BIOCITY

A number of 6.6 million tonnes of food waste is recorded in the UK every year, which equals to 3 quarters of the total food consumption. The current food waste collection system is inadequate and limited. Therefore, my design is serving as a solution to London’s food waste problem. The project BioCity, involves the use of biogas technology in a residential community, collecting food waste and manure from the residents, converting them into energy such as cooking and vehicle fuels that are sufficient to supply the whole housing and benefit nearby communities as well. The self contained residential hub is proposed over the high speed 2 train tracks at the Old Oak Common railway station, to cope with the increasing housing needs in the area. The cocoon-shaped housing units are arranged in a hexagonal grid, then array in relation to different sets of grid line identified in the railway tracks, creating a continuous pathway that circulates around the site. As a modern residential hub, BioCity proposes live-work housing units in various sizes to cope with the lasting impact of the pandemic on working styles. The flexibility of glulam timber is explored in the proposal, along with the use of rubber sheets, bringing in the nature of biogas into the dynamic façade system. The use of rubber pillow façade units can provide shading and insulation by filling air in between the rubber layers.