Urban Reef: Regenerative Facades
← Projects“Cities are home to all forms of life, not just humans”
Urban Reef designs and creates open-ended habitats that encourage the growth and diversity of life in urban settings such as streetscapes, squares and buildings. To live together with more-than-human lives, urban settings need more room for uncontrolled and emerging ecologies, both physically and in our collective thought.
Their prototypes called “Reefs” are designed to integrate open systems and regenerative design into the city. Reefs are created using bio-based algorithms and are 3D printed with (living) materials. Connected with passive flows rich in sunlight, water, nutrients and minerals, Reefs provide a range of microclimates and store nutrients that benefit more-than-human beings, complementing anthropocentric design approaches of urban environments.
Regenerative Facades
Facades in urban environments offer enormous potential for ecological and climatic measures, yet remain largely untapped. Urban Reef’s regenerative facade is printed in complex shapes, creating many different cavities of variable sizes and with diverse orientations relative to the sun, rain, and wind. This leads to diverse microclimates and potential habitats, which promotes biodiversity.
Additionally, the structure is hollow, allowing rainwater to be stored and buffered on the inside. Due to the porosity of the material, this water slowly becomes available again on the outside, allowing algae and mosses to grow on the facade. At the same time, the water evaporates there, meaning the facade can be up to ten degrees cooler than a conventional facade on a warm day.