Amsterdam-based practice UNStudio is part of a team tasked with designing and developing the world's smartest neighborhood, in Hemond, Netherlands. The Brainport Smart District will be constructed over 10 years to include 1,500 residences and almost 30 acres of commercial space. Much of this will be centered around a "living lab," which is slated to include mixed-use buildings and a central park. Current plans also call for high sustainability standards and a circular economy, including shared energy, food, and water for all residents. "The district aims to develop a new relationship between buildings and landscape, whereby both strengthen each other qualitatively," UNStudio explains in a press release. "The landscape is used as a productive environment for food, energy, water, waste processing and biodiversity." [UNStudio]
Last week, the DFAB House in Dübendorf, Switzerland, officially opened, becoming the world's first digitally planned and built residence. Originally announced in 2017, the project was part of Switzerland's National Centre of Competence in Research Digital Fabrication initiative, which aims to develop and integrate "technologies within the field of architecture," according to the center's website. An eight-person team of ETH Zurich professors researched and developed the robotic, planning, and 3D-printing technologies to bring the 2,153-square-foot, three-story smart house to fruition. [ARCHITECT]
Researchers from Katholieke Universiteit (KU) Leuven in Belgium have created a solar panel system that can produce hydrogen as a clean energy alternative. The system, which took 10 years to develop, utilizes moisture in the air to create the gas. “The panel produces around 250 litres [66 gallons] per day over a full year. That’s a world record,” said researcher Jan Rongé in a press release. “Twenty of these panels produce enough heat and electricity to get through the winter in a thoroughly insulated house and still have power left. Add another 20 panels, and you can drive an electric car for an entire year." [KU Leuven]
A team from the universities of Bath and Brighton, both in the U.K., and UniLaSalle in Rouen, France, is testing waste materials as alternatives to building insulation. A research team is assessing the thermal performance of wheat straw bales, rapeseed stalk biocomposite, and recycled duvets placed in identical wall prototypes to compare their performance to that of traditional insulation. [University of Bath]
