Preservative

Mutualistic architectute: Innovative approach towards a preservative densification

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• published: 23 Oct 2012
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This video is part of the combined master thesis of Igor de Vetyemy and Virginia Scapinelli and it is intellectual property of the authors and T.U.Delft. Authorizations for total or parcial reproduction only through: igor@igordevetyemy.com.br & v.scapinelli@gmail.com The starting point of this thesis is the analysis - both through research and through design - of the ongoing process of urban densification in order to explore possible ways to face it with efficiency and quality. The goal is to investigate an alternative way to deal with this process in complex scenarios, where the traditional approach of simply substituting existing buildings for denser ones is not possible: historical city centers constitute local cultural heritage and for this reason need to be preserved, establishing huge constraints for this inner growth process. The central question raised is how to accommodate the future city within the existing one, in a necessarily intimate relation between present and future buildings, improving the original quality. In other words, the question raised is how to promote an architectonic symbiosis able to provide positive outcomes to all the parties involved, in biological terms: a Mutualistic relation. Exchanges of services and nutrients that define each kind of symbiosis in biology were translated to the architectural field, defining relations of parasitism, amensalism, commensalism, neutralism and mutualism in architecture. A catalogue explores 80 existing "symbiotic relations" between buildings in the current urban scene. Nowadays incorrectly put together under the expression "parasitic architecture", each exemple analized was re-labeled according to proper analogies with the biological terminology. The book with this research is available for consultation. The outcomes of that analysis work as inputs for the densification plan for Amsterdam here presented. Two examples -- under and above the heritage urban fabric explore the question of how to achieve a Mutualistic Architecture. The choice of the most complex possible scenario -- the untouchable Inner city of Amsterdam -- led to an experimental innovative approach. New layers with public and private spaces create paybacks in many levels to the host heritage layer. They provide back to the canal houses and to the city: energy, water, structural stability, payback spaces, new circulation networks, a permanently visitable infra-structure maintenance tunnel and emergency lanes, besides creating new ways and perspectives to experiment the urban environment, a branding payback to the city of canals and unique roofspcape.