Green Villages
Green Villages
Re-defining the sustainable green village of the future
In partnership with Trentino Sviluppo division of the Provincia di Trento, Italy, we wanted to investigate how to transform the village of Zambana into a Sustainable Green Village. The main goal of the design workshop was to creatively redesign the village of Zambana, from an urban planning perspective, as well as from architectural and new media design perspectives. This exercise, more than giving specific directions for the implementation of the project, has opened a variety of ideas, scenarios and concepts that need to be further explored.
In July 2008, the Design Lab and Mobile Experience Lab renewed our partnership with the Provincia di Trento and the Fondazione Bruno Kessler to continue the study for at least three more years.
Design Process →
Brief
Our final proposal is defined through multiple interventions that, all together, form an ecosystem for a functional and ecologically sensitive redevelopment of Zambana. Preservation, renovation and re-use of existing infrastructure are fundamental to the design. Landscape is omnipresent and merges with commercial, residential, agricultural and recreational activities of the village. It becomes the driving force for subtle solutions that merge local understanding with innovative technology.
From September to December 2006, a group of twelve MIT and Harvard students were presented with the task of redesigning the village of Zambana as an iconic eco-village. The multi-disciplinary group was encouraged to explore the topic freely, bringing the group’s wide variety of backgrounds to the project. The class was conducted in a studio setting, with individual students and small groups presenting their research and ideas to the group. This iterative process encouraged free thinking, and allowed ideas to flourish and grow among the members. The class presented their concepts at mid-term to to Province of Trentino. The feedback from the review was considered as the groups developed their concepts into comprehensive proposals.
Concept Generation
In keeping with the Province‘s vision of the redesign, we came up with a definition of sustainability that expanded upon the conventional elements of environmental consciousness to fit the rural situation of Zambana. The new definition is threefold: it includes a close link between the past, present and future of the land, a deliberate interaction between persons and the environment, and a conscientious consideration for local and regional vegetation, materials and services. This unique definition serves as the premise for the objectives, proposal, implementation and realization of our re-design. In the project map (available in the report), these objectives are specifically linked to each proposal, and the intention is apparent in each intervention. That is to say, rather than taking a top-down approach to sustainability, our proposal developed naturally, from the sustainable to the locally specific.
