Tapiola is a relevant example in the history of nordic garden cities which is having a deep renovation nowadays, with heavy works taking place all around. The core ideas which inspired this urbanism trend are nowadays in the point of view.
In this context, Architecture Information Center Finland chose not distant EMMA, Espoo Museum of Moder Art to host a seminar about ‘Architecture in education for Children’ and invited basurama to host a workshop with local students, using architecture as a tool to experience the city and its functioning.
As an inspiration we used ‘Futuro House’, an experimental architecture icon designed in the 60´s by Matti Suuronen which is also present in EMMA. Futuro House and Tapiola are strongly connected with the utopian trend and we consider that they can really inspire young people learning. Our idea is to use this architectural icons, make them interact with contemporary ingredients and let the students be part of this experience.
Waste is more than the surplus of city functioning, it is present in the all the production processes -tangible or intangible- operating in the city. Waste is also one of the ‘dark sides’ of many of the utopic ideas. Most of these dreams were made obsolescent, mass productive and were made of plastic.
Using waste we advocate for transforming this discarded material into a powerful source of raw material and show the participants experience efficient ways of designing and building.
We also aimed considering ‘wasted’ spaces’, so common in sprawl cities as Tapiola. Inflating the House in this spaces can show the participants how to occupy them and give them life.
The plastic bags used in the workshop were collected by Archinfo and the students themselves some days prior the workshop. During two days they were classified, opened and then taped with scissors and regular tape to make the inflatable architecture surfaces. As a way to experience the scale and the impact of the plastic bags altogether, we took the bubble to different locations.
Basurama has created inflatables in cities as Taipei, Casablanca, Sao Paulo or Bangkok and everywhere we have found abundant discarded material to make them.
With this
Manual, you can also make your own Plastic Futuro House.
