of new problem going forward.
09 | Bio Cities
MELBOURNE’S ENERGY
Off-Grid House. Source : Off-grid Tiny House
03 | ENERGY OFF-GRID Houses in Australia are starting to shift into off-grid energy. This is done by powering homes and small businesses via small renewable energy systems that is not connected to general electricity grid (U.S Department of Energy, 2019). In Australia, 1 in 5 households saving money on power bills by selling excess electricity back to the grid (Lipson, 2018). maksudnya adalah powering their homes or small business using a small renewable energy system that is not connected to the electricity grid However, Solar cell has inefficiency problem because it only generates power when the sun shines, so it impacts the stability of the grid. Therefore, the only way out is by using battery storage. When combined with home battery units, solar electricity collected during the day can be stored and used on early morning and evening peak times (Lipson, 2018).
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MELBOURNE’S ENERGY
Megapack Telsa Power. Source : Tesla
04 | ENERGY STORAGE Going off-grid requires installing photovoltaics and battery energy storage. Solar battery storage plays an important for going off-grid. The battery can store the excessive energy generated by your solar panels during the day, which means instead of it going back to the grid, the electricity can be used at night, when your solar panels aren’t producing energy (Energy Australia, 2019). In order to achieve solar power supply independency, a house requires a 7kW solar system with a 35kWh battery storage page pack with the highest sun exposure, ideally north facing, (Energy Australia, 2019). This may not be an issue for rural area house, but it becomes a challenge for living in cities where there is less space to put solar panel and get sun exposure. furthermore, in order to to go off the grid, number of solar paneland amount of battery storage becomes a required investment which in itself means a requirement for a lot of capital. The attempt to go off the grid in only one unit of residence becomes a very troublesome endeavour due to massive initial investment and a very long time for its ROI.
11 | Bio Cities
solar panel materials can not be recycle, thereby go to the land fill. in 2050, the amount of waste from solar panels could reach 1,500 kilotons, (Terzon, 2019). Melbourne uses 60% energy generation from coal and oil-based fuel supllying around 90 per cent of transportation. (Department of Environment and Energy, 2019) Coal and Fossil fuel sources become contributor of green house gasses emission.
Inclining Carbon Footprint
wind and solar energy is clean with zero production cost once windmills or solar panels are in place, but they only generate power when the wind blows and sun shines, thereby creating energy supply instability, (Byrne, 2017). 1 in 5 households saving money on power bills by selling excess electricity back to the grid (Lipson, 2018). In order to achieve solar power supply indepency, a house requires a 7kW solar system with a 35kWh battery storage page pack with the highest sun exposure, ideally north facing, (Energy Australia, 2019). Instability
Renewable Energy
Harmful Energy Sources Energy Waste
Small-scaled Energy off-grid ENVIRONMENT
TECHNOLOGY
MELBOURNE’S ENERGY Off-grid Invesment
ECONOMY Expensive Energy Price
a seasonal usage such as a very hot summer or a very cold winter can drive the electricity bills up. some of the houses design may not take advantage of natural heating and cooling opportunities (State Government of Victoria, 2019).
to be possible to go off the grid, number of solar panel and amount of battery storage is a big investment which a lot of money to purchase.
Limited Land for Energy Farm
SOCIAL Increasing Energy Consumption
a challenge for living in the city where there is less space to put solar panel and get sun exposure.
he world is going to need a lot more energy in the coming decades—an increase of 50 percent or more between 2010 and 2040 (Gates, 2014). Di Melbourne, a single person who live in the apartment of the city can use electricity approximately 2,500 kWh per year or 7 kWh per day (Red Energy, 2018).
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Design the things right | Energy System How can Melbourne citizens acquire sustainable energy source that is efficient, affordable and organic at the same time? the energy sources include ways of capturing energy and storing energy the whole day.
13 | Bio Cities
ENERGY INNOVATIONS Design the Right Thing
Master of Design Innovation & Technology | 14
Storage is one of the highest technological barriers to the spread of renewable energy. Currently we are able to store only 2% of the electricity we make to be provided back to the grid, which is not enough. technology and innovation around energy has been developed around the world. most of the project are focusing on producing clean energy without doing harmful to the environment. there are various works which are specifically focused on collecting energy and storing them into the system. in this study, there are two different focuses of energy system, one is a way to collect energy using alternative materials and form, and the other is a way to store the energy in the battery. the latter includes several materials of battery.
15 | Bio Cities
ENERGY INNOVATIONS
01 | SOLAR CELL INNOVATION Solar energy is an infinitely potent and affordable source of energy that can be employed by small scale residential and commercial buildings. Currently in Melbourne, people tend to limit their use of solar energy by only using conventional solar cell which is unsustainable and become land-fill waste for the next 20 years. Furthermore, its form and shape lacks the flexible quality to be applied in vast land area or even on top of roofs. For this reason, some engineers develop solar cell as a product with various alternative materials to be applied into architectural projects. Solar windows (ClearVue) is a special nanoparticle interlayer and spectral selective coating on the rear external surface of the Insulated Glass Unit (IGU) allows 70% of visible wavelength light through, but stops much of the heat and unwanted solar radiation (infrared and UV) from penetrating the glass pane; so there’s also some insulation benefits (Bloch, 2019).
Solar Window ClearVue. Source : Bloch 2019
One of Australia’s first residential buildings with Onyx Solar photovoltaic glass integrated into the facade has been built in Melbourne’s inner suburb of Northcote.The energy produced by the glass, which converts sunlight into electricity, offsets the cost of lighting, lifts and other common functions creating savings in body corporate charges for tenants (Johnston,2018). However, current solar windows are still using inorganic materials and can not be recycled. so it is great from the short term in collecting energy, but will become a major waste issue in the long run.
Onyx Solar. Source : Johnston, 2018
In looking to organic and sustainable material, scientists started to explore solar cell by using dyed colour as the conductive materials. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are emerging as one of the most promising low cost photovoltaic technologies, addressing “secure, clean and efficient solar energy conversion”. Vegetable dyes, extracted from algae, flowers, fruit and leaves, can be used as sensitizers in DSSCs (Calogero, et all, 2015) there are several advantages in using organic solar cell, including, low cost materials, temperature resistance,and light absorbance, which means the organic cells perform already during the early and late hours of the day, (Drikus, 2012). Dye-Sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Source Drikus, 2012
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ENERGY INNOVATIONS
02 | TESLA ENERGY Tesla is a major player in the industry to develop renewable energy system. Tesla owns several products which can be applied to a single house or the grid, including Solar roof to capture energy, tesla Power Wall and Tesla Megapack to store energy. Solar roof is a solar panel with the texture of roof tiles with the invisible solar cell on it. Solar Roof becomes a apart of architecturedesign element with an integrated Powerwall battery, energy collected during the day is stored and made available any time, effectively turning your home into a personal utility. (Tesla, 2019). Tesla has been developed different kind of battery that can be helped to store energy. Tesla power wall is a home battery designed to store clean energy from the solar panel, so it can use it anytime. it is 100% self-powered, so when the grid goes down, solar energy will continue to power the house by charging the electricity from the power wall (Tesla, 2019). However, this battery is Lithium-based material and costs over AUD10,000. So this technology is still unsustainable and quite expensive for accomodating one house.
Solar Roof. Source : Tesla, 2019
Tesla also built and installed the world’s largest battery in Hornsdale, South Australia, using Tesla Powerpack batteries. Since then, the facility saved nearly $40 million in its first year alone and helped to stabilize and balance the region’s unreliable grid (Tesla, 2019). Megapack significantly reduces the complexity of large scale battery storage and provides an easy installation and connection process. Each Megapack comes from the factory fully-assembled with up to 3 megawatt hours (MWhs) of storage and 1.5 MW of inverter capacity, building on Powerpack’s engineering with an AC interface and 60% increase in energy density to achieve significant cost and time savings compared to other battery systems and traditional fossil fuel power plants. Using Megapack, Tesla can deploy an emissions-free 250 MW, 1 GWh power plant in less than three months on a three-acre footprint – four times faster than a traditional fossil fuel power plant of that size. Megapack can also be DC-connected directly to solar, creating seamless renewable energy plants (Tesla 2019).
Tesla Solar Power. Source : Tesla, 2019
The disadvantages of this battery is due to using lithium-ion which is an inorganic material, so it becomes waste for the next 20 years, Tesla Mega Pack. Source : Tesla, 2019
17 | Bio Cities
ENERGY INNOVATIONS
03 | BIO ENERGY - MICROBIAL CELL The fundamental of bioenergy system is basically inspired by plant’s natural metabolism system.The basic of microbial cell is commonly used for creating biomass or biofuel. Based on Professor Alfred Spormann lecture from stanford university, Microbial cell is actually the secret of the biology. This rectangle represents microbial cell, just like the plant cell, they do metabolism. The arrow represents the cell utilising some substrate and producing new products, and ecologically, the end product in organism is more cell to regeneration. This biochemical reaction take place in every cell, in bacteria cell and plant’s cell, also in our human cell, which is called anabolism. So the driving force of the cell is energy in the form of ATP, that is delivered by a (second set) series of biochemical reactions. And this is called catabolic reaction they are qualitatively different than anabolic reaction in the sense that this reaction creates faster product, and contain more substrate than the end product. Additionally, the second product of this metabolism is usually released to the environment. So for example, when we process food as a glucose resource and we breathe O2, the anabolism will help you create energy and we have water and CO2 that comes out. So based on this biochemical reaction,what bio energy needs to consider is the substrate that will be used in order to create the energy, the microorganism that we will use in order to process the energy, the end product of our energy which later we store on our bio battery.
S Organic C, N, P, S ATP
n[H]
Protein CATABOLISM ANABOLISM
End Product End Product
BIO ENERGY
Master of Design Innovation & Technology | 18
ENERGY INNOVATIONS
03 | BIO ENERGY - MICROBIAL CELL
Microbial Electrosynthesis. Source : Accesible Clean Enery
Microbial Fuel Cell. Source : Bruce Logan
There are several types of microbial cells that have been researched in terms of exploring bioenergy. The first one is Microbial Electrosynthesis or MES, where they used solar panel, wind or nuclear in order to capture the electron, then using microbial chatodic biofuel reactor and waste water for creating a biomass, in the form of methane or acetate.
The second one is Microbial Fuel cell, this process which has geobacter, the bacteria to release electron in anodic reactor in order to create electricity. While both microbial electrosynthesisand microbial fuel cell have been subject of intensive study over the last decades, they have not yet become effective storage and recover electricity.
202 + 8H+ e-
4H2O
ANODE
02 + H+
BIOMASS
H2O
CHATODE
e-
Acetate Methane Butyrate Caproate e-
BIO CHATODE CO2 + 8H+
CH4/AC-
MICROBIAL ELECTROSYNTHESIS
19 | Bio Cities
BIO ANODE AC- H+ CO2
MICROBIAL FUEL CELL
e-
Storage
Capture
Use
In the current state of technology, Innovation that is developed by the industrial world still has many underlying problems which need to be solved. Problems such as inefficient use of non organic materials that are not only expensive but also unsustainable. On the other side of the coin, we have scientists who are spearheading the developmentfor innovation in eco-friendly energy sources by using organic and living materials. Although, we still do not have a case for a well building or installation design that is well integrated with such technology. This is why the project only aims at offering ideas in concept architectural design to be made as a model for a selfsufficient energy system. It is especially done to a building that uses a number of sustainable, organic and affordable design features at the same time. the whole building works as a system of Capture - Storage - Use which represents how the energy flows through-out the building.
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Design the right thing | Microgrid-District An energy self-sufficient and community-based vertical neighbourhood. The architecture is designed to perform as an integrated bio-battery system with the objective to store and recover electricity using microorganisms.
21 | Bio Cities
n-type Carbon based dyes layer
BIO SOLAR CELLS
n-type
electron
electron Depletion Zone
p-type electron n-type Positive Ions Carbon based dyes layer Negative Ions p-type
CAPTURE
| Bio Solar Cell
Solar cell is known as the photoelectric effect that causes them to absorb photons of light and release electrons. When these free electrons are captured, an electric current results that can be used as electricity. the efficiency of the most advanced solar cells is closer to 23%, while average solar cells for residential use are around 18.7% efficient. Based on a precedence study about Solar Cell, Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) is an efficient design that is employed in this system. One of the DSSCs that is being developed in Melbourne is Bio Solar by Bio 21 Institute. Dr Wallace Wong from Melbourne University has been developed printable lightweight, flexible solar cells. The material is Carbon-based dyes used in the production which is sustainable. It can be produced in mass product at low cost, simply by being printed on large plastic sheets, using standard commercial printers.
Dye-sensitize for Bio Solar Cell. Source : Hunt, 2018
Currently, carbon-based solar cells can produce 12 per cent efficiency (Hunt, 2018) . colours an object absorbs depends on all the complex molecules that make up its surface. Red dyes, which originally comes from rose petals is the most efficient colour to absorb the Sun’s highest intensity radiation. Master of Design Innovation & Technology | 22
CAPTURE
| Photoperiodism
Sun rotation affects the effectiveness of solar cell. This is due to the surface of solar cells that does not receive evenly distributed light from the sun because of its changing position throughout the day. This is the main cause to create a mechanism for the solar cell to get consistent and maximum amount of light. One of the defining behaviour that we observe in an organism is its process and method to get exposed to the sun, this is evidently obvious in many plants. The plant responses to light involving the relative length of day and night called Photoperiodism. This behaviour can be adapted and integratedinto an architectural design project in the forms of solar cell features that move along with the coming of the light.
Light Source Shade
Light Plant grows towards the light
PHOTOPERIODISM
23 | Bio Cities
CAPTURE
| Prototype
The bio solar cell requires mechanism in order to follow the sun path movement. So, the solar cells are best placed on the interactive facade system which has two sensors at both the top and bottom area of the solar cell to input light intensity data. Bio solar cells can then be equipped with servo in each of its sides to allow for a rotating mechanism at the top and bottom (z axis). Lastly, bio solar cells are then connected to arduino which has already been programmed to follow the sun’s path throughout the day. Servo Light Dependent Resistor
Sun light
Connect with arduino program solar tracker
Sun light
Solar cell moves upward
Sun light
Solar cell moves upward
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CAPTURE
| Prototype
When the sun’s position is exactly at the top of the bio solar cell in which case the most radiation is received only by the top part of the solar cell, then the positioning of the bio solar cell will remain at 90 degree angle. However, right when the sun’s position (relative to the building) starts to move away from the bio solar cell, it will move with a different angles in accordion to the position of the sun light. This is due to differences of light’s radiation intensity that is received by each of both top and bottom sensors. Servo can then calculate the rotation of bio solar cell to increase efficiency in anytime of the day.
Sun light
Solar cell moves downward
25 | Bio Cities
Sun light
Solar cell moves downward
STORAGE
| Microbial Rechargeable Battery (MRB)
In 2016, Dr. Sam Molenaar conducted a proof-of-concept research of microbial rechargeable battery or MRB. It is an integrated microbial cells between MES and MFC with the objective to store and recover electricity using microorganisms. In the MES phase, the electron energy is consumed to form acetate while during the MFC phase, the electrical energy is generated by consumption of the acetate. During MES phase the electron will be transformed to acetate using microorganism called Acetobacterium woodii, a bacteria that can produce acetate by generating electron and waste water. this bacteria will create a bio film in negative charge as bio chatode.
202 + 8H+ e-
4H2O
On the other hand, MFC will use Geobacter anodiredunces in positive charge as bio anode. this microorganism will create electricity by consuming Acetate which previously produced by MES. therefore, both bio chatode from MES and bio anode from MFC are connected to transfer acetate. afterthat, the electricity is produced in MFC and be ready to distribute. This battery system works 24hours. the bio solar cells charge the photons to electrons throughout the day, then it stores in MES in the form of acetate. In the evening MFC will transform the acetate to energy which later gets distributed throughout the building.
02 + H+
ANODE
H2O
CHATODE
e-
Geobacter anodiredunces e-
Acetobacterium woodii
BIO ANODE
BIO CHATODE eCO2 + 8H+
CH4/AC-
AC- H+ CO2
CO2 16 HOURS
Acetobacterium woodii
8 HOURS
Geobacter anodiredunces
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STORAGE
| MRB System
00:00 Distribute energy to the building 21:00
03:00
MFC Transform acetate to energy
Evening
MICROGRID DISTRICT
18:00
06:00
Morning Charge photon to electron
BIO SOLAR CELLS MES 15:00
09:00
12:00
This system will be integrated to the building. Due to the rotation of the sun, the building envelope works as interactive facade using bio solar cell to capture the electron. Then it will transfer to the battery, called microbial rechargeable battery (MRB), which will be placed in the core of the building as the main source of energy.
27 | Bio Cities
Store electron to acetate
STORAGE
| Prototype
The principal concept of microbial cell as a bio-battery is actually transforming acid to energy. this experiments are using acid electrolytes in order to understand how the biobattery works. there are several types of electrolytes containing different values of acid, including lemon, grapefruit, lemonade and vinegar.
Lemon as the bio battery source
Using lemon and grapefruit, the experiment was aiming to know how the organic compounds will generate electricity. it resulted that the amount of acids in the liquid influences the current that is created.
Grapefruit as the bio battery source
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STORAGE
29 | Bio Cities
| Prototype
USE
| Microgrid-District
Microgrid-District is a whole new vertical neighbourhood where each floor is an outlying residential district with its own micro grid being inclusive for the multi culture of Melbourne. In the typical Melbourne urban streetscape, where we have community centers, different residential models, and 100m from that is a public park and then we have a gym also few pocket gardens in between. Melbourne is such a fast-growing city that its constantly expanding urban sprawl has created a social polarised society. The question is how our design fixes this problem.
Greenery Community Center
Co-Living Space
Residential House
Residential House
Living Quaters
Living Quaters
Greenery
Co-Health Space Co-Service Space Co-Making Space
Studio 1 Bedroom 2 Bedrooms
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USE
| Design Program
The idea is to put all the crucial urban forms vertically and put them right in the heart of CBD. Microgrid-district will have each floor with a shared space for community engagement. green terrace, to make the city more greener compared to the current situation. So the building program is not necessarily a typical vertical housing building, but instead more of a neighbourhood with various models of living quarters, communal space as well as green area.
31 | Bio Cities
Public Park
Activity Center
Health Center
Greenery
Vertical Jungle
Co-Living Space
Co-Living Space
Green Terrace
USE
| The heart of CBD Melbourne
Currently, there is a steep growth in Melbourne’s vertical residential and office buildings for the last decade. Melbourne’s CBD especially has experienced massive change in space density which reduces sunlight exposure and even kills some of the greenery area. Types of buildings have even merged between new and heritage buildings which causes some closure for some of the landmarks to make room for new buildings. This is evidently omitting of Melbourne’s city context. This is the reason why it would not be a very good idea to develop a new build project in this city since it will only raise the spatial density, adding even more carbon footprint and requires much bigger capital investment. In For this project, we decide to choose the most central location in the CBD; Uni Super Building to be used as the case on which adaptive reuse method is employed to reconstruct the design with new function. Adaptive reuse is the process of reconstructing an existing building for a purpose other than which it was originally built or designed for. it is an effective strategy for optimizing the operational and commercial performance of built assets. Adaptive reuse of buildings can be an attractive alternative to new construction in terms of sustainability and a circular economy. Uni super building located at 385 Bourke Street, currently owned by Commonwealth Bank- accommodating 40 office floors and 50 retail stores. Currently the building saves upto 40% in CO2. But we can make it better.
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33 | Bio Cities
USE
I UniSuper
Located in the heart of Melbourne, its centrally placed within major tram lines and train stations and commercially dominated surrounding with no green spaces at all. Therefore, it is perfect building to do repurpose of design program, from the typical office building to the vertical neighbourhood.
LANDMARK
LANDMARK
SKYLINE
Yarra River
Townhall
Offices Building
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MAIN ROAD
COMMERCIAL AREA
HARBOUR
Burke Street
Emporium
Port Melboure
35 | Bio Cities
USE
I Adaptive Reused
There are 3 level of podium in this building as well as 40 typical office floor levels. Its aluminum cladded facade has relatively low glazed surface area. The podium and the office has different grid structure and the core is connected from the bottom to the top.
The design process is started by opening up all the cladding in the building but still maintaining all its structural element:core, collumns and slabs, in order to reduce construction cost.
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USE
Bio Solar Cells Placement
Based on the sun path, North east is the most efficient direction for capturing energy,Therefore, this side is the best area to put the bio solar cells.
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USE
| Extention : Transition Space
To have a soft interface for the building, the facade design has been extended to the side road. it is also to create a transition between building and the road.
This area becomes an opening space from the podium to the 10th floor of the building, creating a vertical connection through each level.
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USE
I Vertical Garden
Based on the extension, the 2 level from the 10th floor is open and converting into a vertical garden to create a public space and become a vertical jungle.
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This public space also continues to all floor above as a communal space for the residents. it has a potential to create a vertical garden and community-based urban farming to develop in this area.
USE
| Extention & Cladding
The extended envelope is transformed for various co-living spaces for more community engagement. it has double height of level in order to create multi level space on the building
Finally, on the rest of envelopes, it is designed as multipurposed claddings to be both second skin facade and vertical planters for the vegetations.
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USE
41 | Bio Cities
Final Massing
USE
Design Program
The design program is to have a communal share space and living quarters on the same level. Each floor also has vertical garden for the resident to do outdoor activities. the communal share space and vertical garsden become a semi public for the residents and the first 10th floor of the vertical jungle becomes open for the public. the idea is to put all the crucial urban form in a vertical building.
Vertical Jungle
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USE
Design Program
Co-Service Space
Co-Making Space
Co-Health Space
Living Quaters
43 | Bio Cities
Co-Living Space
USE
Plans
115sqm Vertical Garden & Communal Space
Living quaters
80sqm
Level 13-39
50sqm
Vertical Jungle
Co-living space Level 1-5
Microbial Rechargeable Battery Each floor
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USE
Humans Activities
Living Quaters
Co-Living Space
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Microbial Rechargeable Battery
Co-Living Space
Vertical Jungle
USE
Claddings Exploration
By a series of claddings options, the building enveloped has been explored in oder to find the opportunities relating to the activities and the purpose of the building to bring back the crusial urban form in vertical building. the features of the building envelope include the second skin of the facade, the palnters for the vegetation and the connections between level. Master of Design Innovation & Technology | 46
USE
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Claddings Exploration
USE
Cladding Design
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USE
Cladding Design
The final design of the envelope represents the function of the cladding which are vertical garden and open double skin facade. this claddings are implemented in living quaters and vertical garden, while the communal space will be placed in the extended area the bio solar cells.
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USE
Cladding Design
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USE
Interactive Facade
the initial forms of our building and bio solar cell exploration result the idea of creating interactive facade in this building. Based on sun path analysis. Each level will have different angle because of the position of the sun as the attractor of the parametric facade. Therefore, it will create a flowing movement of the solar panel.
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STORE Microbial Rechargeable Battery ee-
e-
CAPTURE Bio Solar Cells
USE Living Quaters Communal Space Vertical Gadren
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e-
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Design Reflection | Microgrid-District “Life is nothing but an electron looking for a place to rest”. Albert Szent-Györgyi ( Nobel Prize, Physiology or Medicine, 1937). This project, just like the journey of an electron through the building, becomes a microgrid-district with its own resource of energy. It triggers a model of different scenario that humans as a part of ecosystem live and rest in resilient and sustainable environment.
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MICROGRID DISTRICT Final Design
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Microgrid District represents a whole new vertical neighbourhood where each floor is an outlying residential district with its own micro grid being inclusive for the multi culture of Melbourne. The idea is to put all the crucial urban forms vertically and put them right in the heart of CBD. It has living quarters with shared space for community engagement and green terrace to make the city more greener compared to the current situation.
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From elizabeth street,there is a vertical jungle on the top of the podium, it is publically accessible until the 10th floor to experience the cityscape of melbourne.
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The residents also have separate green terrace on each floor. This becomes a communal space for the resident to share activities and socialize.
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The envelope of the building represents both features, the living quarters and interactive facade for the energy system.
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Through this section we can see all the connections from each system, the parametric facade to capture energy, the storage of bio battery and as you can see here the building is actually a vertical jungle neighborhood.
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In the end, we aim to create an ecological living space right in the middle of the city to change the conversation of what our city looks like. This building will become a new landmark for Melbourne that mirrors the livable and sustainable life for the future.
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Building Prototype
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MICROGRID DISTRICT Tria Amalia Ningsih