400k Pod

How do we represent individuality in housing? What is the demand of nowadays city dwellers?
Do you prefer living by the park or in the park?
A city often doesn't address the need for single dweller units, so we decided to represent a new form of collectivity, as an accumulation of individuals. Every kid dream was the one of a tree-house. Architecture has a tradition of natural forms, inspirational and often mimetic. We thought the hanging system for the living-pods as a trunk. The cells are stacked on reticular beams serving also as foot-bridge connecting to the vertical circulation inside the trunks. The tree will have different heights (40 to 60m) and hold a proportional number of units.
The cell is made of a shelter similar to the hull of a ship, with a layout similar to those of a caravan or a boat. Costs are minimized thanks to the serialization of cells production. Moreover, the proximity of the nearby railway could be used to reduce the transport costs of construction element even more.
The landscape created by such system blends within vegetation and maximize green spaces both for the inhabitants and the passers by, multiplying the view of nature from the apartments, and providing a natural amount of shade, sun and ventilation.
Services and car-parks are located below artificial mounts, reducing excavation costs and opening clearances as a succession of uncovered squares connected to the ground level. Between the branches and the sky the egg-cells will be hanged, using light coming from above as well as shadow and coolness coming from the park.

project: Bar-Pod
place: Barcelona, Spain
team: f. pedrini, e. de tomasi, f. mazzaron, a. pepe, s. sandor
program: masterplan, competition
status: settled
year: 2003