17th Venice Architecture biennale 2021
italian pavilion
How Will We Live Together?
la biennale architettura 2021 - La 17th Biennale di Venezia- Italian Pavilion - CittyX Venice -
H_Station signifies a grand step in a global initiative toward a sustainable future. In an era of extreme technological progress and environmental degradation, H_Station provides hope that a balance between the synthetic and natural world could be achieved.
Artificial habitation, the cities in which we live and many of us will move to, is today responsible for an estimated 75% of CO2 emissions. This is the main cause of global warming with transport and buildings being among the largest contributors. Green hydrogen fuel now offers an environmentally conscious and revolutionary alternative, with zero emissions from the tailpipe and close to zero in its green stream production.
By turning a new leaf, we are presented with advantages which provide more scope and flexibility for the on-site design. H_Station, re-imagines the event of re-fueling, the activities on-site and how place, preservation and cultural context could be considered. This is possible due to the harmful fumes and concrete planes no longer being necessary characteristics of a refuelling station.
The cities we build are sprawling both horizontally and vertically at an unprecedented pace, most without architectural consideration. These cities are beacons of progress and hubs for human evolution, therefore will continue to grow. The question of ‘How Will We Live Together?’ is not one an architect can answer alone, it is a question to be answered in collaboration with all kinds of disciplines, ensuring a circular attitude is developed.
In this belief, H_Station is a modular construction with a light footprint on the land it resides on and therefore can be easily and delicately relocated; preserving natural ecosystems. It is also a contextually and culturally sensitive design, celebrating its locality. The concept is a circular model of green hydrogen production use. The green hydrogen bi-products are oxygen and heat, both resources being reused on site with greenhouses, vertical farms and freshwater fish. The renovation of existing buildings not only preserves the local character, but the space provides opportunity for community activity making use of the function centre, small museum and seated café drawing in the public.
"How will we live together in a future of densely populated cities that currently emit the majority of the world’s pollution. In a future where we have built an undeniable dependence on technology, infrastructure and transport? One which technological data provides scientific evidence of the impact of the built world on the earth and its species?
Walking onto site, my mind is set to be critical and think abstractly about the way in which to implement an architectural program and system which exists outside of the physical phenomenon that architecture is best known for.
Immediately apparent, is the opportunity in maintaining what already exists on site, nature and context will not be wiped away and a blanket of concrete will not be laid. That a scalable and modular model is necessary, one that is contextually and environmentally sensitive to each individual site.
We are placed deep within yet another industrial revolution and for the first time this revolution’s success is largely based on promoting a healthy earth. We sit within an Ethical epochal milestone with the knowledge, technology and data to re-design existing flawed technological and infrastructural elements imperative to the functioning and growth of societies.
Indeed, architecture should be a protagonist in the quest for environmental repair, since in the hands and minds of architects lie the tools for humanising technology, for creating a balance between the synthetic and the natural world and for recognising and contextualising cultural shifts.
Our advanced technology provides us with the tools to create balance between the synthetic and natural elements of our environment, to create harmony by maximising the circular use of our resources and eliminating the harmful impacts of human activity on our world.
The use of green hydrogen on site means that refueling is clean, the fossil fuels and their fumes no longer stain the ground or fill the air. This revolutionises how and where we place these structural zones, nature and cultural context can exist in a place which traditionally did not allow for it.
It is now more than ever imperative to a livable future that we design to both restore and preserve the health of our planet, so that we can live together sustainably and leave a healthier inheritance for future generations."
