A PLASTIC CITY CONCEPT
PLASTICITY
​
The Plastic City concept uses trans-formative, deployable techniques to solve three popular problems in the American Society: Plastic Garbage Patch, Homelessness, and Outdated Architecture!
PROBLEMS
​
Plastic Garbage Patch - Huge mounds of Plastic, Chemical, Sludge, etc. can be found in the Pacific (Around 1.6 Million Square Kilometers - Wikipedia) and Atlantic Oceans. This is a Global problem based on local issues such as plastic manufacturing, plastic use, and plastic recycling or photodegredation. This problem clogs waste streams, damage ship turbines at sea, and most importantly negatively affect flora, fauna, and marine life. In this hydrological cycle the fish that eats plastic pellets in the Ocean might end up in your seafood plate at a restaurant!
​
Homelessness - Among the cities with highest homeless population in the world the US has two cities in the top five: New York City and Los Angeles - trendrr.net. On any given night there are about half a million homeless people in the US. This, on a primary level is a housing problem (Shelter first principle), on a secondary level it is a mental health issue, and on a tertiary level it is a economic problem. People need an affordable place to live. Homelessness leads to crime, leads to more health issues, and eventually leads to death!
​
Outdated Architecture - In the US solid architecture design is seriously lacking. At Smiling Bubbles, Inc. we believe that "Great Design Can Save Humanity!" From the ground up there are three major issues: Use of Impervious materials (like Concrete and Asphalt) for roads and sidewalks that cause flooding as in New Orleans 2005 with 1,833 fatalities, Hurricane Harvey in 2017 with around $125 Billion dollar damage, Hurricane Maria with a death toll of 3,057 in 2017, etc; Extensive waste of energy in buildings of about 39 percent of the whole US energy as of 2017; And, 'blind' designs that are not contextual but rather are based on the egos of stale architects!
SOLUTION
A Plastic City as a Solution - At Smiling Bubbles Inc. our solution to these three major issues is to: use the trans-formative technique of plastic manufacturing to develop reconfigurable living unit modules, use the temporal need for homeless shelter to transform space from compact storage to deployable building stacks that form towers, campuses, and pancake-like structures, and to use the knowledge of failed design principles to improve the network of these supportive shelters into a matrix of linked evolving communities that form our Plastic City!
CONCEPT
​
Deployable Cubes - There are 9 single 20 feet by 20 feet by 20 feet cubed modules that have a 6 - 8 inch thick surface from corrugated plastic and recycled plastic. One is a circulation module with stairs and an elevator shaft. The other is living room module, a bedroom module, a bathroom module, etc. Then there are green modules for garden area and blue modules for water features. So, a studio module plus a bathroom module can make a Studio unit; a bedroom module, a bathroom module, a living roo module, and a kitchen module can make a 1 bedroom unit, and so on!
​
Stackable Shelter - Thus, there are three different types of units: Studio, 1 Bedroom, and 2 Bedrooms. Each unit has a shape based on its configuration of modules and each unit fits into three types of building structures (Tower, Campus, and Pancake!). Based on cash-flow for developers a unit mix with more studios has the potential to bring in more money per square footage. These units are then connected with other necessary modules (based on locational demand) and then stacked to fit our predefined structure types based on climate and contextual needs. For our floor-to-floor layout rules each unit must access a circulation module or an outdoor module that leads to a circulation module that leads to an accessible ingress/egress route.
​
Viable Communities - Next, each building community is connect to a virtual/digital twin within a network based on trying to pair people with like-minded communities of similar stories. So if homeless people that like sports want to form a sports community they can setup shelter that surrounds a playground where they enjoy games. If newlyweds have a low budget they can form in intimate commune that engenders a better environment for their quality of life. and, if low income elderly decide to downsize they can setup live/work studio neighborhoods to startup and develop their potential ideas.
USER INTERFACE
​
One App Fits All! In order to make this concept a reality we had to develop an app (Downlaod coming soon!) that helps unite the residents that need shelter, the developers that want to fund and profit from affordable shelter, the fabricators that manufacture the shelter, and the City organizations that make it all possible.
​
RESIDENT
Residents, upon answering a few questions, can view their potential shelter dwelling on the app, make updates to the space, and visualize their commune in real-time. They can view plans of their units and update wall texture on-the-fly. Residents can also compare costs of their dwelling with comparable units locally!
​
DEVELOPER
Developers can use the app to invest in one or many shelter building structures. They can calculate the potential cash flow and equity from each unit. Developers can also get lucrative value-add options with developing areas that are hidden gems!
​
FABRICATOR
Fabricators can use the app to generate on-demand cut sheets for the parts needed to assemble the cube modules and units. The app is connected to a database that produces a set of fabrication instructions based on the type of dwelling(s) needed for a new development. Each aggregation of units and modules and done efficiently to save space, cost, & time!
​
CITY
​
Pre-check plans - Each configuration of units through the database would be accompanied by a set of Pre-Checked drawings that cuts the approval time for City review and inspections.
​
Simple layouts - The simple layouts help set a standard for ease of design, ease of construction, and ease of use/reuse!
​
A Plastic City as a Standard - Finally, with the successful implementation and completion of this Plastic City concept we can not only help solve the problem of plastic trash, homelessness, and outdated buildings, but, we can also define our Plasticity concept as a Standard for further implementation!
