Prototype: productive towers
year:
2021institution:
School of Architecture (ETSAM) [Design Studio 7]profs. Pedro Pitarch, Silvia Colmenares
team:
Javier Álvarez, Alex Romero, Cristina Feitoprogram:
factorysite:
Hlebozavod No. 9, Moscow, RusiaHow can ever-increasing demands be met with minimal environmental consequences? What would the food factory of this century look like?
It is understood that this food production cannot stem from a utopian vision of the countryside and vegetable gardens, as these are considered insufficient and even harmful.
For this reason, the project proposes a research space aimed at addressing this question. Various methods of food production are implemented: aeroponics, aquaponics, hydroponics, cellular meat… all of which remain in a state of research and prototyping. This program is complemented by laboratories and offices.
All this food, all this "natural matter," is artificially produced. But it no longer matters because, in the scenario where the project operates, nature as it has been understood until now—that is, as something untouched by human intervention—no longer exists.
The project acknowledges this fact and focuses on creating the ideal ecosystem for this new nature. To achieve this, an efficient water cycle is designed to collect as much water as possible and distribute it across the different systems. This operation is accompanied by a geothermal plant to generate the required climates and a network for wastewater treatment.
The project also addresses the logistics of the goods produced within the complex, which are distributed to the city using the existing railway network.
