Project Mission/Goal:
3) respond to our growing need for clean water, power, shelter, healthcare, education

Project Description:
During our second week overseas, our team noticed that children living in Mumbai have alarmingly high rates of illnesses brought about by various air-borne pollutants. In response, we expanded our research and uncovered several indigenous plants that could potentially remove these contaminants from the air. As this line of inquiry progressed, our team delved into matters of construction, hypothesizing that it might be possible to create a green wall that would help to clean the air. Just as important, given the ever-shifting nature of our client’s centers, this green wall could also be transportable. If the wall were constructed as two distinct parts, portable exterior structure and variable infill, once the school was no longer needed, construction workers could potentially drain the earth from the wall and return it to the site, where it would be retrained using a new set of indigenous plants.

Although quite interesting as a hypothetical, our team had no idea if this proposal could be executed using the means and materials available to the client. To answer these questions, our team analyzed this wall relative to other systems of construction currently used to create a crèche. From this assessment, we proposed a wall that could be constructed using a reusable outer form containing no more rebar than typically used in CMU wall construction, common plastic tarps, and various forms of earth and rubble – a system of construction that eliminated the need to purchase full blocks and minimized the amount of waste created during construction.

To ascertain if this system could be executed within the conditions of the project, the IDC, through funding from the AIA, teamed up with local laborers (individuals who would largely be responsible for building versions of this wall should it prove useful) to construct several experimental versions of the wall. Through these constructions our team was able to realize a wall that spoke to issues of commodity (how the proposal spoke to the site, program and budget), firmness (how much deflection could be accommodated before the wall would crumble), and delight (how the unique deflection offered by this proposal animated the wall both immediately through the play of shadows and over time as the wall moved to accommodate different forces).

Links:
International Design Clinic: http://www.internationaldesignclinic.org/make/su08india/#shifting-earth

Captions:
greenwallcomposite2.jpg
© International Design Clinic
The portable trombe wall uses minimal resources to harness the passive solar heating and cooling potential of the earth on a budget.
CC: License

Project Details
Location: Mumbai, India
Concept/Lead Architect(s)/Designer(s): International Design Clinic
Project Architect(s):
Year (s): 2008
Client: Mumbai Mobile Creches
User Client: Children of migrant workers living on the construction sites of Mumbai
Number of beneficiaries/users: 10000/year
Project Phase: construction + design development
Major Funding: International Design Clinic + AIA
Cost/Cost per unit:
Area (if applicable):
Structural Engineers:
Electrical/Mechanical Engineers:
Contractor/Manufacturer:
Additional Consultants:
Other:

Nominated by Scott Shall, IDC

Location