Yafim Simanovsky
ExploreLab
Image: Floating community - resilience and development
Floating community Manila – modular design for improved resilience
Around the world and in the growing metropolis of Southeast Asia, flooding damage and climatic extremes together with urbanization and the expansion of slum areas is an unsustainable condition for millions of urban poor inhabitants.
As architects and planners, our role is to design for a more resilient and sustainable spatial future for our cities. The graduation project presents a comprehensive multi-scale strategy to increase social, economic, and infrastructural resilience in Manila, Philippines, a ‘ground-zero’ for today’s urban risks.
Using water as an ally to avoid flood risk, a modular and flexible floating unit provides basic shelter and lifts the urban poor out of their current condition.
Integrating waste and energy management, assessment and development of all factors from the urban scale to the family courtyard, the project provides a forward thinking and promising exploration of the possibilities to resolve some of today’s most global and pressing urban challenges.