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Off Grid 2030 commended: Self-Sufficient Zero

Alper and Yegana Dilek’s concept enables homeowners to build up their own property by stacking pre‑designed, standard-sized OSB units on top of one another

DarX’s was one of the few proposals that considered interventions on an urban scale.
DarX’s was one of the few proposals that considered interventions on an urban scale.

Self-Sufficient Zero by DarX/ Alper and Yegana Dilek

Interesting because of the way it embraces technology, Alper and Yegana Dilek’s concept enables homeowners to build up their own property by stacking pre‑designed, standard-sized OSB units on top of one another. 
 
Ground-floor units are designed to activate the street, with consideration given to how the spaces between multiple such buildings would also work. 
 
Covid-19, the designers argue, brought home the importance of self-sufficiency and the digitisation of delivery for goods and manufacturing. The proposal allows residents to shape their units – in an urban or rural context – using an online process to select plots in a self-design project and completing them with furniture selection. Rooflights function as a delivery intake for a drone network while photovoltaic panels provide off-site energy. Other features include farming facilities such as hydroponics and greenhouses.
  • The unit as another iteration of ‘live/ work/grow’.
    The unit as another iteration of ‘live/ work/grow’.
  • Units are combined to produce a nascent sense of a public realm.
    Units are combined to produce a nascent sense of a public realm.
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‘In a city context, these stackable components work well,’ observed David Connacher while Kristofer Adelaide commended the aspiration to building a self-empowered community, saying: ‘I feel I could walk through this neighbourhood.’ Stephen Proctor noted a resemblance to the medieval tower houses of San Gimignano, Italy – fine praise indeed.


Off Grid 2030 was produced in association with Norbord

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