àDisposition – Spaceship Planet Earth
There is great potential in the sustainable, temporary use of buildings and brownfield sites through simple modular construction measures. Specific applications are devised and tested as 1:1 prototypes at DISPO, demonstrating sample uses.
Factsheet
- Schools involved School of Architecture, Wood and Civil Engineering
- Institute(s) Institute for Digital Construction and Wood Industry IDBH
- Research unit(s) Digital Fabrication group FGDF
- Funding organisation Innosuisse
- Duration (planned) 01.05.2022 - 01.05.2025
- Head of project Prof. Dr. Christophe Sigrist
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Project staff
Prof. Edyta Augustynowicz
Joaquim Escoda Llorens - Keywords Interim use; temporary lightweight buildings; timber construction; modular architecture; digital chain
Situation
Enormous amounts of usable space lie idle and unused in Switzerland and there is a great need for temporary, affordable spaces for work-related or creative activities. Experience shows that the temporary appropriation of derelict sites for an interim use can generate great added value socially, as well as boosting the attractiveness of the location. In addition, there is a political obligation to deal sparingly with building land as a finite resource and to densify inwards, which gives temporary use an even higher priority. There is also a clear trend towards preserving existing buildings wherever possible, transforming them in a meaningful way and allowing multiple even fairly short usage cycles instead of simply replacing the entire building. This is where the àDisposition project comes in.
Course of action
The goal of the research project is to develop a modular construction kit that uses a configurator and an optimised process to easily test and present project ideas for (temporary) uses of vacant buildings and sites, and to implement them in a time and resource-saving manner. The “construction kit” is based on the principle of DIY assembly and uses prefabricated lightweight wooden elements and sturdy connections to create adaptable room modules for vacant industrial halls. The project makes a technical, constructive contribution to sustainable densification and encourages the involvement of various stakeholders in the development and planning of temporary uses. The innovative construction kit will be tested and tried out with different uses as a 1:1 prototype at DISPO, as an example of what is possible. Typical customers would be owners of vacant buildings, initiators of interim uses and municipalities. The scalable modular system offers broader market potential for flexible installations for recurring uses such as (sports) events, emergency accommodation and temporary housing in large halls.
