A Machine For Living...Sustainably ACC155

The inspiration for the project came from two major events last year in Ireland.

1. In Dublin, the greatest ever rainfall since records began, was experienced in October. The city was completely unprepared for this, with large areas completely flooded due to storm drains unable to cope. 2. The second event was the government’s unrelated decision to begin charging citizens for the drinkable tap water pumped to every house which has, until now, been completely free of charge. Water meters will be installed and you will pay for what you use.

Very few buildings in the city collect and store rainwater for use in the building. This is because up until now water has not cost the owners money. With the new regulations coming in, attitudes will change, and people will no longer want to flush their toilets with up to 12 litres of drinkable, and paid for, water.

Rather than simply planting generic water stor-age equipment on the roofs of buildings, a more elegent solution could be created. And rather than just dealing with supplying water, this addi-tion should also seek to solve the other problems associated with the buildings in the city...

...In this way it would become a ‘machine’ at-taching itself to a traditional building to create solutions to its problems of sustainability and outdoor recreation space

Form

A suitable grid applied to the roof Uplift creates space beneath Additional pop-ups where needed

The main structure is formed by 3 steel beams spanned by timber joists. A flexible timber lattice is placed on top of this to create the form, a system that is adaptable to infinite scenarios.

Structure

Dublin City’s Traditional Building Type

Flat or pitched roof (unused)

Stairs at the back corner

Back garden often shadowed and filled by extension to shop

Chimney (usually closed) with vents leading to the main room on every floor Shop on Ground Floor

Entrance to above

3 - 4 floors (residential or office) above the shop, with the floors and windows reducing proportionally. Improvements to the Original Building

1. WaterThe addition provides stor-age space for the majority of the inhabitants water needs. There are separate storage areas for house-hold water (carbon filter) and drinking water (carbon & UV filter)

Hot air rising up the stairwell is supplimented by sun through the rooflight then pumped to the energy room ‘Machine’ applied to an entire city block, forming an interesting topography for the inhabitants to go walking, jogging etc

Not all buildings are oriented towards the south. This means that the ‘machine’ needs to adapt according to the direction the house is facing. If neighbours co-operate, the ‘machine’ could even be applied to ev-ery building in a city block. Each one would be adjust-ed according to the original buildings different width and height. They could also be joined along the top forming a street of gardens along the roof where the inhabitants could go jogging etc.

View across the city

East/West Facing Street Facade

North Facing Street Facade

2. Solar ThermalThe area on the sloped south roof would provide much of the hot water for the whole building. The dark flat panels would be unnoticable next to the black zinc roofing

6. Heated VentilationThe old chimney has vents leading to the main room on every floor. These vents are cleaned and lined with new material. Heated air is then collected from the sun room and stairwell us-ing a heat exchanger and pumped to the old house.

3. Solar ElectricityThe handrail barriers are made from glass with a photovoltaic tint, which creates electricity. It is transmitted through wires in the handrail

4. GardenThis has full access to the sun, and the depth of soil is enough for bushes or the growing of vegatables to feed the residents

5. Sun RoomThis south facing space has twice the glazing of the old-er rooms. Due to this and the volume of insulation, this space would be much warmer than the old house and this warm air could be circulated to the rest of the house

Drinking water collected here

Ventilation Air Intake

The old chimney sys-tem is reused as a way to pump hot air to the rest of the house from the ‘machine’

1 Drinking water2 Household water3 Boiler4 Woodchip burner5 Heat exchanger6 Solar thermal panels

Energy Room

Sun Room

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Plan1:100

1 Ventilation air intake2 Bench3 Boiler4 Stairs lightwell5 Picnic table6 Solar thermal panels

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Garden

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Plan +11:100

Picnic Table

Solar Thermal Panels

Sun Room

GardenPhotovoltaic Glass

Household water collected after draining through the plants

View of Street facade (side wall removed) View of Rear facade (side wall removed)

Adapting to Orientation