Output details

Eco Chrysalis

The work achieved runner-up award, receiving a Special Commendation (Medium Density Category) in the ‘Housing Tomorrow’ international competition organised by D3, the New York-based collective with an international profile that is committed to advancing innovative positions through research. The judging panel was made up of international leaders in education and practice and there were 120 international entries. The brief called for original proposals that explored, documented, analysed and deployed innovative approaches to sustainable urban living that recognised the implications of urban population growth and density whilst embracing economic and social diversity. Underlying Jones’ design was the argument that urban living cannot be divorced from the need to generate resources, particularly food, for supporting the 8 billion+ urban dwellers expected by 2050. The submission was developed through critical synthesis following a systematic theoretical analysis that included ecological and participatory economics. The result was a ‘cross-programmed residential and urban vertical farm’ usable as a new sustainable urban typology, reducing effects on rural landscapes and intensive agriculture. Appropriate and innovative technologies, natural and manmade, were sourced, researched and applied to create a sustainable ‘pollution free’ proposal. Organiser D3 actively disseminated the competition material within the US, principally in New York, and dissemination of the work has included displays (competition boards, reports and sketchbooks) at Housing for Tomorrow Exhibition (Lincoln Center, New York City; Sept.-Oct., 2010) and UDESIGN International Design Conference (Universidad de Monterrey, Mexico, March 2010) considered to be the most prestigious in Latin America. The work has been disseminated globally through the major architectural digital media sites, including: Architecture Room, ArchDaily, ACSA News USA, Akichiatlas JAPAN, AIAS News USA, Arch-Times USA, Archidose USA, Archifield CHINA, Archigiornale ITALY, Archimafia, USA, Bustler, and Death by Architecture. The project was exhibited in a number of prestigious venues, including the Lincoln Centre, New York and at the UDESIGN conference, at the Universidad de Monterrey, the largest annual art, architecture and design conference in Latin America.