ADS9: Aura - A Call for An Open Architecture
Anna Kokkota
Anna is from Athens, Greece. Moved in London to complete her undergraduate degree in architecture in UEL. During her time back in Greece, she got involved with interior renovation projects in Athens. Then started her masters degree in RCA.
I am mainly driven by unravelling, through in-depth investigation, the social, cultural aspects that define human conditions in both global and local scale. Develop an understanding of the community and user group, through meticulous research, as an integral part that mainly informs the design decisions. In my time in RCA, I had the opportunity to explore and develop an architectural agenda that addressees environmental and human conditions and how they interconnect with each other. Developed a great interest in degrowth movement, depletion of energy resources and speculate unconventional methods of sustainability. Mainly try to question and challenge how to create circumstances that reinforce a highly engaged and collectively aware society. Explore different ways to redefine the norms by speculating alternative lifestyles, that stray away from dictated biased ones. Throughout the projects, speculate on how to encourage the society to embrace new ways of social engagement. Experimented with a series of models that demonstrate in smaller scale, how to create sensorial immersive environments, that formulate a certain experience or event.
Collecting solar energy — In the middle of the garden is located the major feature of collecting energy resources. The central receiver, in a form of a frail tower, turns the heat into electricity. Reflective mirrors attached to the surrounding veil are angled in order to channel the light to the tower, according to the maximum annual sun exposure.
Transfiguration of energy resources into festive aura — The combination of collection of solar energy and water during the day, formulates the festive aura. The recycled water through the sprinklers that water the plantation will make the air composition quite moist. The solar energy turned into electricity, will radiate direct light from projectors attached to the tower veil ’s, into the iridescent coated mirrors. The mirrors are arranged to direct these reflections in the garden’s surface. These reflections will be transfigured into a series of dense and sparse green iridescent beams scattered across the garden.
Embracing immersive festive aura — At the start of the night festive events across the garden will begin. The iridescent aura formulates the essence of these festive events. An embracing secondary “veil” that completely transforms the scenery in the garden, to celebrate the end of the day, of this unique lifestyle. One that strives to create a feeling of participation and belonging within the city of Barcelona.
The Festive Garden is the centrepiece of celebration of an emerging alternative lifestyle, where all caring and collective exchange of labour and leisure revolve around. The project is situated within the highly dense urban context of Barcelona for Can Masdeau activists, as a reaction from a society resulted by unreasonable consumption of energy, lack of participation and a shared sense of non-belonging in the city.
The garden, is located in the inner centre, enclosed by the collective periphery’s veil. There are 5 patches of land for 4-5 members assigned each day to tend the vegetation. The curvilinear veil’s edge forms around the garden various openings, that allow smaller and larger gatherings to occur there, like different kinds of cultural activities and outdoor collective cooking.
In the very centre of the garden, is located a tower, that collects reflections from iridescent coated mirrors attached to the veil and turns heat into electricity to sustain the community. Then, at the eve of night, festive celebrations across the entirety of the garden begin, as a way to commemorate all these series of collective exchange that happen during the day, within the garden and the collective periphery. The converted collection of energy will create the iridescent aura that formulates the essence of these festive events. An embracing immersive experience of variant flashing light beams that transforms the scenery to celebrate this unique lifestyle.
The collective periphery, protectively embraced by the veil, is located between a series of low-cost housing sectors of 4, 3 and 2 levels and the garden. The veil’s weaving and organic form will provide openness and protection from the heat. Its pattern’s levels of density with openings varying from 5 cm to 1.8 m will offer variable levels of privacy, light, physical and visual access, defining in that way openness. Across the periphery’s length, there are a series of collective rituals of everyday domestic labour and leisure to engage, preserve, prepare and collect like dining, cooking, bathing and washing.
This alternative community is striving to create a hybrid way of living, through the collection of energy resources to be self-reliant and sustain themselves. While at the same time, be more open to the outside forces, by collecting all like-minded and curious visitors to embrace and celebrate for as long as it is desired, from years to fleeting moments, their way of being. The iridescent aura will formulate the very essence of celebrating this emerging feeling of participation and belonging within the city of Barcelona.
The garden, is located in the inner centre, enclosed by the collective periphery’s veil. There are 5 patches of land for 4-5 members assigned each day to tend the vegetation. The curvilinear veil’s edge forms around the garden various openings, that allow smaller and larger gatherings to occur there, like different kinds of cultural activities and outdoor collective cooking.
In the very centre of the garden, is located a tower, that collects reflections from iridescent coated mirrors attached to the veil and turns heat into electricity to sustain the community. Then, at the eve of night, festive celebrations across the entirety of the garden begin, as a way to commemorate all these series of collective exchange that happen during the day, within the garden and the collective periphery. The converted collection of energy will create the iridescent aura that formulates the essence of these festive events. An embracing immersive experience of variant flashing light beams that transforms the scenery to celebrate this unique lifestyle.
The collective periphery, protectively embraced by the veil, is located between a series of low-cost housing sectors of 4, 3 and 2 levels and the garden. The veil’s weaving and organic form will provide openness and protection from the heat. Its pattern’s levels of density with openings varying from 5 cm to 1.8 m will offer variable levels of privacy, light, physical and visual access, defining in that way openness. Across the periphery’s length, there are a series of collective rituals of everyday domestic labour and leisure to engage, preserve, prepare and collect like dining, cooking, bathing and washing.
This alternative community is striving to create a hybrid way of living, through the collection of energy resources to be self-reliant and sustain themselves. While at the same time, be more open to the outside forces, by collecting all like-minded and curious visitors to embrace and celebrate for as long as it is desired, from years to fleeting moments, their way of being. The iridescent aura will formulate the very essence of celebrating this emerging feeling of participation and belonging within the city of Barcelona.
