Superscape 2018
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Guiding principles of the urban development concept
The capacity to adapt to the next reality has always been the main factor of our own evolution. In it, the architecture presents itself as a continuous development in response to the changing human desires and needs, facing at the same time the clearer challenges of the impact of human footprint on Earth. Today, the architectural world is forced to turn its focus to a sustainable and ecological future.
In this scope, we are now confronted with an overwhelming issue: the rise of sea levels. We as a species can confront this issue and resolve it in a number of ways with much of theses efforts being expected in refraining emissions and refocusing our practices to involve sustainable approaches but alas, we have not done so yet, and with the irreversible breaking point reached, we are now over the limit to protect ourselves and any course of action is in the midst of rapid climate change consequences. Our proposal means to fully explore our capability of moving forward along with what the current and future possibilities technology has to offer. Therefore, we envision a significant break from the current urban design, giving space to a more organic, sustainable and connected environment for living, where the ever-growing digital world becomes closer in harmony with nature.
By creating a parallel urban landscape much compared to nature itself we elevate our future cities away from the uprising seas, away from our impact on the existing soil, relieving nature of our impact. The form, symbiotic with nature, would derive from the natural shapes surrounding the city. This way we would project a new space that brings us closer to nature, and, through the sequential building techniques of say, a 3D printing robot, it would allow a continuous organic flow of matter resembling the nature forms and shapes engrained in the human development.
Instead of following the vertical tendency of the shape of our cities, we choose to intervene in the space we already occupy, using as much as possible the resources already in use. Advances in recycling materials as metal and concrete have been instrumental in realizing we can reuse this materials, re-purpose them as elements in our new planning systems. This horizontal concept pretends to ensure a better and simpler motion within and between the urban spaces, thus also avoiding the idea of a hierarchy inherent to any vertical construction.
