I seek to create relevant, impactful and meaningful architecture that takes into consideration societies' needs and the world's current climate situation in a functional and useful way.
This year we were given the task of designing our interpretation of the future service station. After researching in depth the site's social and political context I decided to serve the people and the motorway. I focused on offering drivers an escape from the road, powering the vehicles in a greener way and reconnecting the divided landscape and the people living in the area.
This resulted in a mixed-used building with: a power plant which generates electricity from biomass (sourced within a radius of 8km from the site), a recreational green hill which forms the roof of the building and offers a place for users to move, play and connect with nature, a gathering space which encourages the local community to interact and have meaningful conversations, an exhibition space where educational events about waste and our climate crisis can be held, working hubs where people from diverse professions can share ideas while working remotely, a fitness centre to improve the health and lifestyle of drivers and other users and finally, a restaurant where healthy local 'imperfect' produce (not up to supermarkets' standards) is served while users can visually engage with the powerplant beneath them.
The architecture celebrates the structure and processes that run the building itself with transparency. There is a desire to reveal and exhibit the elements which support the green hill and make the building operate efficiently: the steel superstructure, the machinery, the cores, the services...
