A Smart Vision for Monaco
“One Planet Living was a concept developed by Bio-Regional when I was a student. It spurred BedZED, by Bill Dunster - the UK's first major sustainable community. It’s a philosophy that has slowly gained traction. At Baca, we developed LifE (Long-term Initiatives for Flood Risk Environments), a body of work that would enable sustainable development and, in Monaco’s case, address sea level rise.” Says Richard Coutts, Director at Baca Architects.
So, when invited to speak at the Royal Yacht Club Monaco, organized by Monaco Marina Management, he posed a simple question to the audience and the club - Could the municipality of Monaco (Population 39,000), including the yacht club (a hub of marine innovation), become a self-sustaining community? Observing the marina, you get a glimpse of the built future: thin film photovoltaics wrap state-of-the-art monocoque catamarans – that use wind as their main source to carry them on hydrofoils across the Atlantic. Among other exhibitors, plans for hydrogen-powered tenders and ecoconcrete sea defenses (reduced carbon in production, designed for carbon capture, biophilic receptiveness).
But like most countries and cities - one overriding issue: Monaco has no more space. Its positives include that because of its size, it can change policies quickly and has the financial means to enact change.
Within the marina, luxury boats sit primed at 100% charge, but they do not work together, dumping waste energy. To an observer, possibly one of the most beautiful solar arrays on water. Could this flotilla of boats create a unified energy network and either capture surplus energy or use it for the benefit of the wider city?
Monaco is also very urban, consisting of many hard surfaces - its roofscapes are prominently flat with little greening. So, there was a discussion alongside pioneers of energy, design, and materials, what is the future of the Smart Marina and could this be extended into smart city design that they sustain.
The symposium was hosted by Sir Robin Knox and was great to share ideas with Maarten van de Vorde - West 8, And Nicola Beck - NBax Architecture & Design, Eduardo Gutierrez - On-A, Giovanni de Niederhausern – Pininfarina.
Hopefully, these ideas will evolve into tangible deliverables.
#architecture #design #innovation #marina #marinaarchitects
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