The research addresses a housing crisis being caused by rapid urbanisation. This process, which is primarily due to population growth and rural migration, is predicted to double urban populations over the next 50 years. Due to this, the amount building stock required over the next 50 years will equal that of which has been constructed throughout the entire history of civilisation. To accommodate these unprecedented rates of growth, existing housing solutions need to be rethought and reformulated. Our proposed design system does this by coupling a series of housing genotypes in seemingly contradictory relationships, and in so doing, attempts to appropriate their attributes while overcoming their shortfalls.
The project challenges the inexpensive but socially damaging urban sprawl and the expensive but land-use proficient urban extrusion by proposing a system that is low-rise, high-density and woven into the under-utilised gaps of dense existing cities. This allows for the reduction of construction and operational costs and the maximisation of interaction between inhabitants by making use of existing infrastructure while optimising the use of scarce urban land. In contrast to typical in-situ and prefabricated construction techniques that are generic yet time-efficient, our system harnesses readily available technologies in order to propose a construction process that is prefabricated and bespoke. This allows the project to be built at rates that can compete with other high-speed development models, while at the same time respond to the intricacies of particular places, lifestyles and environmental features.
Beyond standard hard and soft material conditions, which create spaces that are either fixed but long lasting or malleable but transient our system establishes varying gradients between these two conditions. This allows it to fluctuate in scale and configuration over time in accordance with changes in density, lifestyle and season while enabling the materials to be replaced incrementally in alignment with their various life-cycles. This is achieved through a patterning technique that transforms flat metal sheets into dimensionally variable, volumetric surfaces.
Generative System
Our generative design process began by implementing our stigmergy code across a chosen urban block within Shenzhen. Attractor points were distributed at site entry points, as well as entry and exit points to existing buildings within the site.
The next level of information embedded within the stigmergic deployment was an environmental evaluation of existing site conditions. The site was evaluated with regard to proximity of buildings on site, as well as shading values based on two extreme conditions within a calendar year.
This information was consolidated into a numerical value. These values were then deployed across data points on the site, creating an initial deposition of pheromone values.
The agents then negotiated these site pheromone values and the attractor points to generate an optimised network within the existing context which would then be used as a basis for massing deployment.
The process continues by subjecting the cells to a cellular automata (CA) simulation defining the location of each void within the overall massing. These voids intended for supplying natural light and ventilation also define the circulation system of the building by communicating each apartment with the ground and establishing a connection with the roof.
Furthermore the CA establishes an initial set-up for the internal distribution of the building.
Team:
Michael Barraclough
Matthew LeGrice
Daniel Ovalle Costal
José Pareja Gómez