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DUAL CULTURE
Rebuilding A Reciprocal Relationship
A healthy ecological mechanism existing in the wetland describes vividly about the microorganic culture, similarly, a strong social system relies on the macroscopic community culture. They both change with time and perform as adhesives in respective scales. This project proposes to engage people in the nature, rendering the wetland more permeable to the society. A shared unit with new materials on one side and traditional wooden frames on the other side is put forward to allow users to transform according to their demands. The unit with a modular flexible system functions as both the space and the structure. The biodegradable material indicates a continuous replacement and renewal of the space combination, meanwhile providing nutrients for the wetland, which in turn grows raw materials for the building. The inherent uncertainty corresponds to distinct backgrounds of people, leading to different kinds of community activities. Multiculturalism can influence the environment and vice versa.
Dual Culture: Projects
The site locates in the middle part of Chile, in a commune called Cartagena. It is a kind of wetland surrounded by many residentials, which is special because it is in an urban area with so many people and also challenging towards how to engage more residents or people from other areas in such a natural site.
Dual Culture: Welcome
Mycelium bricks and bacterial cellulose can be made in ambient temperatures on site with no CO2 emissions. Mycelium can be combined with agricultural wastes like hemp and also work well with waste glass to create special visual effects. The bacterial celluose grows fast and will turn to a thin transparent sheet after drying.
Dual Culture: Welcome
With regular or irregular cracks, it will repair itself automatically, which can be used to create a whole infill wall type. With amazing plasticity, it can become whatever form according to the mold you use.
Dual Culture: Welcome
It proposes a shared unit divided into two parts- the grown mycelium module and traditional wooden frame module, both parts can be easily constructed by citizens. The two different modules can be combined both horizontally and vertically. The wooden frame can support the less strong mycelium modules. In this case, it will generate different spatial properties and the juxtaposition of two different structures. The biodegradable material indicates a continuous replacement and renewal of the space module combination to satisfy distinct demands of people, which leads to different community activities.
Dual Culture: Welcome
This kind of module can be used as the space and the structure as well to avoid extra structure system like the column and beam. The strategy for the structure layout is based on material strength. So the main load-bearing part is supported by wood frames, other parts can be surrounded by less strong mycelium modules, which allows future transformations. When the surrounding mycelium module starts to biodegrade, people can choose other types of modules to replace, making the building change with time.
Dual Culture: Welcome
The whole architecture rebuilds the connections , giving people the opportunity to approach the nature, to participate in the making and building process in person, to create spaces of their own, to experience living in the wetland, to make new friends... It will become a small community where people get together to play, to think, to make, to cooperate. It also provides an opportunity to redefine the relationship between people and other animals, changing from viewers only to insiders who have more interactions.
Dual Culture: Welcome
The adjacent mycelium module can be grown and combined together. The wooden frame module can be connected using mortise and tenon joints, which can also be used in the connection between the two different materials. Mycelium filled in the wooden frames serve as both the enclosure and the insulation. Paths going through the whole site are totally made of mycelium modules, which can create different openings and gaps by changing the directions of the placement. The construction may take a certain period of time, from preparing raw materials, ram and flatten the earth, combine and infill the modules to finally install customized furnitures. So during this time, people can use existing modules to construct some temporary small rooms on site.
Dual Culture: Welcome
Because of such autonomous modules, after their biodegradation, people can definitely replace them with totally different mycelium modules, which will lead to transformations of programs, users, views and experiences. While the part of mycelium modules are changing with time, the relatively eternal wooden frame modules can remain the same to accommodate some large facilities which will be used for a long period.
Dual Culture: Welcome
The paths are totally made of mycelium, which can be carved to form a window according to people’s needs, it can provide birds with more small places to build nests. As time passes by, the natural erosion and birds’ droppings will gradually start the biodegradation of the material. With the material slowly disappearing, offering the wetland more nutrients, small plants will grow through the holes of the path. The module will become more and more porous until it cannot stand alone and being replaced.
Dual Culture: Welcome
Because of the grown material, each infill texture will be different, which creates such a variegated interior experience. You can see the faint shadow of the tree behind the yellowish bacterial cellulose screen. As for the substrate, agricultural wastes are prepared by workers here and citizens can also bring their own wastes from home. After the biodegradation of mycelium modules, plants growing in the wetland can actually be another source of raw materials. The path here is being carved by people to have different views. Elimination of mycelium will reveal the more yellowish inside of the material. The path can bifurcate to create a small patch of green land, where people can actually enjoy the sunshine, watching birds flying around from time to time. There are some elegant turnings of the path here, leaving many linear gaps for sunlight going through and plants growing through. People are constructing on site and moving all kinds of customized furnitures.
Dual Culture: Welcome
Dual Culture: Welcome
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