An architect hoping to rebuild war-torn Mosul, Iraq, has proposed a series of stunning 3D-printed bridges that would transform city using its own building debris into construction materials.
Architect Vincent Callebaut is the brainchild behind ‘The 5 Farming Bridges’, which features 3D-printed housing units in the form of articulated spiders over the Tigris River.
Five 3D printers could construct 30 houses per day, or nearly 55,000 housing units in five years spread over the five bridges.
The concept was a winning project of the Rifat Chadirji Prize Competition, ‘Rebuilding Iraq’s Liberated Areas: Mosul’s Housing’.
Architect Vincent Callebaut is the brainchild behind ‘The 5 Farming Bridges’, which features 3D-printed housing units in the form of articulated spiders over the Tigris River in Mosul, Iraq
The concept was a winning project of the Rifat Chadirji Prize Competition, ‘Rebuilding Iraq’s Liberated Areas: Mosul’s Housing’
Five 3D printers could construct 30 houses per day, or nearly 55,000 housing units in five years spread over the five bridges crossing the Tigris
The bridges and the housing built atop them would be constructed using building debris and rubble found around the city
Mosul, Iraq’s second city, was retaken from IS in July after a massive months-long offensive. Across the city, 10,000 buildings were damaged over the course of the war
Mosul, Iraq’s second city, was retaken from IS in July after a massive months-long offensive that left the majority of the city destroyed and hundreds of thousands left without a place to live.
Across the city, 10,000 buildings were damaged over the course of the war, the large majority in western Mosul, the scene of the most intense artillery, airstrikes and fighting during the past five months.
All five of the city’s bridges spanning the Tigris River were damaged and deemed unusable during the offensive.
The bridges connecting the two sides of the city bisected by the Tigris were struck by the US-led coalition in order to hinder the militants’ movements in the early stages of the campaign to retake Mosul last year.
Paris-based Vincent Callebaut Architectures said: ‘According to the Iraqi government, more than $1 billion will be needed to rehabilitate basic services throughout Mosul and prepare a resilient urban plan to welcome the war refugees and internally displaced persons to the country with dignity.
‘The 5 Mosul bridges connecting the west and east districts across the Tigris were destroyed to encircle ISIS.
The inhabited bridges would be printed using debris and rubble from around the city. Along with more than 53,000 affordable housing units, bridges will be stacked with urban farms and agricultural fields irrigated by water from the Tigris and plowed by Archimedes screws
The architecture firm said that all debris from the city will be transformed into resources, with drones continuously bringing construction materials
The agricultural features, including urban farms, will ‘guarantee food autonomy to their inhabitants’, the architecture firm said
Vincent Callebaut Architectures said the structures are inspired by murqarnas, ‘the famous, ornamental honeycomb pattern, used in Islamic architecture since medieval times’
Water from bathrooms and kitchens will be recycled and filtered in to lagoon waterfalls that flow into the Tigris, the architecture firm said
‘The concept is to rebuild them as inhabited bridges by building the new city over the old city. It is a matter of recycling the city from its heart, not from rebuilding it to its periphery by encroaching on an obsolescent agricultural land.’
The inhabited bridges would be printed using debris and rubble from around the city.
Along with more than 53,000 affordable housing units, bridges will be stacked with urban farms and agricultural fields irrigated by water from the Tigris and plowed by Archimedes screws.
The agricultural features will ‘guarantee food autonomy to their inhabitants’, the architecture firm said.
‘Gray water from bathrooms and kitchens will also be recycled and filtered by plants in lagoon waterfalls connected with the river,’ the firm said. ‘Biomass composters will feed their orchards and vegetable gardens suspended in biological fertilisers.
‘The bridges will also incorporate wind chimneys for cool, natural air, cold ceilings using the thermal energy of the river, solar water heaters for hot water, and hundreds of photovoltaic pergolas producing the necessary kilowatts.’
‘The bridges will also incorporate wind chimneys for cool, natural air, cold ceilings using the thermal energy of the river, solar water heaters for hot water, and hundreds of photovoltaic pergolas producing the necessary kilowatts,’ the firm said
The hive-like units will be able to accommodate several different family sizes, and will have indoor and outdoor spaces for residents to enjoy
Mosul, Iraq’s second city, was retaken from IS in July after a massive months-long offensive. Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate effectively collapsed when US-backed Iraqi forces re-took Mosul, the group´s de facto capital in Iraq, after a gruelling nine-month battle
Around 400,000 children are still displaced from the fighting for Mosul, one year after the start of a military offensive to recapture the city, Save the Children said earlier this month
The proposed structures would cross the Tigris River, with the new housing built upward instead of across the debris-filled city
Vincent Callebaut Architectures said the structures are inspired by murqarnas, ‘the famous, ornamental honeycomb pattern, used in Islamic architecture since medieval times’.
‘The constructive system will thus respond to different habitable capacity requirements, according to the size of the Iraqi family to be accommodated,’ the firm said.
The architecture firm said that all debris from the city will be transformed into resources.
‘To feed these 3D spider printers, drones will continuously bring them construction materials coming from the districts in ruins; previously crushed and transformed in recycling centers,’ the company said.
It added: ‘Equipped with an industrial precision robotic arm, the spiders print the housing modules by directing any building nozzle such as those used to pour concrete and insulation materials, or those using a milling head.
‘The project will restore the self-confidence of war refugees, their confidence in an optimistic future, and allowing them to participate actively in the repatriation process is essential to the success of this reconstruction in the heart of the city.’
The unites for the housing can be built in a number of different ways, as pictured above, to accommodate different sizes of families
‘To feed these 3D spider printers, drones will continuously bring them construction materials coming from the districts in ruins; previously crushed and transformed in recycling centers,’ the architecture company said
The drones and 3D printers will work together to re-build the city and its homes from scratch along the Tigris River’s bridges
The firm said that the 3D printers will be directed through a robotic arm and a building nozzle, will will organize concrete pouring, insulation and more
Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate effectively collapsed when US-backed Iraqi forces re-took Mosul, the group’s de facto capital in Iraq, after a gruelling nine-month battle.
Around 400,000 children are still displaced from the fighting for Mosul, one year after the start of a military offensive to recapture the city, Save the Children said earlier this month.
‘Just because the fighting in Mosul has stopped doesn’t mean the humanitarian needs aren’t great. If anything, children need our help now more than ever – those that are still displaced and those that are returning to see what’s left of their homes,’ said the London-based charity’s Iraq country director, Ana Locsin.
‘Large parts of Mosul have been reduced to rubble; schools, homes, hospitals, roads, playgrounds and parks. I´ve spoken to dozens of children haunted by their experiences, left with psychological scars that’ll take years to heal,’ Locsin said in a statement.
With the fall of Mosul and other small towns in the country´s north and west, the only area still under control of Islamic State in Iraq is a stretch alongside the western border with Syria, where the militant group is also in retreat.
Iraqi forces have retaken more than 90 percent of the territory IS seized in the country in 2014, with the jihadists now confined to the desert areas in Anbar province bordering Syria.