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Description

LIFE SAVING // FIRST PRIZE

KOGAMI - Komunitas Siaga Tsunami - Ben Devereau, United Kingdom

Water supports life in all its many forms, but its power to create is equalled at times by its power to destroy. Tsunami can overwhelm even the most enormous of civil engineered defences, and due to their great expense much of the world’s vulnerable coastline communities do not even have the benefit of these. The catastrophe of the 2011 Japanese Tsunami revealed that even massive civil engineering projects could prove impotent against such powerful natural events. This proposal attempts to provide an effective strategy of tsunami amelioration, which also supports the diminishing warm water reef ecosystems, also providing the very materials that might be required to construct economically affordable and effective refuges for the vulnerable coastal communities without the economic resources to construct traditional defences.

The prototype scheme is situated in the Sumatran City of Padang, where the occurrence of a massive tsunami is sadly a question of when, and not if. It is proposed to utilise this technology in two separate but connected systems; the construction of new and robust warm water coral reefs to enhance the local economy and reduce the power of waves approaching the coast; and the “growing” of a system of construction elements that might be assembled into coastal structures which would operate as everyday community hubs, but which would also have a structural profile making them uniquely resistant to the damage a tsunami would cause other building typologies.

Using forms derived from naturally robust ecologies, principally mangrove forests and warm water corals, as well as drawing on the effective vernacular strategies developed over the centuries to modify the environment for human comfort, the new typology is designed to be locally designed, manufactured, assembled and maintained. The project can be characterised as development of new technologies suited to their environmental and social context.

LIFE SAVING // SECOND PRIZE

SAKURA - THE FIRST STEP AGAINST TSUNAMI [ A TSUNAMI EMERGENT DESIGN ]

SAKURA is a design concept for living in coastal regions and how to face the huge disastrous impact of a tsunami for people’s life. The idea is based on accepting the power of nature and not to confront it with a larger “high-tech seawall“. The events in Japan one year ago brought up a lot of information and video footage about the disaster. The attached video (link: youtube-video1) captured by the Japanese coastguard shows two vital pieces of information:

1. The size of a tsunami wave depends on its distance to the coast.
2. A ship would intentionally head towards the wave to minimize the risk of capsize.
So running away could be much more hazardous than looking for a safe way of confrontation.

SAKURA suggest a settlement of houseboats near the coast. The houses are connected to an early warning system and are capable of navigating on the sea from their own power, at least for a short period of time. If a seaquake is recognized, the SAKURA-houses immediately leave their moorings and try to bring as much distance to the coast as possible by heading towards the open sea. In this way, they can withstand both, earthquake and tsunami.
1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q9gC8mQNhk

Descriptions:
[ HOUSEBOAT ] - The SAKURA houseboat is a very compact designed place to live.
[ SAKURA-DOCK ] - Five houseboats are combined together to offer easier access. They are being held in place until a seaquake occurs.
[ SEAQUAKE ] - Docks can be combined to build larger settlements and structures. This way of organization makes it easier to recover the houseboats after the tsunami.
[ TSUNAMI ] - The early warning system detected the seaquake and gave a signal for launching the SAKURA houseboats. They are heading towards the wave.

LIFE SAVING // THIRD PRIZE

The rescue network

The rescue network is a global way of thinking the reconstruction of cities or the adaptation of the spared ones. Because of the speed of the phenomenon and the lack of anticipation, rescue means proximity to the inhabitant. With this kind of wide territory disaster resilience is one of the strong points of the system. The rescue network integrates these three key features. Network City is based on distributed tall shelter that can only exist as part of the full master plan of the city. This new kind of “urban vegetation” settles on common urban objects: house, shops or street lights. The mesh of the grid is about 200 meters wide. The rescue network brings a new visual identity to the coast cities, warning the people about the tsunami danger in the area.

Pictures are a sad proof of the devastating power of tsunami. But in these pictures lies the solution to protect the city of tomorrow. Where any human artifact seems to be able to resist to the wave, natural constructions often look much more resilient. Rescue network dives into trees roots to settle its solution. Inspired by the trees roots, the basement of the pylon is a wide “rhizome” made of steel. These roots divide the force of the wave and avoid the tree to be toppled. “Rhizomes” connected together to form a resilient network for energy, water and communication in the city.

Biography

1st prize

Ben Devereau - Ben came to architecture after a successful career in the computer games industry. There are significant similarities between the two roles as both require creating interesting spaces and forms for people to occupy, whether in play or in use. Ben’s main interests lie in the research and application of new or vernacular technologies in solving social challenges through architectural solutions. He is currently working for the University of Liverpool as a part time tutor while pursuing his architectural qualifications with Studio Three Architects (Liverpool).

Elfira The - Elfie came originally from Indonesia but studied architecture at Liverpool University, where she worked for two years with her fellow student, Ben. Elfie’s main interest lies in master planning architectural interventions which demonstrate positive social benefits to the local communities for whom she works. She is presently pursuing her architectural qualifications at Aecom, in London.

2th prize

Alec Singh – Born in 1983, in Düsseldorf, Germany, Alec has a Bachelor degree in Science. From 2003 to 2007, he studied Physics at the University of Bonn. From 2007 up to today, he studies architecture at the University of Wuppertal. Since 2010 he works at studio Schneider Sedlaczek-Architects, in Cologne. Currently Alec lives in Wuppertal, German.

3rd prize

Nicolas - Born in Le Mans, France, he attained a master degree of engineering in energetic systems at the Ecole des Mines de Nantes. Nicoas has created and works in Switch, a cooperative engineering company that works in the field of bioclimatic building conception. Switch aims at replacing human being and energy in the center of building conception, by recommending low-tech and low-environmental-cost solutions. He works and lives in Paris

Florence – Is a licensed Architect by the Ecole Supérieur d'Architecture de Versailles, and attained a master degree in sustainable design of buildings. Worked at Elioth (EGIS group), as a consulting engineer, specialized in building energy and environmental studies Works in Jourda Architecture where she designs low-energy buildings such as Passiv Haus (german label). She works and lives in Paris.

Céline – Is a licensed Architect by the Ecole Supérieur d'Architecture de Versailles. She lives and works in Paris, at Parc Achitectes.