“A bold proposition to understand the city as a type of ‘self-sustaining’ machine” – Holcim Awards Jury
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Project entry 2014 Africa Middle East – Machinarium: Regenerative urban catalyst and textile production, Pretoria, South Africa
Algae-based dye cultivation: By housing a living organism as part of the architectural skin, the mill’s spatial experience is in constant flux, and is directly connected to the natural metabolism of the algae and movement of water. As the varicolored algae species are grown, sunlight is filtered through the glass tanks to create organic ‘stained glass’ dappled light inside the building. The building’s façade also morphs as the algae is grown and harvested for dye and energy.
The jury admired the freshness of the scheme’s underlying hypothesis as well as its translation into architecture. Particularly valued was the project’s bold proposition to understand the city as a type of “self-sustaining” machine in which one component feeds the other – a collection of superimposed eco-systems in a state of equilibrium. Notwithstanding its utopian facets, the design proposal frames a valuable discussion on potential forms of relationship between the constructed and natural environment, offering the grounds for understanding the art of building as a practice in symbiotic relation with nature.
Last updated: June 13, 2014 Beirut, Lebanon
The jury admired the freshness of the scheme’s underlying hypothesis as well as its translation into architecture. Particularly valued was the project’s bold proposition to understand the city as a type of “self-sustaining” machine in which one component feeds the other – a collection of superimposed eco-systems in a state of equilibrium. Notwithstanding its utopian facets, the design proposal frames a valuable discussion on potential forms of relationship between the constructed and natural environment, offering the grounds for understanding the art of building as a practice in symbiotic relation with nature.