P

site
infrastructure
materials

project

1.connection with environment, site
2.infrastructure
3.ecology / materials

1. Question of location can be treated in different circumstances differently. There are basically two approaches to dealing with this issue, which is related to the predicted response of the local communities in specific territories in Europe.

a) On one hand, we can talk about territories or space of flows – where any location is good enough if it generates profit. Apart from the immediate economic value of the implemented program or activity, one should have in mind the land value and its possible rising up due to the program planned on the territory. The locations could be placed independently to the existing programs – the possible conflict can be solved with a social-costs / social-benefits system.
Possible zones of interest could be:
restructuring lands (the territories with abandoned programs because of the economic break down or spatial policies, which force the change of the land-use,
waste-lands – closed waste dumps (if the emissions are not harmful), which are in many cases converted into recreational areas, since nothing permanent should be constructed there,
infrastructure-lands - areas around infrastructure existing, where life is considered less luxurious due to emissions, noise etc.

b) On the other hand, there are territories, which will show an enormous resistance to any kind of non-conventional happening, exposing the introverted condition of the local communities.
Possible zones of interest could be:
back-lands – the areas which are not in contact with existing programs (naturally separated territories, away from the eye of the local communities)
restructuring lands, waste-lands and infrastructure-lands are also open but the negotiation process is supposed to be more difficult.

Connection with the environment for the chosen site can be divided into three possible scenarios:
open – the new program can be connected with the local environment ; in spatial character, there is physical barrier between the social entities, though they are not in immediate vicinity
permeable– there are several border mechanisms implemented due to the placement of the new program in immediate vicinity to the existing settlements, but the communication between the local and the new program is planned, established and possibly fruitful for both parties
closed – isolated new program with no physical communication with the outside – these case is calling for autarchic organization.

2. Infrastructure is another core issue. Once an infrastructure is established, the land value is increased automatically, which means that the economic drive of the new program should be in proper relation to the type or zone of interest.
An immediate proposition would bring in an issue of plug-in city and the theoretical speculations from the sixties. The questions posed are: who is making the infrastructure, who is paying for that and who are the potential users of it. These questions also define its quality and complexity. There are a few possibilities of dealing with it:
parasitic – nomadic self-organized community connects to the existing infrastructure and establishes temporary internal network for basic needs
institutional – established by non profit organizations, probably covering basic needs
private – established by private initiative, with a speculation, that the land value will increase and after the temporary activity on the territory, something more economically-interesting can be build (possibly on the same infrastructure). This third option speculates also with the help or subsidies which the private initiative would get for establishing the infrastructure.

On the other hand, the question of infrastructure brings in the issue of transportation of the refugees to the location. Here the size of the camp should be in relation to the vicinity to the existing infrastructure (roads, railways, ports)

- All three should be carefully inspected for the possible use after restructuring the new program.
- These three definitions can also serve as criteria for assessment the level of xenophobia of the local communities.
- Different combinations are possible and are waiting to be explored and evaluated.
- Different materials can be tested in order to provide desired effect on the line between permanent and ephemeral. New architectural typologies can be developed according to predefined life span of the parts of buildings – opening up the negotiation arena for many parties, which suddenly depend not only on the location, infrastructure and connection with the existing environment, but also on durability of materials used or possibly produced on the newly established zone.

3. If the emphasis is on the establishing of self-sustainable communities, the holistic cyclic principle is obviously the most appropriate. The building process is therefore bound to the limits and resources of the newly established zones, which forces the community to deal only with renewable resources produced in the zone. New biomaterials are therefore ideal for such an establishment, since they use the natural raw material, which is quickly renewable and easily degradable after being dumped. The community is therefore producing and consuming the necessary goods (we can go back to the environmental utopias of Thomas More, Henry Thoreau, Peter Kropotkin . William Morris, Ebenzer Howard – the utopia being still largely in use, Bernard Skinner, Aldous Huxley, Ernest Callenbach and Murray Bookchin), and becoming a test-community for developing new life-styles and actually advocating better living.
Can you think of the built environment as being in a constant flux of matter and energy, which is appearing in front of your eyes? The testing can show the social, cultural, political, economical and last but not lease psychological consequences of implementation of biomaterials.

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