Biospheric Urbanism – Changing Climates – Athens Greece
Biospheric Urbanism
These last few years, cities have been suffering on an unprecedented scale from the ongoing climate change. Extreme heat, extended droughts and flash floods have created crisis after crisis in the urban environment. This problem will most probably get worse in the years to come. Each city needs to urgently rethink its resilience to these radical changes in atmospheric conditions.
The Option Studio ‘Biospheric Urbanism’ explores how to make the built environment more resilient in the face of the climate crisis. It focusses on the transformation of the open space to better deal with heat islands, drought and floods. Biospheric Urbanism is the study of the built environment as the interface between meteorology and geology. It aims at transforming the critical zone to better cope with ongoing changes in climate, while better using its underground capacities. The studio’s ambition is to be pragmatic and visionary at the same time, predicting different scenarios for the future, while proposing concrete solutions that can be implemented immediately.
Methodology
Each studio focusses on one city as its object of study, and becomes part of a cumulative series of case studies, producing a growing set of solutions for different climatic conditions. New York City was the first in Spring 2023, followed by Paris in Fall 2023. In Fall 2024 the studio will center on Athens, Greece. Students from the former studios will present their work to students from the new studio to create a laboratory where each new studio learns from the previous ones.
The studio is organized in three acts. Firstly, the students will produce a new cartography of the chosen city, revealing its different microclimatic conditions. Secondly, this map is used to identify the most problematic areas. Thirdly, the students develop a pragmatic proposal for each identified site. The students will work both in groups and individually. The primary learning goal is to use science-based research to generate solution-based design.
Case Study Athens
Athens has been inhabited for more than 5.000 years as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities of the world. The resulting dense urban development covers its seven hills without much green space. These last few years the city has suffered from record temperatures resulting in extreme heat and obliging the city to develop new strategies to augment its resilience towards climate change. The city of Athens has expressed their interest in a close collaboration with the studio, allowing the studio to become a real life exercise.
Field Trip & Partnerships
In the first week of October, the studio will move to Athens. During the field trip the students will explore the sites they had identified during the first act of microclimatic mapping. They will also meet different actors of the city to better understand their challenges and ambitions. At the end of the studio, the students present their proposals in return. Both the city and the studio benefits from this partnership.
Climate Engineering
The studio will collaborate with Transsolar, specialized in climate engineering. Erik Olsen, Managing Partner of the NYC office will come to the GSD studio multiple times. He will introduce the concept of Outdoor Comfort and explain the Universal Thermal Climate Index. During individual desk critics these concepts will be further integrated and developed in the design of the students. Erik Olsen will also be part of the of Mid Term and Final Reviews.