Clean Air and Plants: As a self-initiated project we propose the construction of an enclosed park within the city. The park houses a botanical garden, the air inside the park is clean, and temperature and humidity are controlled throughout the year.
The buildings surrounding the park, which are connected to the controlled air system, can house apartments, offices and retail, but may also offer sports or medical facilities which make specific use of the healthy air.
Honorable Mention | RTFA 2014 Awards
Category: Urban Design Concept
Participant Name: Rajat Sodhi
Country: India
Economic Feasibility: The project becomes feasible as it uses a new affordable construction system which has been developed in collaboration with a specialist contractor. The cost of the canopy structure is paid for by the development of the surrounding property.
Environmental Construction
The roof uses a light-weight structural system. The heating and cooling of the air is provided by a ground source heat exchange. Electricity for the project can be generated by solar cells integrated into the canopy surface.
BOTANICAL GARDEN
Recreation for the People
Plants from the whole world in the Heart of the City: Botanical Gardens have been built in many world cities. They are attractions for tourists and places for recreation for the inhabitants of the city. Both children and adults can experience nature and learn about the plants of the park.
Inside the green houses, the temperature and humidity are controlled throughout the year, which allows the growth of plants from any climate. The plants and landscapes from all over the world can be placed inside the Bubbles project.
FEASIBILITY
A New Construction Method
Economic Construction System: The idea of covering larger areas of a city by a transparent surface has most famously been proposed by Buckminster Fuller with his dome over New York, but his proposal was conceptual and would not be feasible to construct.
However together with a specialist contractor we have developed a new type of construction system which is light-weight and affordable.
We suggests to develop a larger plot of land with commercial real-estate. The profits from this development will cover the construction of the canopy. A local government can offer the land to a real-estate company in exchange for providing the park to its people, the construction of the project becomes beneficial for the industry as well as the people.
Application at Various Scales: The proposed roof system can be used to enclose an urban botanical garden, but the system also lends itself for many other applications at various scales: It can be used to economically enclose playgrounds or school yards, it can for the atrium of an office building or shopping mall, or it can be used to cover the gardens of an apartment complex.