Detail english 2015-11-12

∂ 2015 ¥ 6 Reports 555
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Literature:
Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, “Der funktionale Slum”,
“Süddeutsche Zeitung”, 24.4.2015
1–5 “Ocean Dome”, Cape Town
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last April, may be seen as a kind of prototype
for these. There is really no lack of
plastic refuse on the nearby beaches of
Cape Town. For his installation, therefore,
Heinsdorff used some 5,000 bottles, fishing
nets, thousands of metres of fishing line and
other plastic waste, piling this all in layers in
50 filigree-wire gabion baskets.
A bolted truss construction serves as a
load-bearing system that is relatively stable
even in the event of earthquakes. The
specially developed members of this structure
consist of folded sheet steel, galvanized
as a means of resistance against
corrosion. Not the least fascinating aspect
is the aesthetic appearance of what are otherwise
unremarkable waste materials.
Above all, as a result of their translucent
properties, the view from the inside towards
the light reveals various effects and a play
of colours with which one would perhaps
be familiar from the stained-glass windows
of a church.
This apparent contrast between otherwise
worthless refuse and visual quality was important
to the artist. With his installation, he
wanted to draw attention on the one hand
to the littering of the world’s oceans. At the
same time, he wished to lend his housing
a special significance through the distinct
design, thereby avoiding the aura of poverty
usually associated with slum building.
Despite such shortcomings, Heinsdorff
sees little works of art in many of the simple
dwellings found in the slums of the world
and constructed with bare essentials and
the humblest of means. Their builders handle
the modest, often recycled materials
picked up nearby very creatively. What the
structures lack, however, is effective thermal
insulation. Where gabions are used for constructional
purposes, insulation against hot
and cold conditions could be provided by
the building waste from structures destroyed
in natural disasters instead of burning or
burying this, as usually happens today to
achieve a supposed sense of order.
Heinsdorff also sees scope for finishing
refuse-filled walls with loam rendering. In
general, though, the houses should retain
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their flexibility. In gabion construction, the
filling material can be changed at any time,
and the waste matter – depending on the
means of the residents – subsequently replaced
by traditional building materials such
as loam, sand or stones from the surrounding
area, without having to renew the basic
structure or the roof. That also applies to the
prototype being created at present in the architectural
park in Boisbuchet, France. The
basic framework of this 20 m 2 house weighs
just 130 kg and is braced with thin steel wiring
rather like the structure of an airship. In
areas subject to flooding, this housing type
could be assembled on platforms that can
float on water if necessary. It could also be
constructed using recycled PET bottles in
gabions assembled beneath a boarded
framework that serves as a foundation.
Another aim is to minimize the construction
period. It should be possible for two people
to erect the basic structure – delivered as a
kind of unit-construction kit – in just two
days. A further two days are foreseen for filling
the walls and assembling the roof. This
structure could serve as a basic framework
for the next project on which the Munich artist
is working at present: refugee housing
throughout the world created from the piles
of packing material for relief supplies that
arrive every day. Recycling can scarcely be
more immediate. Christian Schittich