ALGAE-FIT

sona Superstudio 2022 submission

CWS: Cayley chan | wendy lin | steph wills

Program: Residential Retrofit | Urban Farming | Hydroponic Farming | Aquaponic Bio-Filtration | Laneway Activation | Foldable Furniture/Facade

Site remediation through the regenerative production and consumption of algae.

The combined proposition of an algae facade system, hydroponic urban farming, and pop-up laneway activation seeks to benefit environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, and social impact by responding to current issues of climate change, the carbon footprint of the built environment industry, food supply shortages, increased living expenses as well as a social disconnect between people, community and Country.

Celebrating regenerative design through site remediation, connecting community and facilitating the notion of caring for Country.

Algae Facade: Multi-functional algae screens can be retrofitted onto existing buildings using a modular facade system that enables low-carbon energy production which reduces heating costs and electrically powers our urban farming initiative.

Urban Farming: The algae biomass produced from the facade screens is channelled into local, endemic food production through a hydroponic kit-of-parts. The modular kit-of-parts is designed for assembly, re-use, and adaptive modification over time. Locally farming endemic produce facilitates the notion of caring for Country and cultural education while being environmentally sustainable and beneficial in comparison to current commercial farming concepts.

Laneway Activation: Produce harvested from the urban farming on-site can be used for resident consumption, subsidising food costs. Excess produce can be channelled into a pop-up laneway farmer’s market on-site, which offsets body corporate fees, activates underutilised laneway networks, and benefits community engagement.