FIRST PRIZE

TRAWLING CITY

By Jonathan Nestler and André Schmid
Tutor: Uwe Brederlau
Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany



The project is reacting on the coming severe climate changes resulting from global warming. It presents a doom day scenario, where the Gulf Stream is stopped, temperature in certain regions of the world is increasing and the sea water level is dramatically raised due to the melting of the polar and mountain ice. The consequence is flooded coastlines and whole countries, among these some of the densest populated bay areas of the world.

The concept of the counter act to this scenario is based on civic cooperation, mobility and high technology: ‘City plants’ are constructed to float on the rising sea like enormous Noah’s Arches, containing huge urban societies. The architecture is inventive and convincing due to the scale and the integration of functions. The traditional urban forms are questioned – private-public, indoor-outdoor, solids-voids, place-no place - and new spatial types and relations are developed.

Natural power is gained from wind, sun and underwater rotors. The city is transformed into a ‘plant’ of autonomy and sustainability.
 
If the city ‘plant’ can sail and stand the storms of the open sea is not sure, but the analysis is clear, the vision striking and the presentation impressive in it’s richness of details and tactility.