STUDIO NAME: BIODESIGN CHALLENGE
STUDY: BIODESIGN / ARCHITECTURE / SPECULATIVE DESIGN / SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS
YEAR: 2019
BY: JORGE MARIO CASTILLO-VELAQUEZ, TRIA AMALIA NINGSIH, ELAINE REGINA, WAI YIN TAT
STUDIO BRIEF
The Biodesign Challenge studio is part of an international design competition offering students the opportunity to envision future applications of biotechnology. At the end of the semester, a winning team will be invited to showcase their design in front of members of the academic, industrial and design communities at Parsons New School of Design in New York City. Top teams will also get a chance to exhibit their work at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
REPLY BRIEF
Symbiome is a breakthrough architectural bio-system using both biodesign and biomimicry to promote Mangrove regeneration in the megacity of Jakarta, Indonesia. Its purpose; to raise awareness on, and address Jakarta’s main environmental concerns: floodings, city sinking and water pollution.
The building’s architecture works as an artificial mangrove protecting the city from sea floods and rising sea levels. Replicating the role of a natural mangrove forest, it desalinates and filters seawater, and provides a substitute to city groundwater consumption. If implemented at scale, it could also help rebuild Jakarta ’s shore line and restore the native flora and fauna.
With Symbiome—a symbiotic relationship between an architectural building, its residents and the natural environment—we aim to restore Jakarta’s marine biodiversity and ecosystem, create new models of urban sustainable living, and design a new landmark for the millenary-old city of Jakarta.
Symbiome was one of the 3 entries selected to represent RMIT University for the BDC Summit 2019. It was exhibited & presented in Parsons School of Design & Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York where it was chosen as a finalist (Top 9). The proposal was also presented in the SD NOW Conference, an Asia-Pacific series of Conferences and Masterclasses about
design, strategy, ethics, and futures back in November 2019.
