Sustainability – Radical Atoms https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/en Ars Electronica Festival 2016 Tue, 28 Jun 2022 13:26:43 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.6 Deep Space 8K: Paguro Idea https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/en/deep-space-8k-paguro-idea/ Mon, 01 Aug 2016 13:21:02 +0000 https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/?p=1017 The crisis as an opportunity. The earthquakes that shook Nepal in April and May 2015 have affected an estimated eight million people—that is almost a third of the country’s population. Entire villages were flattened, while others were severely damaged.

That was one major reason to found Paguro Idea , a non-profit organization with the vision to help people who are affected by emergencies and structural poverty.

Paguro Idea initiated its first project in Nepal to support the reconstruction of villages, starting with Raghuchour in the Kavre Palanchowk district. Engineers without Borders supports the project in creating a concept to construct earthquake-resistant buildings with local materials and local resources as well as improving the water supply to secure a third crop.

Together with the locals, the project aims to reconstruct the village sustainably and to improve livelihoods. Based on an ecovillage approach, the villages can be rebuilt more socially, economically and ecologically sustainably, without losing their cultural background.

]]> Hy-Fi: Reinventing the brick for a low-carbon, compostable structure https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/en/hy-fi-reinventing-brick-low-carbon-compostable-structure/ Wed, 22 Jun 2016 12:14:40 +0000 https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/?p=2003 The Living
Hy-Fi offers a captivating physical environment and a new paradigm for sustainable architecture. In this project we tested and refined a new low-energy building material, manufactured 10,000 compostable bricks, constructed a 13-meter-high tower, hosted public cultural events for three months, dismantled the structure, composted the bricks, and returned the resulting soil to local community gardens.]]>

The Living

Hy-Fi offers a captivating physical environment and a new paradigm for sustainable architecture. In this project we tested and refined a new low-energy building material, manufactured 10,000 compostable bricks, constructed a 13-meter-high tower, hosted public cultural events for three months, dismantled the structure, composted the bricks, and returned the resulting soil to local community gardens.  We designed a new type of “grown” brick through an innovative combination of corn stalk waste and living mushrooms with a root-like growth. The bricks are lightweight, low cost, and extremely sustainable. The manufacturing process engages bio-technology, agriculture, and industrial manufacturing. The composting process engages the municipal solid-waste stream. In contrast to typical short-sighted architecture, our project is designed to disappear as much as it is designed to appear.

Client: Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1; Architect: The Living, David Benjamin (Principal), John Locke (Project Lead), Danil Nagy (Project Lead), Damon Lau, Ray Wang, Jim Stoddart, Dale Zhao; Structural engineer: Arup (Matthew Clark and Shaina Saporta)

Organic materials: Ecovative (Eben Bayer, Joe Risico, Sam Harrington, Garrett Scheffler, Peter Flannery); Daylighting materials: 3M (Charles Shaklee, Guy Kallman, Terry Haskins,

Sarah Claypool, George Levendusky, Byron Trotter, Gina Albanese); Construction: Art Domantay Artworks; Masonry: PMA Construction (Artur Tyszuk); Software: Autodesk Dynamo; Structural testing: Columbia Engineering Carlton Strength and Materials Laboratory; Natural coating: Shabd Simon-Alexander and Audrey Louise Reynolds; Natural weatherproofing: Silacote; Foundation supplier: Krinner; Foundation installation: Terra Smart; Video: Brooklyn Digital Foundry; Branding: Bruce Mau Design; Salvaged material and compost: Build It Green!; Wind engineer: BMT Fluid Mechanics; Environmental engineer: Atelier Ten; Landscape consulting: SCAPE Landscape Architecture;

Accelerated aging: Advanced Metal Coatings Incorporated; Fabrication: Associated Fabrication;  Fabrication: LeeLABStudio

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