It is a gist that humankind is facing, in our days, a new geological Era, the Anthropocene, period massively demarked by the unrestrained exploitation of natural resources that is determining now, such as in the future, several environmental problems. The scientists affirm that this mutation is not reversible, yet people could only try to decelerate these geological changes in order to prevent relevant natural disasters to preserve the entire Planet. The indiscriminate use of fossil energy, accumulated during thousands years through slow processes, is going to disfigure our vital sources, leading to the collapse of the system mankind-nature. It is in this situation that people should try to rethink their way of living, modifying habits in order to find new solutions to survive in the future scenario. How could humankind stop these environmental degenerative problems, avoiding compromises in terms of vital needs ? Is is possibile to imagine an alternative way of dwelling , not completely revolutionizing our usual lifestyle, not breaking down our energy requirement? Therefore, Milano Mega Watt proposes an experimental way of dwelling, trying to balance the cohabitation between mankind, nature and animals.

The analysis of the city of Milan defines it as a dissipative system able to take energy and materials from external sources yet, at the same time, able to produce a huge amount of waste and emissions which are not totally absorbed. In order to transform the city in an equilibrated system, inputs and outputs should be balanced. Therefore, waste should be recycled, energy and materials produced and emissions absorbed. To reach this equilibrium, the city should achieve a perfect symbiosis with the nature, a relationship from which both benefits in order to become a self-sufficient entity. In these terms, the city could be represented as an imaginary electronic circuit, full of active connections and centers of aggregations. It is evident that this complex system suffers, today, the discontinuity given by the presence of the railway belt. In details, the urban fabric results divided by this strong sign, tool of connection and separation in the same moment. As the ancient rampart system of the city used to do in the past, the railway line could be recognized as a bridge or a gate, dividing and joining distinct entities of the same act.

“Boosting the city” is the main role of these experimental spaces, offering vital services for people in order to answer to the huge loss of resources that humankind is going to face. This structures could be considered as a “city within a city”. The identity of each yard is going to be manifested by a core building - the Gate. Each of this buildings would be providing a diferent, unique function to make a significant difference between the locations. 

Milano Mega Watt creates an alternative way of dwelling, and it would be able to produce, collect and improve the city in terms of energy. In order to reach the selfsufficiency the building should balance an equilibrium between the number of inhabitants that might live there and the amount of primary needs that they could manage to lead. Therefore, defining at a first time the primary vital needs of one single person, it was possibile to determine the dimension of the building and, subsequently, to manage the relationship between these various spaces. The idea is to design hybrid solutions, generated by the merging of needs related with human activities (housing, education, commercial, production, infrastructures, health) combined with natural entities able to feed and provide to people’s surviving (farming, livestock, water storage). The result is a series of eighteen different typologies of hypothetical livable spaces.

The feature of these buildings is to offer a different style of life, rethinking spaces of everyday life in an alternative way. Hence, could be possibile in the future to dwell a building yet having, for example, a vertical farm instead of a simple garden, or a parking able to collect water? Could we imagine to live in the same place where animals used to pasture? These are few of the options proposed, in order to design architectural hypothesis of coexistence between mankind and nature. The project develops imaginary spaces, beginning from archetypical shapes, creating a real energetic battery in each yard, giving power to Milan.

In addition, this new system is overloaded by energy, offering also the possibility of placing some of the new livable typologies all over the neighborhood, in order to provide a 30% more of primary needs to the external population. 

In details, there is no main entrance to the building, to realize a space of threshold, a place of synthesis where opposites find a common meaning. If from a point of view this cooperation seems to be positive , from a different sight it might reveal a complete contortion of traditional values. In these terms, the project opens a complex issue, showing what could be the result of our continue exploitation of natural resources, generating also several questions on the future. Would we really want to achieve this dangerous situation? Should we persist with this intense rhythm of life? Humankind should take a radical choice.

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