FibroCITY is a proposal by Perkins+Will that operates as a restorative catalyst for communities that have been segregated by 20th century superhighways and the environment built around the car. FibroCITY is a template that restores urban voids with places for people, activities, and interactions, set in Houston, Texas, USA.
More on this project after the break.
The 15-acre fibroCITY core reclaims the spaces that once were by providing interwoven programmatic elements. It provides the platform for the city to reconnect and re-develop through a new avenue of growth. A city should be cohesive with connections running throughout, not fraught with lacerations that separate it. A regenerative approach becomes critical to provide the means for a city to heal itself from the lesions made by the intrusion of superhighways into urban environments. A large incision has been made resulting in an environment built to the vehicular scale. Now a reconnection will need to be made at a human scale.
Houston has the opportunity to transition from Energy Capital of the World, to the Conservation Capital of the World by looking at its resources and planting seeds of urban healing. For the past few decades the City of Houston has seen fast-paced and (largely) uncontrolled growth leading to interstate and highway expansions, sprawl, divided neighborhoods, and air quality related health issues. Issues that face the city include: No zoning development, traffic congestions, commuting time, lack of public transit, air and water quality, obesity, and poverty. Divided and fragmented by these challenges, Houston now has the opportunity to craft a sustainable growth model for cities to become smarter and self-sufficient.
The project focused around a megablock that was approximately five streets long by one street wide. Portions of the 15-acre stretch of land is integrated into the existing urban development and penetrates through it into other landscaped areas several streets away. This creates a continuous path that allows people to avoid the street and vehicular traffic and blend into a natural environment within their city. The overhead canopy provides people with a range of views and experiences through the site, sponsoring many kinds of interactions and activities among the visitors. The site is chosen for its proximity to many amenities of the city such as public transit. health care, nature areas and areas where abandoned spaces were abundant. The site also incorporates sustainable strategies such as grey water collection and insolation collection as sources of energy and reuse.
