CITY CELL PROTOTYPE

The growing global urge to adapt to climate changes led our team to provide an urban prototype for the problem. Designed for the city of Brno, the CITY CELL PROTOTYPE is able to collect various data concerning rainwater management and urban greenery in the city.
Featuring seating, a night illumination system, day shading, and wall greenery, the structure is thought as an item of urban furniture made to merge its functions with the public space.

Its shape develops from the need of providing shading, water collecting, and the intent to create a spatial communication between the new object and the existing square, also achieved through the two-sided openness. Additionally, its structure was designed with easy replacement in mind in case of damage. The central part of the prototype is a biofilter, which collects rainwater from the roof, filtering rainwater through settling and phyto processes. Once filtered, the rainwater is then gathered in storage tanks, from where it is pumped by a drip irrigation system up to the vertical greenery of the structure’s outer walls. In addition to the vertical greenery, the biofilter allows water retention and evaporation, allowing the cooling down of the surrounding microclimate.

It’s construction primarily consists of pre-dried KVH timber, on which an additional protective coating is not required. Also, all electricity for the LED lighting system as well as for the water pump is provided by two solar panels on the roof, making the whole prototype entirely self-sufficient.