The project has been developed during the lockdown period to implement a self-sufficient housing for the production of food and energy. The goal is to make this urban area self-sufficient in a lockdown.The design defines four courtyard buildings based on an orthogonal grid that represents the ordering principle of the project. The project is based on the idea of a ‘self-sufficient city’ that incorporates local resource production and sustainable development and aims to reduce the disruption of daily activities even during lockdown periods that could result from the emergence of new pandemics in the future.
In order to articulate the building complex, Guallart Architects combined in the four blocks, which constitute the block-type, the traditional urban city blocks of European cities with the modern residential tower blocks of China and greenhouses derived from typical agricultural production landscapes. In the ground floor, small working digital factories will allow to use 3D printer and rapid prototyping machines to produce objects for the daily use. Therefore, the building will have an internal metabolic system that will integrate energy production, recycled water, food production and material reuse promotion a distributed model for urban management.
The outdoor space is configured in each courtyard according to the sequence of public and collective spaces defined by the presence of the cross-connection axis and recognisable by the treatment of the surfaces – paved in correspondence with the common areas and paths and green areas – and the presence of trees.
The natural environment within the block consists of a wide strip of vegetation located longitudinally to the west, consisting of a large central lawn area and bordered along the perimeter by continuous rows of trees.