Some days ago we published the winners of the Self-Sufficient City competition. As promised, we took the opportunity to highlight one of the finalist projects: Reciprocity, by Jason Butz, Frank D’Andrea, Carla Landa, Martha Skinner from Clemson University, EE.UU.

Envisioned as a self- sustaining community, Reciprocity can either serve as the foundation for a new city, or as an intervention in current cities. Reciprocity intends to take what waste its inhabitants produce and use it in alternative ways before it is ultimately turned into a recyclable state.  Waste that would otherwise be diverted to landfills is used to construct each pod. As new habits form disposing of waste is no longer a hassle, instead it is a way of life.  Just as the waste is used temporarily for some greater purpose, the clusters as a whole facilitate temporary resuscitators of a city in peril. Imagine a waterfront city ravaged by a storm. Reciprocity is dispatched in masses and the destruction becomes fuel while the pods serve as temporary displaced housing units. A symbiotic relationship is created and a flexible network begins to bridge the gaps in the cycles we helped to break.

The students sent us the project brief, here are some of their own thoughts on the project:

When we were given the assignment to design a ‘self-sufficient city’ in Professor Martha Skinner’s studio over a year ago, we were a bit overwhelmed. How do we design an entire city? We decided to address a single problem that is so common in all cities today: waste. Our idea began with the mushroom and the way this fungus thrives on harmful bacterium. The goal was to figure out how a piece of architecture could do the same: use the waste we produce as a source of energy.

The project only lasted half of the semester, which is somewhat uncommon in a normal studio setting at Clemson (usually one project is completed per semester). We worked rigorously, generating ideas in sketch form and then producing graphics to support the concept. 

They also add:

We also never thought a year ago that our project would be selected as a finalist in the IaaC’s Self-Sufficient City Competition.  It was an international competition that drew 708 entries from 116 countries and featured a distinguished jury with members such as the Dean of Princeton University and the Head of the MIT Architecture Department. 

The final drawing of the project shows an important approach to the use of waste in better ways and transform it as a resource for start the creation of a new and speculative citi, but maybe real in a not so long future.

The Reciprocity Team would like to give special thanks to everyone who was involved in the project: Prof. Martha Skinner, Prof. Armando Montilla, Prof. Ulrike Heine, Prof. Lauren Mitchell, Prof. David Allison, the rest of our studio members, the Clemson Advancement Foundation, and the Chair of the Architecture Department at Clemson, Jose Caban.