RUNNER UP

URBAN SOLUTIONS SUPERSTRUCTURE

Project Description by Team: Urban Problems require urban solutions. Innovations are desperately needed to keep up with ecological and economical challenges. We have spun a net of superstructures over Graz who will provide exactly that. A decentralised trading net of unique superstructures, that provide the urban needs with nourishment, material, and energy. These three parameters are included in every superstructure and traded among themselves to stop the constant import and failed metabolism of global trading. The proposed project on the E16 site “SUPERSTRUCTURE GRAZ SÜD 1“ feeds from the local parameters of PLASTICGOLD (urban mining and recycling) to produce 3D printed innovations.

Jury Statement: "The jury appreciates the proposed system as interesting. The question of how to integrate infrastructure in the city and how to make the process of metabolism visible is clearly addressed here. An intense discussion developed on the issue of contextualisation and if a break in scale could enrich the city.
Clearly, infrastructure always goes beyond the scale of the local. The problem with infrastructure is, that its appearance is usually suppressed or expelled from the city. We put it in places where we don't see it, and not in the context of the inner-city fabric. Hence, there is generally hardly any awareness, how daily life is maintained. In this sense the project could also be read as conveying an educational mission, if placed on this site. In line with this argument is the fact that two autonomous structures defined by a geometry of bigness are already in the neighbourhood: the shopping centre and the parking garage. […]“

Team Statement: „When I first visited the site, I had my car parked only a few blocks from the CITYPARK shopping centre. Walking towards the project site, I was drowned in the sheer unlimited potential of its surroundings. It also became clear to me that this part of the city needed change. So, the project became what I would like to see this area become. A welcoming, but productive, an effective but also heart-warming place. I was also intrigued by the Mühlgang as I saw a ton of hidden qualities within the green axis through the site. All in all, the project addresses certain urban problems in a drastic way while not forgetting the human dimension and its importance in today’s urban architecture. This is also what I am looking forward to in the upcoming process.“