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2016: Hybridized Ecosystem for Infrastructure and Renewable Systems

Student-Led, Faculty-Guided Project - Spring, 2016

Authors: Lawrence Technological University

Summary

This initiative, led by a transdisciplinary design collaborative, studio[Ci] was now in the implementation phase. Studio[Ci] engages students in more diverse leadership roles, advances through generative design and digital fabrication, the HNZE prototype structure and canopy, and attracts additional partners and in-kind contributions. At the end of the construction period, the team sought to have a fully functional HNZE solar/water harvesting prototype from which they could collect data and evaluate with the community, including energy/power and water collection and distribution, enhanced public realm, and training and educational opportunities for the youth and adults of the Tireman Neighborhood. The HNZE prototype was a first, catalytic act to achieve the long-term vision of making the neighborhood NZE (taking it "off the grid"). In collaboration with MIT School of Architecture and Planning faculty and students, the team confirmed the replicability and scalability of the canopy, and conducted a financial and economic feasibility study for a collectivized micro grid - a neighborhood energy district cooperatively owned and managed by residents.

Project Updated As Of September 30th, 2016

Author Information

Constance C. BodurowConstance C. Bodurow, Lawrence Technological University

Constance C. Bodurow, AAIA, AICP, CUD, is an Associate Professor of Architecture at Lawrence Technological University College of Architecture and Design. Tenured in January 2013, Professor Bodurow was granted Sabbatical for AY2015-2016 and was appointed a Visiting Scholar with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) Center for Advanced Urbanism (CAU) and with the UVa School of Architecture BiophilicCities Lab. Professor Bodurow is a registered planner, certified urban designer, and Founding Director of studio[Ci], a transdisciplinary design collaborative (http://studio-ci.net/). An urbanist with over twenty years of practice, teaching, and research experience, Bodurow holds a BFA in industrial design from Michigan State University and Masters Degrees in planning/urban design and architecture from MIT School of Architecture and Planning. Professor Bodurow's award-winning research-based design practice focuses on restoring susatinable communities, co-production and social equity, and design opportunities related to net zero energy, generative uses for vacancy, and hybridized infrastructure networks at the scale of the structure, site, neighborhood, and urban ecosystem. Professor Bodurow's applied research has been funded by Ford, Coleman, LISC, AIA, et. al., and published by Wiley-Blackwell, Politecnico di Milano, and widely disseminated through ACSA, ACSP, AIA, APA, ARCC, EAAE, EUAA, SEED Network, et. al. A forthcoming book chapter entitled "Transdisciplinary method and a NZE future for the city" will be published by Taylor and Francis (Fall 2016).


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