Laka Competition ’16: Architecture that Reacts

Urban Oasis - Synergetic, living prototypes

The concept of “urban oasis” intents to harvest, accumulate and transform energy streams and potentials in the urban field into synergetic cycles. Focusing on waste-heat places in the city (such as the office-, industry- and food sector), automated & social installations in different scales try to develop solutions, how food production or other needs, can be created.

Prototype - Oasis No. 8, Graz, Austria
The waste-heat installation Oasis No. 8 (2015/16) can be seen as a prototype for using local available energy sources for the production of food in urban settlements. The project is situated in a vacant lot in the city center of Graz, Austria. The tropical micro-climate inside the bubble is powered only by the waste heat of two existing refrigeration units from a restaurant and a bakery under and behind the installation. The small, artificial and parasitic habitat takes rainwater from the roofs and sunlight from the sky to grow banana, pineapple and papaya plants. Within this intervention, the automated system is self-sustaining and keeps the interior temperature over 12° degrees Celsius – the minimum temperature required by tropical plants of this kind – during the freezing winter months. By remote control, the group of volunteers (Bananahood), can observe and change parameters of the technical components.

Info: www.agencyinbiosphere.com