(credit: Off Architecture / PR Architects / Samuel Nageotte)
in the future, earth’s habitable places will be overcrowded and it is imperative that mankind starts dreaming up of ways to contain the burgeoning population. we can’t go on and flatten our mountain reserves for our selfish purpose of habitation, so why not start from under the bridges? at least that’s what one beautiful winning concept submitted by Off Architecture, PR Architects and Samuel Nageotte for the ‘Solar Park South‘ online competition proposed to do. though, not so much for increasing dwelling but more for maximization and sustainability. Solar Park South aims to find ideas for a sustainable redevelopment of the Salerno-Reggio Calabria highway sections between Scilla and Bagnara in Calabria, Italy.
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as you can see from the above image, the bridge’s columns double as a vertical dwelling in stacked and random offset fashion extending though-out the height of the pillars. designed as an integrated community this concept will benefits from amenities such as retails, leisure facilities and medical centers and that’s not all. while the residence enjoys the privacy of their vertical habitats, one of the horizontal decks in which they supports will house a pedestrian promenaded while the other lanes remain dedicated to vehicular traffic. the use of the bridges for habitats allow a limited impact on the landscape while letting the inhabitants remain connected to the nature.
additionally, the region’s “perfectly tempered weather” and the volcanic area signals potential for harvesting of energy such as geothermal power and thanks to the weather, collection of rainwater for the community’s water requirement is possible as well. in a nutshell, this concept provides the inhabitants with a quality of life through self-sustaining and self contained environment without intruding into the natural environment. a really sweet idea, indeed.
